u/kissthechef808

Thank you for this sub’s valuable info when planning my trip. Here’s my lessons:

We stayed at the low-frills, low-service Mi Bencoolen for its location (public transit on the same block, close to attractions). In the future, I would stay further away from the CBD in exchange for better amenities.

We DID splurge one night at MBS. Although checkout is at 11, they extended our key card to access the roof (infinity pool and sky deck) until 6.

Catch the river cruise at sunset so you see the surrounding areas in daylight and lit up at night.

View the MBS light show from the esplanade and the Gardens by the Bay within the tree forest for best effect. A Grab driver suggested watching hte MBS light show from the Merloin and it was not as impactful.

Once you see the free light shows at Gardens by the Bay and the MBS Esplanade, get away from the CBD. 

Do shopping (including sunscreen) near the hawker centers. In the CBD where we stayed, a small tube of sunscreen was never less than $20(!) Found it for $5 upstairs from a hawker center.

For quilters like me, look for fabric on Arab Street or Tekka Centre

Loved Wardah Books and Basheer Graphics for their local books.

To see Singapore as it once was, we booked a wonderful tour of Palau Ubin through Jane’s Tours: https://janestours.sg/naturally-singapore/ 

Lastly, had a 7 pm flight home so after hotel check out, checked in our luggage and spent day at the Jewel. It’s incredible!

I returned from a wonderful 6 day stay in Ubud and wanted to give back to this community.

Splurged and stayed at thewakanda. Lovely small resort next to a rice paddy about 15 minutes from Ubud center. It was lovely to be away from the traffic. The food at the restaurant was delicious; breakfast is included with several options.

We booked a bike tour led by a guide to Poh Gading waterfall and a couple days later, used the bikes for free to ride to Tegenungan waterfall. Both were lovely and refreshing. 

We also booked a tour through the resort to Jatiluwih Rice Terraces. This was worth the long drive to avoid the crowds. We bought tropical fruit and watched a weaver as we walked through the terraces. We continued on to Ulun Danu Beratan Temple. I could have passed on this along with the Satria Agrowisata coffee spot where we sampled tea and they described how luwak coffee is made.

My last plug for the resort is the cooking class my husband took at their outdoor kitchen with a wood fire stove. Since he was the only student, he invited my dad and I down to eat all the food they made. I can’t wait for him to make it back home.

Since we’re on food, we were willing to splurge to eat at Locavore, but I messed up our reservation. Instead of the $100 tasting menu there, we ate at the sister restaurant, Nusantara, which has a delicious $30 tasting menu. It did not disappoint. 

Lastly, we did a walking tour with Ubud Story Walks. Glad we did this and they were accommodating with my mistake booking for the wrong day.

Thank you for the advice here!