Mitzie Mee - Food & Travel Blog

Ubud – How to get around?

by Mitzie Mee - Sanne

I usually just walk around in Ubud, but the narrow pavements and the heavy motorbike traffic do not make the city particularly walkable. If you have difficulties walking, or if you need to go to a place a little further away, you will thus need to take a taxi. There are both car taxis and motorbike taxis in Ubud and they can both be booked via Grab, which is an app similar to Uber.

Note: I am using the word motorbike, though it’s actually scooters or mopeds, but in Bali, they’re all called motorbikes.

Going by motorbike

The motorbike taxis are very cheap and easy to book through Grab, but please be aware that accidents do happen, so always wear a helmet. Don’t be afraid to speak up, if you think the driver is going too fast.

If you are in Ubud for a longer time, renting your own motorbike might also be an option, but remember to check that your travel insurance covers motorbike accidents (it often depends on whether you have a license and how fast the bike goes), and whether the rental price includes proper insurance in case of damage to the motorcycle or other people. This is an important detail that many overlook, and that can be very expensive if you are in an accident.

Going by car

Uber doesn’t work in Ubud, but Grab does. Just be aware that the local taxi drivers are fierce opponents of Grab and other ride-sharing services, and they can become quite aggressive towards the drivers from Grab. Sometimes, the Grab drivers will ask you to go to a different place than the pick-up destination you have entered in your phone, to avoid getting harassed by the local taxi mafia. This is for Grab Car only, the motorbike taxis on Grab seem to be tolerated.

If you are using the local taxi companies, be prepared to negotiate about the price for every single trip you take. Sometimes you are met with completely unreasonable rates, which is both exhausting, and frustrating, but keep in mind that the drivers are just trying to make a living, and stay calm and friendly, and turn down those unreasonable offers with a smile.

When I traveled with my parents, the price was typically around IDR80,000-160,000 for trips around Ubud, but the times I have traveled by myself ( and perhaps looked a bit more like a backpacker), it has been cheaper.

FYI

If you know you will be using taxi rides a lot, another option is to make an agreement with a driver at the start of the holiday, who can then drive you around for a fixed daily price.

Most people (including drivers) prefer to communicate through WhatsApp, so if you do not have that app installed, it is a good idea to do so.

October 26, 2022 0 comments

Bali: How to get to Ubud from the airport?

by Mitzie Mee - Sanne

How to get to Ubud from the airport, Bali Blog, Mitzie Mee

At Ngurah Rai International Airport (also called Denpasar International Airport), you can book a car and a driver to take you to Ubud. There are several different companies to choose among, but make sure you choose one of the official companies, so you don’t get scammed. It costs approx. 400000IDR and takes about 1.5 hours, depending on traffic and time of day.

A new Grab Lounge has also opened outside the airport. Here you can book transport through Grab, which is an app that works like Uber. The staff can help you set up the app and make a booking, and you can relax in the lounge while you wait for your driver to arrive. The prices are about the same regardless of where you book, but I personally prefer Grab, which I think is really convenient.

If you go with one of the car+driver companies, they sometimes recommend that you also book the return trip from Ubud to the airport immediately, and they will offer you a small discount. Though for some reason, my experience is, that the trip from Ubud to the airport is cheaper (if you book the return trip in Ubud), than the trip from the airport to Ubud, so you do not really save any money by booking the return trip in advance, and maybe you prefer choosing your own driver for the return trip after arriving in Ubud.

Some people recommend arranging transportation through the hotel you are staying at, but I’ve had very mixed experiences with that. If you are staying at a smaller guesthouse or a homestay, they can often get you a really good deal, but booking transportation through larger hotels is sometimes more expensive, than if you made the booking yourself, since the hotel often wants commission for sending customers to the driver.

More about Ubud on my Bali Blog >>

Mini bus & Bus

While I am aware that you can book a seat in a minibus, I do not have any experience with going by bus or shuttle to Ubud from the airport. Considering the extra time it takes to pick everyone up/drop people off, and considering how cheap it is to go by car, I’ve never thought it was worth the effort. Though if you are on a tight budget, this is an obvious place to save. There is also bus service between Kuta and Ubud.

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You can find bus time tables and search for local transportation here:

October 21, 2022 0 comments

Back in Bali – Ubud & Yoga Barn

by Mitzie Mee - Sanne

I’m back in Bali for the first time since the pandemic, and I am so happy to be back. I have actually been here since the beginning of the month, but since I’ve had so much else to do, working on my site and my online shop, it is only now that I finally have the time to get started on this round of Bali posts.

Bali was actually one of the last places I traveled to before everything shut down, so it is a bit funny, that Bali is also one of the first places I visit after the pandemic. Right now, it is the wet season in Bali, so it rains a lot, but when it does not rain, everything is lush and green from the continuous watering.

My main purpose for this trip is to eat lots of fresh fruit, do yoga, and meditate over at Yoga Barn, and it’s going very well, if I may say so. I have been to at least one class every day, and I eat a nice fruit salad at the guesthouse each morning for breakfast.

Yoga Barn has really come back strong from the pandemic and I don’t think I have ever seen it so full. The other times I’ve been there, you could show up just a few minutes before the class started, because there was always room, but nowadays you have to be there as soon as registration opens (30 min. before) for the most popular classes, if you want to make sure to get a spot.
I also think the clientele at Yoga Barn has changed quite a bit. It used to be mainly yoga hippies wearing loose-fitting, tie-dye, cotton clothes, but nowadays, hipster yogis in Lululemon are dominating the scene.
However, Yoga Barn is still a really nice place, and I am impressed with how they have managed to create such a beautiful and peaceful oasis, where people from all over the world can meet and share a common interest.
This time, my focus has been on meditation, yin yoga and yoga nidra, and it has really worked wonders. In the first week, I fell asleep during many of the meditation sessions, but after I started staying awake, it was like I opened a gate to a whole new world. I don’t otherwise consider myself particularly spiritual, but it has been an amazing experience to connect with that side of myself, to look inward and to reflect. These types of classes is also where Yoga Barn really shines, and I don’t think you find such a broad selection of classes with truly excellent instructors anywhere else in the world.

My blog post about Yoga Barn – All you need to know >>

Almost forgot to mention that the cacao smoothie bowl at the Garden Kafe at Yoga Barn is a must-try. It tastes like chocolate ice cream! Here is a short video so you can see for yourself:

October 18, 2022 0 comments

CWG – Chin Women Group in Mae Sot

by Mitzie Mee - Sanne

Chin Women Group (CWG) was founded in Mae Sot, Thailand, in June 2001. The purpose of the group is to provide income for the members of the group, and to help preserve the handicraft skills within the Chin community, by making and selling handicraft items and also recently, by training young women to preserve the skills of traditional handicraft.

The mountainous Chin State in the Northwest of Myanmar is one of the poorest regions in an already poor country. A large part of the population lives in remote places, struggling to get by with subsistence farming. Other sources of income are very limited, and many young people therefore move away from Chin state and try their luck in Yangon or Mandalay, or across the border in Thailand. They often end up in poorly paid jobs and unstable employment situations, and the Chin region loses a link to the future.

CWG founder Nu Tae decided together with some friends to find a better way to generate income for the Chin people, while at the same time preserving the traditional skills and the culture. In the beginning, the group mainly sold their products at a local market in Mae Sot, but today, Chin Women Group are also a part of Borderline Collective, hoping to reach a broader consumer base for their handicrafts.

Most of the fabric that CWG uses comes from the Chin state in Myanmar. It is then transported to Mae Sot, in Thailand, where four young women create bags and accessories with designs that incorporate the traditional fabric into modern designs. In addition to traditional Chin fabric, CWG also uses their own hand-loomed fabric

October 15, 2022 0 comments

Chofi Taco in Union City – Trying birria tacos for the first time

by Mitzie Mee - Sanne

It’s been several years since I first heard about birria tacos, but I wanted to make sure that I tried it somewhere nice, so it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I finally got to try birria tacos for the first time, when my Mexican friend Alejandra (@lemontwist_nyc) suggested that we go to Chofi Taco in Union City. According to Ale, Chofi Taco has some of the best birria tacos she has tried, and after our visit, I can only agree. Those tacos are amazing!

Birria is a kind of Mexican stew, which is traditionally made with goat meat, but which is also available with beef, chicken or lamb, and birria tacos are, as the name suggests, tacos with the meat from the stew. The broth (consomé) from the stew is served in a bowl on the side, so that you can dip your tacos. Ale told me that in many places in Mexico you are served the birria stew with the meat still in it, so you take out the meat yourself and build your own taco with meat, cilantro and lime. At many places you are only served a small amount of consommé, so Ale said, she really liked the rather generous serving you get at Chofi, with enough consomé to dip the tacos in, and to drink as a soup afterwards.

Along with our food, we had a glass of horchata, which is a Mexican rice drink with cinnamon and sugar, and the sweet, smooth taste was a really nice contrast to the flavor-packed Mexican food.

We also ordered esquites, which are Mexican corn off the cob as opposed to elotes (see Ale’s recipe here), which are corn still on the cob. You eat esquites mixed with crema (Mexican sour cream), lime and queso fresco (a kind of Mexican cheese), and it tastes delicious.

Sopes are thick, Mexican tortillas with a border around the edge, so you can really fill it with all sorts of delicious things, and when we saw the sopes on the menu (at Chofi Taco they are dark blue), we also had to try them. The sopes were served with cheese, onion and red and green salsa, and tasted really good too. So practical with that raised edge, which keeps the topping in place.

Here is a video from our birria taco lunch at Chofi:

Chofi Taco, 1706 Summit Ave, Union City, NJ

October 13, 2022 0 comments

About KI LEE

by Mitzie Mee - Sanne

KI LEE is an accessories brand based in Seoul that creates sculptural designs using innovative sustainable materials. As vessels embodying the link between minimalistic forms and innovative eco-friendly material, KI LEE products seek to reconnect the consumers with fantastical imaginations of the future and foster a sense of hopeful agency in shaping the world to come.

ABOUT THE DESIGNER / ARTISTIC BACKGROUND

My vision and mission as a designer are informed by two important realizations I had as an artist. The first one came about during my time as an exchange student at Central Saint Martins where I befriended many fashion design students at the school’s old Charing Cross campus. From discussing our works, I began to wonder what it was that made fine art and fashion design so different that kept the products of one within the confines of gallery walls, while those of the other served their roles in the everyday lives of individuals. As a sculptor, I would be incredibly lucky if I got to showcase my works to the world through exhibitions, and even luckier if I were able to sell my works to a collector who would then store it in a secure, private location. The products of design, on the other hand, could be bought and incorporated into people’s lives.

The second realization came from the wise words of my painter friend whom I met at an artist residency. He jokingly told me, “like many artists and theorists have said, anything can be art and anyone can be an artist. But there are good arts and bad arts.” To me, the “goodness” of art has always lied in its ability to change its audience’s perspective of and relationship with the rest of the world.

Two years later, I found a happy marriage of these two realizations in leather bags, which I learned to make at a local leather atelier in Seoul. I wanted for my bags, which I considered sculptures with handles that can hold something inside, to reconnect their users to the ever-present yet easily overlooked artistic undercurrents of everyday life.

SUSTAINABILITY

KI LEE’s commitment to sustainable and responsible design began out of necessity as the business grew. Since the brand’s 2017 launch as an order-made handmade leather brand, intelligent use of material and waste management have always been key to the brand’s business model and philosophy.

As business and production volume grew over the years, the brand transitioned from the handmade model to a larger production model, focusing on product development while working in partnership with local manufacturers. After one season of working in this new model, however, it became clear that the brand could no longer maintain its intelligent use of leather–a highly resource-intense material–or have a tight control over waste management.

In order to mitigate the negative environmental impacts inherent to larger-scale production and stay true to the brand’s philosophy of intelligent design, KI LEE carried out a comprehensive renewal, committing to finding and using innovative materials that could substitute leather.

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Ki Chan Lee, Founder, KI LEE

October 10, 2022 0 comments

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Ubud – How to get around?

Going by motorbike

Going by car

FYI

Bali: How to get to Ubud from the airport?

Mini bus & Bus

Back in Bali – Ubud & Yoga Barn

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CWG – Chin Women Group in Mae Sot

Chofi Taco in Union City – Trying birria tacos for the first time

About KI LEE

Ki Chan Lee, Founder, KI LEE

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