Ubud, Bali
We stayed 5 nights in Ubud. A town, in the mountains of Bali, for yoga nuts, old school hippies and just all round chillers (sounds perfect). Towards the end, we were learning the top spots for food, drinking and more. Ubud is one of those places that‘s of tourist traps, selling poor food at inflated prices but if you know where to look it has some gems. Like Warung Bernadette, a delightful Indonesian that served up some local specialities. We paid 12 pounds for our meal, expensive by Indonesian standards but well worth the money. We did get a lot of food. For cheaper but no less delicious food check out Dewa Warung and Puspa’s Warung, food for both of us at these places cost around a fiver.
We spent our first night at Banana Homestay, a cute cheap homestay that offered us bananas on arrival and served bananas with breakfast in both pancakes and a fruit salad. Just a shame Kathy isn’t a fan of bananas. Still, we enjoyed our night here. The following morning we got full hippie and went to the Yoga Barn for a gentle yoga session. It was my first experience of yoga and it was surprisingly awesome. Essentially it was just stretching whilst meditating, although Kathy assures me it gets more difficult. We were only doing the level 1 yoga to be fair. I left feeling relaxed and ready for the day.
First, we moved into our new place for the next three days. The Happy Mango Tree hostel. It was nothing special. Hostels in Indonesia don’t seem to have the same friendly, social feel as other hostels I’ve visited throughout Europe. Although we did make friends with a sound couple from London later in our stay. My advice on accomadation is if your happy in a place just stay there, packing up and moving constantly really takes it out of you. We changed accomadation 3 times whilst in Ubud, wheras we should of just stuck with the banana place.
In Ubud, we were in full tourist mode. Our first sight being the Holy Monkey Forest. A holy forest full of monkeys, or a forest full of holy monkeys. Although maybe they are both holy, I’m not too sure. Monkeys certainly live a blessed life here, being fed an endless supply of bananas by swarms of tourists. You would think they would get sick of them, but they go bananas at the sight of one. I let Kathy be in charge of them.
The following day we did my favourite activity of Ubud. An authentic cooking class at an organic farm in the mountains outside Ubud. We heard about it from a recommendation, always be on the hunt for these, and although more pricey than some it was definitely worth it. The price included door to door pick up, small classes (there were 3 of us) and the teaching of 6 different Indonesian dishes. Furthermore, we were shown around their farm and picked fresh ingredients to use in our cooking. Mum, it would have been right up your street.
I thought I knew my fruit and veg pretty well but I hadn’t heard of the majority of items shown to us. I mean, check out the size of this passion fruit.
The food we made was proper tasty too, not sure if I will be able to replicate any of it again but you never know. It was a worthwhile experience even if only to understand more about the local food I was eating most days. The most useful thing I learnt to make was probably Bumbu Bali, a spice mix that Balinese people use for most dishes. Look it up, its good.
The following day was a bit of a disaster, we fell into a tourist honeypot trap. It started off so well too. The night before we met the Brittish couple and together decided to hire a local driver to take us around the sites. The tour started with a visit to a coffee plantation to see Luwak cats, kept in tiny cages, that shit out coffee beans, not very nice on the cats but the coffee was nice. Following that we visited a waterfall for a swim, by far the best part of the tour.
It was all downhill after that. We trusted our driver, a friendly, affable fellow, to take us to a local, cheap warung. Instead, we got the worst and most expensive meal of our trip to date. We were drawn in by picturesque views but the prices and the beige buffet food should have been enough to make us turn around and get back in the car. I don’t know why we stayed, but we did and paid the price for it. At least I won’t be making that mistake again.
Top tip, you should never be paying more than 50000rp (some of the best food I have had has been 20000rp) for some standard Indonesian dish. If you are it should be top quality food at a place you know is reliable (guide book or first hand recommendations). To rub salt into our wounds as we were beginning to eat more tour cars were turning up, certainly some shady deals going on between the guides and the warung owner.
After the meal our tour took a rather sour turn, the driver after hearing our disappointment with him denied any knowledge that the place was basically shite. He also became far less friendly and engaging. After lunch, we saw a decaying botanical garden and a fairly poor temple on a lake and some rice paddies. Each time we had to hand out more money for the entrance fee. Turning what we thought would be a cheap day into a rather pricey one. This poor tour was recommended by our hostel as well, another example of how they differ from the ones in Europe.
Me and Kathy set ourselves up for a marathon day and night. The tour left us fairly tired but we decided to sign up for the Mount Batur sunrise trek the following morning (1.30am). I told you, full tourist mode!
The trek itself was a hard slog, up a 1717m tall mountain, in the dark. It felt like it went on forever. The last part was almost vertical. Here we are looking rather bedraggled at the top.
We did get some a couple of breaks in the clouds, the views were stunning, but it was definitely more cloud than anything else at the top. Overall the trek was just about worth doing, there was certainly that sense of achievement when we reached the top. However, like most things in Bali, it is another tourist attraction that is being milked for every penny it has got. We must have climbed the mountain with nearly 500 other people. Leading to a frustrating stop start ascent and a treacherous descent where one person falling could have lead to us all tumbling down like dominoes. They certainly aren’t fussy on the health and safety over here.
To treat our weary bodies after our trek, which we returned from at 11am, we stayed at Biyukukung Suites & Spa. Here we just melted by the pool all day, it was lovely. Look at our fancy bamboo hut looking out over the rice paddies.
The nightlife in Ubud was relaxed, with most of the bars playing live music. The best being the Buddha Bar. Ubud definitely caters towards an older crowd, but I enjoyed it. I much prefer being able to hear other people speak when I am out on the town. Also, there was a reggae bar. Of course, we went there, this one was rather more full than the last one we were in.
Looking back on our time in Ubud I can’t help thinking we went a bit overkill on the tourist sights we missed out on what Ubud is really famous for. Just kicking back and relaxing. I could definitely have done some more yoga. Ubud’s nightlife probably had a lot more to offer as well. So my advice to my future self and anyone else would be. Do I really want to see this field, temple, rock or whatever it may be? Or would I be happier where I am? Also, I would put faith in the first-hand recommendations from other tourists, if they have done it then they should know what it’s like.
Another thing I have to say about Ubud is that it hasn’t escaped the tourism boom of Bali. While not as bad as Kuta, I imagine it is a shadow of its former glory. The main thing that highlights this is the scooters, you can’t escape them.
Scooters in Ubud and probably all of Indonesia are at the top of the pack. They can go the wrong way down a one-way street and on the pavements. Basically, anything is acceptable. It is not uncommon to see families of 5 on a single scooter, babies an all.
My advice to dealing with this is if you can’t beat them join them. This requires confidence on a scooter, the locals can be nutters on the road. I was, unfortunately, lacking this confidence at the time. However, once on a bike the whole of Bali opens up to you. No more dodgy tour drivers, no more planned routes. You can explore the island at your own pace, it is definitely the best way to do it. However, BE CAREFUL!
Finally, some advice to all first-time travellers. We did what most people do when they go on holiday. Blast a ton of cash in a short amount of time without even realising. Partly down to the strange currency, partly down to the excitement of being on holiday. But mostly down to not setting a budget. We didn’t even try to have a daily budget, we had no idea how much each day we were spending so we just spent what we wanted when we wanted. And we spent a lot. So, to avoid this at least try to have a figure of how much you want to spend a day, only keep this in your wallet. Obviously, you can and will go over but at least you will know about it. It took us the best part of the first week to even realise howmuch we were spending.
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Right that’s it for Ubud, bit of a longer one I hope I haven’t bored you. Next stop, the Gili Islands. The home to all night parties, lawlessness and turtles.
