Our second week in Bali we moved areas, up to the artsy Ubud. We had rented a small apartment on Air BnB from Made (which turns out to be a very common name in Bali), and both him and his place were charming. We had an upstairs private section of their home with a small lounge/ kitchen, which was open and had the most amazing views across the rice fields. Off of this was a bedroom and bathroom. Made’s place was just out of the main town of Ubud, about a 5-10 minute drive so we rented a scooter from him for the week (35, 000 a day) which gave us the freedom to explore the area as we pleased. Just down the road from the house was a small intersection which had a couple of small warungs (local eateries) dishing up noodles, suckling pig, a satay vendor and small shop for basic groceries. Perfect for quick meals in the evening and the satay was delicious!!
After a pretty awful car journey we got some lunch from one of the warungs and then scooted into the town to the coco supermarket to get a couple of groceries. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the apartment, enjoying the views, eating nasi goreng (15 000) and satay (10 000 for 10 sticks) and making brownies! The next morning we drove to Mas market and then stopped in at a more local supermarket, Nammas, for a bigger grocery shop for the week which was much more affordable. We headed back to ours for breakfast and coffee before heading into town. We parked up and explored Ubud’s streets on foot. Ubud is made up of two long main intersecting streets full of shops, art galleries, coffee shops, souvenirs shops and yoga studios. It is definitely touristy but had a much nicer feel to it than Kuta/Seminyak with more of a focus on an artistic, yoga lifestyle, which is more in line with how you expect Bali to be. Exploring the top road we stumbled across the Ubud Royal palace (Puri Saren Ayung), which was open to the public for viewing the front section of the palace. It was beautiful and displayed the wonder of Balinese artwork and architecture. We also looked around the Saraswati temple. Also known as the water temple, it is a gorgeous intricate temple with a foreground of water and lily pads.
From town we decided we walk to a coffee place highly recommended on trip advisor, Kahiang Coffee, was a bit out of town and gave us a chance to walk through the side streets of Ubud, out through a couple of fields. The place had amazing views of the scenery and offered a range of western coffee as well as Balinese coffee (12 000). I decided to give it a go, however apparently Balinese coffee is just pure coffee grounds soaked in hot water, not making for a nice experience. Instead we went back to western coffee having flat whites (30 000), which were great. When we eventually made it back to our scooter we headed back to the apartment for a bit. In the late afternoon we drove to Petulu to view the Kokokan (herons). After driving past the place a couple of times we eventually found it and grabbed a seat on the viewing platform (20 000 each). As the sunset more and more Herons flocked back to the trees around us in Petulu. It was very peaceful and magical to watch as well as having an incredible view looking over the fields. In the evening we drove to JunJungan village to watch a Kecak fire show. There are lots of these advertised in Ubud in various different villages. We got great seats and watched the performers in their traditional costumes telling the ancient stories of Rama and Shiva through fire dance. The costumes were stunning, with performers also in monkey masks and a giant dragon. It was an amazing show and experience, definitely worth the money and also providing income to the local people/ village.
It was an early start the next day, getting up before 6am to do the Camphuon Ridge Walk, hoping for some great views. It was a nice walk and not to long. We walked a small trail along the ridge of fields and through a few gardens. However we didn’t manage to get any spectacular views due to it being quite overcast. As this hadn’t taken us long we headed to Sabak Juwuk Manis Trail which took us through the local rice fields where we saw some people working in the fields and some rice terraces before heading back for breakfast. We decided we wanted to go see some sites further a field as we had the entire day left. We headed out to Tegalalang for Ceking rice terraces. This is a popular spot and we were definitely not alone with lots of other tourists and buses filling this area. The area has numerous restaurants, cafes and houses offering passers by the best view of the stepped rice fields. We found a spot to park up and walked along until we found a spot to look out over the terraces and take some nice pictures. The terraces were stunning but we decided we didn’t need to walk through them or pay a guide to take us along due to already exploring the rice terraces in the Philippines. Instead we hoped back on the scooter and continued all the way out to Lake Batur, an 1-2 hour drive from Ubud. Driving out this far meant we got away from the busy places and to see all the countryside and local villages. We made our way eventually down to the lakeside, which was surrounded by the mountains and volcanoes. Our lakeside spot was nice but we got harassed a bit by a couple of locals trying to sell us things. Instead we drove around the lakeside edge and found a quiet spot to ourselves- to take some nice and some stupid photos. To my surprised mid stupid pose I turned around and Dave was on one knee. I thought he had tripped over until he pulled out a ring and proposed! Obviously I said yes. Amazing surprise and perfect location! After enjoying the moment we hopped back on the scooter and raced back to Ubud as Dave had made reservations for us at a fancy restaurant. Sayan House restaurant’s main draw was it’s incredible view, sitting at the top of a valley looking out over the rice terraces and fancy hotels. We enjoyed celebrating with the view, some drinks, the sunsetting and then some interesting Japanese- Mexican fusion food.
In our blissful bubble we were picked up at 6.30am the next morning to do a cooking class together at Periuk (350 000 each). First stop was at the local market to pick up all the unique and exotic ingredients for the dishes we would be cooking. On the way to the class we also stopped at a rice field where the process of growing the rice was explained to us. We arrived at a traditional Balinese house, a Kampung, for the class where we were given a refreshing welcome drink before the layout of the Kampung was explained. A Kampung is made up of a number of small separate rooms/ areas. The north is for grandparents, west is for the family, south is where the kitchen area is situated and the east is for ceremonies with a bed to lay the deceased. There is always a temple between north and east sections. The ladies will move into the men’s Kampung once married. They also explained that there are only limited names in Balienese culture, with there being specific names, which indicated the order you are born. Wayan is most common for first-born children (also may have Putu, Gede or Ni Luh), second child is usually Made (also may be Nengah, Ngurah or Kadek), third born is usually Nyoman or Komang and then fourth born is Ketut. Any more than this and there is usually a ‘little’ placed in front of one of the other names. After the interesting cultural facts we were taken to their personal kitchen area where it was explained how they make coconut oil by grating young coconut with their shells and boiling it is water, where the oil and water then separates. We made our way to the area where we would be learning to cook the dishes, it being an open kitchen looking out onto the fields behind it. Before starting our cooking we first made some traditional Balinese offerings. Then we made a range of dishes, each taking it in turns to chop, pound spices, fry or compile dishes. At the end we all sat down for a feast of dishes of our own making. After an early start and in a slight food coma we spent the rest of the day just relaxing and pottering about our apartment.
The next day we drove out to Nyuh Bojog to Old Friends Coffee where we had some good coffee, with them doing pour over coffee as well as standard western cappuccino style coffees (25 000) and treating ourselves to some delicious cheesecake (36 000). Perfect excuse to chat about silly wedding ideas! We drove around the Peliatan area and had some sayan food at a local warung, (gado gado 12 000, fried rice 18 000). We meandered around the back roads just enjoying the drive and the scenery before heading into Mas for some bits. The following day after getting carried away looking at wedding venues back at home we got a coffee in Ubud at Ippo (flat whites 22 000 each) before getting at 9 angels. This was a unique restaurant experience where they set up different vegetarian buffets each day that you help yourself too, where you then pay in jars on the table (veg buffet with rice 5000, 4000 for other dishes). They also have an option where people can donate money to provide people that need it with a lunch voucher. The evening was relaxing at our apartment writing blogs, skyping family with news and doing research on up coming places.
Our last full day in Ubud we first organised transportation (van and boat) for getting to Gili T from Ubud before making the most of having a scooter. We set out to Taman Ayun temple driving through the small picturesque villages and rice fields. The temple was very pretty and situated on a lake. We walked around the grounds, which were well manicured and had a range of small temple sculptures (20 000). From here we continued on the scooter up into the mountains stopping in multiple places along the road on the climb up and down to admire Pucung rice terraces where we could. The mist drew in in places making it more difficult to get a good view but when it cleared the sights were spectacular. We stopped at Ulun Danu Beratan lake temple, however due to it being 50 000 entrance and the weather being very cloudy, making it unlikely for a good view we decided not to go in and instead got some lunch at one of the local warungs opposite (Nasi Goreng 10000, Bakso Ayam with egg (7000). After refuelling we wound our way back down through the mountains through the stunning views and back to Mas. We dropped in for a coffee and to explore the art gallery at Senimen coffee (different types of flat whites 34-37 000). Our final evening we enjoyed our lovely apartment and got some more delicious satay! In the morning we said goodbye to Ubud, the air bnb and Made, being picked up to head to the island of Gili T. There is so much more we could have done in and around Ubud such as the monkey forest and lots of waterfalls. It is also a perfect place to explore other places around Ubud with volcanoes, mountains and the coast not too far. Ubud was a very beautiful, enjoyable place and will always have be a special place for us.
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