One of the great sports of Ubud is hotel shopping. You cannot really know ahead of time, even if you have done careful research via Lonely Planet and/or TripAdvisor, if the hotel you have first picked is the right one for you. I believe TripAdvisor lists a total of 96 hotels in Ubud, and I'll bet there are even more when home stays and new start-ups are thrown in. (The IPad TripAdvisor application is a terrific tool!)
So, pretty much every time Don and I walked down the street, we'd check out a handful of the lodgings announcing their presence on the street. Until yesterday, none of them measured up to better than what we had at The Ubud Inn -- on the criteria of price, atmosphere, and value --especially since we'd been moved to the bigger and more private room.
Then, yesterday, we wandered down the alley behind the Sagitarius (sic) Restaurant at which we'd had such a good meal and asked at the relatively unprepossessing front desk about their rooms. We were led back -- everything in Ubud is developed in a long slots leading back from the street -- behind a shrine to a collection of bungalows and buildings centered on a slightly raised pool. The landscaping, though not as riotously colorful as Ubud Inn, was tastefully understated, evoking serenity.
Just beyond the pool they showed us a bungalow with ornately carved doors, a covered porch, simple, tasteful Balinese furniture, a king-sized bed, a sexy greenhouse bathroom, all of which, because it had only a fan and no air con, could be ours for only $25...half what we'd managed to negotiate The Ubud Inn down to!
So this morning after breakfast, we said goodbye to Charlie, Ubud Inn's resident fruit bat, and checked out. Used to tourists with flexible plans, Ubud Inn gave us no grief, although it was a little embarrassing to me to not need a taxi for departure since our new hotel was less than 100' down the sidewalk!
Ubud Inn's strength was its elaborate gardens, which actually almost border on the gaudy! Its weakness was its rooms. Perfectly serviceable and comfortable, there was little about them communicated the very special feel that is Bali. Staff was friendly and all, but just a little impersonal (except, of course, for our coffee connection), and wifi was only available in the front restaurant. And, again, it was twice the price.
In our first day at Sagitarius -- which we have mostly spent just hanging around -- it has already felt much more personal. Within an hour after we dropped our suitcases, a coffee tray was delivered to our patio with a fresh flower arrangement. When we discovered -- egad! -- that the only electrical outlets in the room powered the reading lights (and we with seven rechargeable devices), one of the guys hustled up a 220v version of a power strip giving us two additional outlets! Knowing we plan to take the fast boat back to Gili Air on Thursday, they have already arranged out tickets!
We'd already determined that the Sagitarius Restaurant is our favorite for quality and value, and just to cement things, it turns out the gift shop I have been buying a few items in is also part of the Sagittarius enclave. The girls there and I are becoming fast friends, to Don's dismay!
So, here we are in our new digs, recharging for the rest of our week. Did I mention that they have Wifi in the rooms!
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