In the middle of the most famous Indonesian Island is this gem. I only had a few days here but I truly enjoyed this town. It has everything you need: Temples for the culture chasers, bars for the drinkers, good restaurants for the fine diners, rice fields for the nature lovers, a good market for the shoppers and naughty monkeys for the rebels.
I was very lucky to find the wonderful hostel that I stayed at. It was called ‘No problem hostel‘. They took us to a different place than what we were expecting and it was even better than was advertised. Our dorm was in a log cabin with a beautiful new bathroom; it even had a bath. There was a swimming pool and the cabins looked over a rice field. We had free breakfast included which was pancakes and the staff were really helpful and friendly. The only issue with the place was that it was quite a distance from the centre. However, the staff were very willing to run you into the centre and even pick you up later.
I had an airport pickup arranged for 300,000 ($22) which was quite a good deal as Ubud is about 1.30 – 2 hours from the airport. The owner of the hostel was the one who picked me up and the next day she offered to take us on a bit of a tour of the area for free.
Others from the dorm and myself went with Lina around Ubud. It was a great day. First we went to the rice fields. You can walk down into them, but they do expect about a 10.000 donation.
Then we took a trip to a museum/ shop to see an artist’s work. Wow! His stuff is amazing. It is so intricate and each piece is individual in its own way. His work is famous all over the world and he has met some very famous people in his line of work.
Tirta Empul Water Temple
We also took a lovely trip to go and see Tirta Empul Water Temple where we took part in the water ritual. To begin with you need to give an offering and meditate on a wish. Once you have made the offering, you enter the water and start praying in front of the fountains. It involves doing many rituals three times starting in front of one of the fountains, and then you repeat this on 14 fountains in total. As you can see, we got really into it.
The sarongs you can rent at the temple and there is a changing room available.
Monkey Forest
In the centre of the town is a forest, filled with monkeys, for people to explore. You must be careful though as they are quite mischievous.
Other adventures
As I said earlier, Ubud has something for everyone. We went white water rafting the following day for 250.000 ($18). It was quite a long trip and very well organised with all the appropriate protective gear etc. It had mixed reviews on how good the rapid were though, but I think that depends on what you are used to.
In the evening we all treated ourselves to sushi at a very good restaurant in the centre of town called Toro Sushi. The sushi was so good that we kept ordering more and the bill was still not really expensive.
Balinese dance
Most nights you should be able to go and watch the famous Balinese dance shows. They usually start at 7 p.m. at one of the hundreds of temples in the town.
Overall this is definitely a place I could have spent longer at, and I would definitely go back there. Thank you UBUD!!
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