Like what drives businesses up for Outer Banks vacation rentals and such places, Bali beaches attract huge number of tourists for the surfing, sunbathing, sunset dinner on the beach and so on.

So it was no surprise to find plenty of accommodations along the beaches for all kinds of price range.

What was a little surprising was arriving at a hotel far from the tourists havens of Kuta, Sanur or Nusa Dua – in a place surrounded by rice-fields and jungles with not only one BUT two 5-stars hotels (out of the many luxury hotels in Ubud) within 500m of each others!

What was impressive was despite being far from the urban areas and having expected a lower standard of services – we were served nearly gourmet standard banana fritters for afternoon tea and a well-made and beautifully presented breakfast!

One thing was for sure, nothing makes a meal more delicious than having a wonderful view to enjoy the food with.

*Picture : Breakfast at Sekar Ayu Restaurant, Puri Bunga Resort & Spa Ubud

Hotel critics classified the hotel we stayed in Ubud as a three-stars.

But all of us unanimously agreed that the view of the surrounding Ubud forest with some mountain ranges in the far distance and the scenic River Ayung right below us was a solid 5 stars – the hotel was not bad too.

On the afternoon that we arrived, everyone was instantly rejuvenated despite the 2 hours flight and 2 hours road trip that we took to reach this place by the cool temperature and the magnificent view.

There was no other buildings in sight except another two nearby hotels. It was easy to  think that we were in an isolated place, far from the local community.

That was until I pointed my camera down to the river and saw through my lens, a few people including one man taking his bath. Upon zooming in, I realised that the generous shape of his behind was not artificially endowed by some apple bottom-rear-shaping-underpants but was more of the natural kind!

Nothing brought us back down to earth faster that this.

Despite the romantic and seemingly secluded environment that we were lulled to feel, we were in actually fact, surrounded by villages and villagers – and how can anyone resist this kind of charm?

*Picture : River Ayung, Ubud

One interesting memory we brought back from Bali was our road trip experience.

As part of my trip management jobs besides booking the hotels and making itineraries, I hired a driver for the whole duration that we were there, paying about B$270 for 4 days. He came with a van and a baby’s chair which was the reason I chose him out of all the private drivers I found online.

The first thing that struck us as soon as we were out of the highways was the size of their normal main roads – specifically the roads that led to Ubud.

We were constantly amazed at how he comfortably maneuvered our car on the ridiculously narrow roads (considering there were many big tour buses and hired vans) without scratching oncoming cars or falling into drains – or worse, knocking pedestrians down!

But what impressed us the most was despite the rather bad roads and driving conditions, all the honkings by our driver and other cars were done only to warn other road users. Nobody honked impatiently or irritatedly (which could easily happened at so many instances). Or maybe we were just lucky.

In any case, we returned with a whole new level of respect for Bali drivers.

*Picture : Along a road that led to Ubud

The highlight of our drive from Bandar Seri Begawan to Kota Kinabalu last weekend was the new Trusan river bridge which cuts down at least half an hour of a minimum of 6 hours of driving over 380 km .

Anyone who has never taken this overland trip should give it a try at least once – and any kind of cars will do (except rental cars since international borders are involved, unlike in the States where companies like the Orlando car rental allows their cars to be driven into Canada).

One of the best thing about this trip is the many towns along the way. When we first started driving to and fro more than 10 years ago, we used to stop in a few places along the way.

From Bandar Seri Begawan, we would usually stopped at Limbang for breakfast and Beaufort for lunch.

On our return trip, we would normally stop at Lawas for lunch until around two years ago when we stopped driving into this town.

But last weekend, we noticed a green dome in this town and made a turn in. Even though this road was inaccessible, we could see a little of the still under-construction Seri Malaysia hotel, Lawas first 3-star hotel and shopping mall.

We will certainly make it a point to drive into Lawas on our next drive.