Less than an hour from the beaches of Kuta and Seminyak, Ubud feels like miles from anywhere. A super cute town with boutiques, yoga studios, galleries, health food stores and restaurants all nestled amongst rice paddies. It’s where they filmed Eat Pray Love if that helps.
I am still in shock at the amount of tourists here, but I’ll just have to get over it. The town is adorable and it would be easy to spend a couple of days just exploring and not leaving the town itself. Many of the houses are in little complexes with temples and gardens. Being a predominately Hindu island locals walk around and place offerings in the mornings – in front of shops, on statues, in doorways. Everywhere. Banana leaves filled with flowers, inscence and other treats for the gods. There are cooking courses, art courses, drumming courses, silversmithing courses and more. Yes, it’s easy to stay awhile here.
(Our garden)
(Gates to people’s homes)
(An offering on our deck)
(Being a tourist)
We immersed ourself in the culture, eating vegetarian organic food, reading the paper in cafes and doing workshops. We did a silversmith course which was sooo fun! It was 3 hours and you could pretty much make and keep anything you liked. We pounded the silver and pumped the foot bellows for the blow torch and ended up with 3 pieces between us. We were most impressed with ourselves!
(Being perplexed during my silversmithing course)
(It starts as a piece of metal and ends as a masterpiece!)
We spent time in the Sacred Monkey Forest. Almost in the heart of Ubud this beautiful forest was home to 3 temples (including one with statues of demons eating children!) and about 1 billion monkeys. Oh yes, all lovely until one of them sneaks up on you an rips open your bag looking for food. Or clambers up your arm to reach the banana you are holding in the air… Don’t love rabies so much anymore!
(Brotherly love)
Dragging ourselves out of the city we explored the surrounding area. We sat on the banks of the river and watched white-water rafters go by. It seems to be one of the popular activities here, but we were content to sit on the sidelines.
We hired a motorbike and rode to Jutiliwah where the famous rice terraces were. After 2.5 hours of riding (we may have taken a slight detour) we arrived to discover it was well worth the discomfort. The hills had been meticulously carved out and planted with rice paddies with water that filled one and cascaded down to the next. Everything was green and lush. The tourists in minivans would come and go, stopping briefly to pose for photos, but not really taking it in. I wonder if they actually took in the beauty or if it was just something they had to tick off a list.
(Mum taking photos of herself on the back of the bike)
We biked to the Elephant Cave, site of religious treasures but much more notable for the stunning surrounds. In the earthquake of 1917 the Buddhist temple had fallen down the hill to where they remain to this day, now covered by moss and vegetation.
(The mossy rocks are the remains of the temple)
And of course, there was the small matter of a birthday. How does one celebrate such a momentous occasion in Bali? Champagne brunch of course! Then massages. And top it off it with Cuban tapas. Perfect. Thanks for all the birthday love team! X
(Presents!)
(Champagne brunch)
(The restaurant surprised me!)
