Ubud and around

So as mentioned in the last blog, one of the reasons we based ourselves in Ubud was due to its close proximity to various other areas of interest on the island. We organised with Koming, the owner of our guesthouse, to go on two full day tours.

The first was a trip to the north-west of Ubud, including a number of stop-offs on the way: the area of Bedugul including Lake Bratan; Mengwi with the Royal Temple, Tamun Ayun; and the Botanical Gardens. Before we set off on our long drive North, we were given sustenance in the form of one of Papa's homemade breakfasts including Jack Fruit which we hadn't previously tried. We started off our trip in Koming's brand new, family-sized Toyota along the busy roads heading outwards from Ubud. In order to reach Mengwi, we passed through loads of rice paddies and some very scenic countryside. 

When we arrived at the temple we passed through an archway over a moat to reach the temple perimeter. This was surrounded by a woodland garden which we walked around to see within the temple as we were not permitted entry due to a ceremony that day. After walking around and witnessing the beginnings of the ceremonial gathering with hundreds of people in white robes, we headed back to the car to seek refuge from the 30degree heat. Koming looked most alarmed at our red faces.

We drove a while further towards the botanical gardens briefly stopping at a roadside viewpoint of the rice paddies, strawberry fields and mountains surrounding the area. One of the less attractive features of the region became apparent when we noticed the two black monkeys chained to a railing with a local man standing guard. We found out that these were here as a tourist attraction for taking pictures with: who would want a photo with these? A huge contrast to the free-ranging monkeys we have encountered in other areas of Bali.

Strawberries are obviously big business in Bali and the salespeople have no boundaries literally trying to thrust their punnets inside car windows as a marketing strategy. We dodged them however and made our way to the Botanical Gardens, which Koming drove us through due to the vast size of it. This isn't really a tourist attraction and there weren't many fellow foreigners here as it mostly an area of relaxation for locals. 

Driving through, Koming didn't really seem to know where he was going and it was almost as if he were the tourist and we the guides as we were given a map in Balinese we couldn't read and had to direct him. He took us to a number of interesting places. Firstly a temple we weren't supposed to go into housing extremely wild and aggressive monkeys, a landfill site and a tree complete with bees nest (he then shrieked hysterically when they came near us). After being ushered back into the car we decided to take the lead although this little detour was enjoyable all the same. The main things we visited were the cactus garden, the orchid garden, greenhouses, fountains and sculptures depicting the story of Rama and Sita. It was really well-maintained and we wish we'd had the foresight to take a picnic! 

After a little snack and refreshments, we continued to Bedugul where we wanted to see another one of Balis diverse temples, Pura Ulun Danu. Set at the side of Lake Bratan, the temple again has a highly scenic backdrop. This perhaps explains why there was a wedding photo shoot going on whilst we were there. 

A few other points of interest around the temple were some very strange animal statues, an iguana, some very over-excited Chinese tourists who kept trying to sneakily take photos of us and a kid who kindly threw a rock at us. Walking around the grounds, we took in the beautiful view and took another countless amount of photos before heading back to the car as the rain started. A long drive back to Ubud and a chilled night of pizzas and fruit shakes and we called it a day. 

The following day, continuing with the relaxing theme, we didn't do much besides take advantage of the pool in a neighbouring guesthouse which we were allowed to use for free. We lounged about enjoying the good weather and the lovely gardens surrounding the pool. After some local indonesian specialities in the evening we prepared for a much busier time the following day. 

We had organised for Koming to take us for another full day trip, but as he had worked a night shift the previous night and was running on less than 3 hours sleep, he organised for a friend to drive and he came along for the ride. We drove first to a cave on the outskirts of Ubud called Goa Gajah or 'Elephant Cave' most notable for its demonic carvings at the entrance. Surrounding this area there is also a small waterfall and a forest which you can walk through. Walking towards to the car we were greeted by a crazy guy covered in tattoos brandishing a snake at us so we had to do a sprint back to Koming. 

Once back in the safety of the car, we drove further through some more rice paddies (a running theme in Bali). We had to take a brief stop off because the winding roads were inciting my travel sickness but after a quick vomit into the rice paddies (sorry if that's too much information), we continued onwards to Besakih, the Mother Temple of Bali. Upon arrival we paid for our tickets thinking that was the only expense. What actually transpired however was that we would have to also pay for the services of a guide as you aren't allowed to enter alone (complete unavoidable tourist racket). 

The guide did however give us a lift up the steep hill to the temple at its summit and approaching from this angle you could appreciate the vast size of the monument. When we walked in there was a huge grassy courtyard and the guide informed us that this had always been used as a sight for ritualistic animal sacrifices (tigers and lions among many others) with the most recent having occurred in the late 1970s. Something tells me the likelihood of this happening is very slim thankfully.

Within the huge complex there were a number of different temples which would be used by different classes of people- one for the educated scholars, one for the workers, one for the monks, one for the foreigners etc. There were hundreds and walking to the very top you could see them all clearly from a different vantage point. The guide pointed them all out to us along with grabbing my camera at every opportunity to take photos of us and showed us a cool plant which moved when you touched it, Mimosa.

We walked back down towards the car (the downhill walk being a lot easier than the uphill one). After this we headed to the Kintamani area which is most notable for its proximity to Mount Batur, one of the most active volcanoes on Bali, along with the volcanic lake at its base. We had to pay to get into the village (Bali really knows how to make money from tourists) and had a coffee in the restaurant to shelter from the rain. Thankfully this had an excellent view of the mountain and was a great place from which to take photos. The volcano is so active we could actually see plumes of volcanic steam above its crater. We could also see a higher yet less active neighbouring volcano- Mount Agung.

On the way back we stopped in another small village in order to view some more of the beautiful scenery of Bali. Yes, you guessed it, we also had to pay to get in this village to see yet more rice paddies but it was one of the nicest views so far and we're only talking about 20p each. A couple of things in this area made us laugh including this guy...

And these...

With this being our last full day in Bali, it meant that another flight was on the horizon, this time towards Thailand. Saying goodbye to Papa and Lucky, enjoying a pancake breakfast and after a quick farewell phonecall from Koming, we made our way to the airport. Shelling out the Indonesian departure tax (another way to make money from tourists) we embarked the plane bound for Bangkok...

Ubud, You're good!

After leaving Kuta, we spent a week in an inland town named Ubud, which is possibly most famous for it's appearance in the book and film Eat, Pray, Love (haven't read or seen it but I'm told this is the case). In keeping with this theme, it's very relaxing with a bar curfew of 10.30pm, a location in the centre of sprawling rice paddies, numerous yoga retreats and vegetarian restaurants and a very strong Hindu presence which is even more apparent than in other parts of Bali. We used Ubud as a base to explore other areas of a Bali and also to see the local attractions and it's great for this as it is so close to a lot of different villages.

Getting from Kuta up to Ubud proved to be something of a challenge. There are no public bus services on Bali so we had to organise transport with one of the numerous local tour operators. For the grand price of 60,000rupiah (about £3.50) we could hop on one of their shuttle buses- sounds good yes? Well for a start it was an hour late which was already irritating seeing as we had to sit with our stuff in the heat of Bali. When it eventually turned up it was some dude with his minivan which seated 9 with 7 people in it. There was no boot, no roof rack and people's luggage was already on our seats and in their laps. Basically we ended up with our legs sandwiched between a suitcase on the floor and Rob's two rucksacks and my holdall piled on top of us completely obstructing the entire back window. At one point our feet were touching the gear stick and safe to say it wasn't a great day to wear a dress. 

We arrived in Ubud and headed to our guesthouse, Bale Bali House. Possibly the nicest place we have stayed so far, this is a homestay where for £6 each a night we got- a private double room with ensuite, air conditioning and fan, free breakfast, free tea and coffee on tap, free access to a pool and daily room cleaning. Basically it was a palace for us. On top of this, it was run by the loveliest family who lived next door to the two rooms which they rent and could not have been more friendly and welcoming (including their dog, Lucky). A notable member of the family was the father of the owner (call me Papa) who was the most multi-talented individual we have ever encountered- chef/artist/plumber/builder/dog-walker and all-round good guy!

The next day, our first full day in Ubud, we decided to stay local and head to some nearby attractions. We walked the 10 minutes to the Sacred Monkey Forest which is one of the key tourist hotspots of Ubud centre. The forest is really cool with a huge troop of macaque monkeys (our favourites) living within it. They are still wild but seem to be somewhat accustomed to humans wandering through their habitats although if you get too close they aren't happy. One of the guys who worked there got them on our heads with crackers which was funny although I was slightly concerned it would poo on me. 

Even without the monkeys, the forest is definitely worth a visit. It's green and airy with a number of small shrines and the sacred monkey temple within it along with natural attractions such as a small stream and waterfall. There are numerous trails to walk along and when in its depths, it seems hard to imagine that a bustling town is right outside. 

Heading out of the forest, we walked along Monkey Forest Road which is one of the major streets in Ubud and passed by the various art shops which litter the street along with small stalls selling batik print clothing, pottery and other souvenirs (most of it less tacky than Kuta). It's apparent that one of the things Ubud is famous for is its art with a wide range of stores including those selling lower quality prints and artists workshops where you can commission one of the numerous local artists to create a custom piece for you. The road also has hundreds of statues of monkeys (obviously pointing towards to forest) ranging from whole monkey families to monkeys randomly riding turtles.

We stopped briefly for a drink to replenish us after walking around the hot and humid forest, it's crazy that we walked into a cafe and on one side of it was the main road filled with cars, motorbikes and shops and on the other side of it was the most perfect view of sprawling rice paddies. Nature is never far away in Ubud and most of the art we saw takes inspiration from this. We spied a turtle playing in a nearby pond (a source of great amusement to watch the effort he took getting out of the pond only to jump back in). We headed back to the house and after a quick dinner had the first of many quiet evenings (Ubud isn't the place to come for partying).

The next day, we again stayed local. After a bit of a lie-in our first stop was lunch and we visited a local Warung which we had read about online which is ran by the not-for-profit organisation, The Fair Future Foundation. This is aiming to provide free, basic healthcare for all of Bali and runs a free clinic which was opposite our homestay. As well as helping a good cause (all profits from the warung go to the foundation) we had a great meal of red curry for me and a giant chicken sandwich for Rob. Definitely worth checking out.

We headed to the market, Pasar Ubud, after this which again is focused mainly on art and homeware, in order to get some more Christmas shopping done (I'm up to 23kg already). I now think we're more prepared than we would be at home! Can't tell you what we bought because of various people reading this blog. We did do some extreme haggling however making our money stretch a bit further. The women are really persistent here and clearly are seasoned veterans at this game. At one point, people just started thrusting things at us and shouting out random numbers e.g. a camel box which we had expressed no interest in! The sellers of sarongs are perhaps the most frequent (mostly due to the huge amount of competition) but you need them to go into a lot of temples so the $1 they cost is probably worth it.

The following day, we ventured slightly further afield on foot heading to a nearby restaurant we had heard rave reviews about, Sari Organik. Housed next to a farm and with all home grown and organic produce we thought we'd give it a go. It also provided us with an excuse to take the lovely, scenic walk through the rice fields to get there. Passing by farmers with scary scythes wielding them with intent, women carrying hay bales on their heads and some very archaic looking farm machinery, this felt much more like authentic Bali. Sari Organik was good but not exceptional but the view from our table alone probably made the trek worth it. Our visit was made slightly more eventful by an incredibly obnoxious and loud group of tourists who seemed intent on discovering if every drink on the menu was a 'shake' or a 'smoothie' (not sure on the difference myself). 

We walked back to the guesthouse and after a relaxing day headed out for a quick bite in the evening. At nighttime in Ubud, we got accustomed to seeing two things- a large number of stray dogs who are unfortunately not very friendly (as my hand discovered when one tried to take a chunk out of it- thankfully not breaking the skin or I'd probably be having rabies jabs still) and also taxi drivers jumping out from the shadows (nearly giving you a heart attack in the process) trying to get you into their vehicles. Don't think this is the best marketing strategy!

Arriving back at the house, we were ready for an early night in preparation for a few full days outside of Ubud being welcomed by Papa painting one of his many portraits at 10pm on a Saturday night. More to follow...