Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Dirty Duck of Ubud #2 – We Came, We Saw.




The streets of Ubud are very narrow with no place to park so we decided to walk the short distance from Zen spa. The entrance was rather simply decorated by Bali standard but still have a number of interesting, creative and innovative sculptures.


Like this walkway over the drain that leads into the restaurant. Concrete ducks welcoming you in.


This child seemed to be saying – “the food here is so good that my mouth could not stop watering.” The owner has a sense of humor and is innovative for who would dare to call his restaurant “dirty” anything. Note the hibiscus on the stone sculpture. I love this Balinese touch of bringing life to inanimate objects.


When we walked in, the restaurant opened out to a much larger area than its front suggest. Similar to many Balinese restaurants, decoration is tastefully done with lots of wood. At this stage, I’m not yet overly impressed though I do have a favorable impression. We declined to take a seat and moved deeper into the restaurant which opened to a courtyard garden with lots of surprises.





A curious cat.

The Goddess of Fertility.

We would love to take one of the individual hut where we can sit cross-legged on raised wooden platform enjoying the breeze and unobstructed views but they were all taken.


We have to be satisfied with the solid but comfortable seating of the main dining hall but even then looked how relaxed everyone was. I just loved the very casual atmosphere of the whole place. It is like we are dining at home or among friends.


Once we got our seats, we stood up immediately and explored the place. I tried to present a number of photos to give you an idea of what the massive place look like. In spite of that, it told less than half the story. Which goes to show how artistically rich the place is.


If you think this is impressive, what you’ll see next will blow you away. The next post we will continue with the rest of the restaurant and we haven’t even got to the food yet!

To be continued...

(Please also see "Ghost Walk" for extended blog)


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