There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in
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Wenara Hotel, Ubud

Probably the best budget hotel in Ubud is the Wenara Hotel.
Wenara Hotel, Ubud, Bali

It has nice Balinese gardens, and a recent addition is the swimming pool.

Wenara Hotel, Ubud, Bali

The rooms are pretty basic but I generally sleep well here (*) – even if the bedding is not the last word in quality.

For breakfast you get a small fruit salad, coffee or tea, and either a pancake or omelet or scrambled eggs.

If you don’t like monkeys, however, don’t stay at this hotel. On the other side of the ravine at the end of the gardens is the Monkey Forest, and sometimes the monkeys come into the garden of the hotel and even onto the roof of your bungalow!

Wenara Hotel, Ubud


This ravine at the end of the gardens is very deep and if you have young children, make sure they are supervised at all times!

(*) the only other caveat I’d have about this place is that although the bungalows are quite sturdily built from bricks, the sounds coming from the bungalow next to yours are quite audible. This may, of course, not be a problem but in my case I had a Swedish German couple who made more noise than the monkeys outside as they humped each other senseless after getting back late in the evenings. Monkeys indeed!

Wenara Bali Bungalows
Monkey Forest Street
Ubud 80571
Bali
Tel. +62 361 977384

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