By the time we got to Ubud, we were looking to stay in the same place for a while. After many early starts to see the sunrise in Borobudur, Mount Bromo and Kawah Ijen, it’s nice to put up your feet and relax a bit.
The number one thing on our todo list for Ubud was: eat. Ohhhh, and we did! All kinds of glorious food. What a way to recharge (sometimes finding food you want in smaller places — e.g. vegetarian — can be a challenge).
And… coffee! Oh, coffee. How we’ve missed you. Fortunately, we were staying in the same street as Seniman’s coffee, which is great for all kinds of local coffee and brunch too.
As far as food and drink desires go, Ubud has it all. But the great thing about Ubud is that it also has so much more.
Monkey Forest
It’s the #1 touristic attraction: the monkey forest. This is basically a place where there are loads of monkeys being cheeky around humans, but no fences or anything. I had my own close encounter when a monkey jumped on my back and started opening the zipper on my bag. Monkey experience: tick.
But you don’t have to venture into the park to see the monkeys, because they come out onto the street too.
It’s fascinating to watch these creatures and how they behave when they’re… well, when they’re just chillin’.
Ubud: cultural center
People call Ubud a cultural place because there’s a lot of awesome Balinese and Hindu culture to soak up. You don’t even need to do anything special to see it; it just happens in the street. At least half a dozen times a procession of 30 or more people walked down the street, banging instruments and carrying offerings for some kind of special Hindu ceremony (they have a lot). It made a welcome change from the dawn call to prayer we’d become so accustomed to waking up to!
The other thing that’s striking about the Hindu culture on Bali are the canang sari. Every day, Balinese women prepare these small offerings as a ritual. They are placed out the front of houses and on the street as a way of maintaining balance between the Gods and the evil spirits.
Each morning the previous day’s offerings are removed and new ones put out the front of houses, temples, etc. It’s a beautiful sight but it does mean you have to watch where you walk!
It would be a mistake to go to Ubud and not see one of the evening dance performances at the many temples. The Balinese dancing is actually kinda freaky!
A home amongst the paddies
It has constantly surprised me in Indonesia how you can be in a busy street with loads of shops and then walk one street over and be greeted by lush green rice fields. It’s like they are hidden around every corner. Especially in Ubud.
One of the famous places to go and walk around the rice fields is Tegallalang. These terraced rice paddies use a shared irrigation system that was allegedly passed down by Rsi Markandeya, an 8th century priest who brought Hinduism to Bali from East Indian.
They have built paths for tourists to walk around (maintained by donation) and it is a lovely, serene and peaceful walk.
Once upon a time, a traveller uploaded a photo to the internet of them swinging on a rope swing with the rice fields in the background. And so the Ubud swing was born; plastered around tour catalogs, so tourists alike could replicate the Instagrammable shot. There are so many of these swings that in the end we succumbed and paid IDR 150,000 (€9).
Reviews of our Ubud swing experience: “unexciting”, “probably the least thrilling experience ever”, “anticlimactic”; we agreed at the end this was the most overpriced thing we paid for on the trip so far. But hey, we got the Instagram photo!
Nightlife
Not only is Ubud a good area for all kinds of food, but it also caters to the many tourists and has some top quality watering holes too!
We got a chance to catch up with our long-time Indonesia traveller friends Jos and Juliët and our new-found friend Dave.
Ubud was a little home away from home. After recharging our batteries on some culture, massages, Western food and a dash (or more) of tequila, we were more than ready to hit the beaches.
More Ubud in pictures
Taxi? Maybe tomorrow?