Ubud: The Heart & Soul Of Bali

Travel makes an individual modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world

Since arriving in Bali, I have been so excited to travel north, deep into the depths of Bali and explore Ubud. After hearing how much culture Ubud has to offer, we decided to ditch beaches for the day and head inland. The hours drive was spectacular and we were keen to explore new territories. The Balinese countryside is simply breathtaking and the green rice fields that stretch out for miles are something everyone must see.

The quaint villages were so much more remote than we were used to seeing and nothing was better than having the open country roads at our disposal after being so used to the crammed streets and chaotic roads. The road to Ubud was twisty and you pretty much could feel the culture come alive as we approached. The streets of Ubud were lined with traditional style stops, picturesque religious temples and fancy little bistros and welcoming restaurants.

We were starving by the point of reaching Ubud and checked our trusty trip advisor for the best places to eat. Surprisingly when we approached Ubud’s number one choice, Run’s Warung we were amazed to see such a tiny little place. There was barely enough room for 10 diners, no seating expect little cushion pads on the floor and the kitchen was practically outside. We questioned our choice but then thought screw it, lets just try it! I think this is the first time ever I’ve had to walk through a kitchen to be seated!

Now we were used to cheap eats but this place was on a whole new level with every meal costing around 15,000 IDR (0.71p) So we did what anyone would do and just ordered pretty much everything on the menu. The food was actually insanely good, served on little plastic plates at our ankle height table.

It felt a bit like being in an Indonesian family’s front room while they cooked us up a feast and it was splendid! I recommend to anyone who is travelling in Ubud to check this place out. Your food is cooked basically in-front of you, made entirely from scratch and it tastes so fresh! The flavours were so intense, even better than some of the larger restaurants we have been to. The staff were equally as friendly which made our decision to try it out a big success.

Our days activities centred around a trip to the Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. I would suggest to everyone that they should go here! It is just so much fun! The area has been so well conserved and the space allows for proper interaction with the monkeys who are not confined in any way to a cage or isolated lifestyle.

The philosophical goal of the sanctuary is to create peace and harmony between visitors all over the world and this magical place certainly achieves that. The grounds are also home to three historical temples: The Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal, The Pura Beji and the Pura Prajapati, each constructed in around the 1300’s. The latter temple also has a cemetery attached where graves lay for those only temporarily buried until mass cremations take place, every five years! (very spooky).

Both the monkeys and the temples inspire a lot of traditional Balinese artwork. Further into the sanctuary there is an art exhibition centre where you are able to purchase these works of art (unfortunately it wouldn’t of been very practical to make any purchases). There are also other areas within the forrest which are only accessible to those wishing to pray or who are wearing correct Balinese praying attire, we just left them to it!

Back to the monkeys though, these little creatures are adorable! You certainly are not short of interaction with them as long as you offer them bananas which you can purchase at different points throughout the forrest. We managed to get some great pictures with them and we also got to walk through some incredible jungle surroundings.

I hope they never change this place as it is just so refreshing to see animals able to roam around freely after being subjected to only seeing monkeys in cages at the Zoo back home. I feel Zoo’s just won’t be the same after that experience!

After leaving the forrest we stopped off for a milkshake at a one of Ubud’s tropical view bar spots. The views were so lovely and a nice seat was welcomed after that long trek through the sanctuary.

We carried on exploring Ubud and came across a quirky little co-working space called Hubud. Gary was in awe of all the digital nomads who were sprawled in a beautiful garden area whist working away on their MacBooks running their online businesses.

This place was a haven for those who need to work whilst traveling and we wished that we had known in advance so we could of brought our gear down to work away in the peaceful surroundings (with decent internet).

We carried on through the garden and came across the most amazing villa set in the grounds of a mystical little garden area with a perfect swimming pool and idyllic surroundings. We are still unsure what that place actually was and we are pretty sure we stepped onto some unknown territory. Still, it was pretty unreal to see, I wanted to move right in there and then!

After a long journey home we were both shattered and wanted something quick and easy for dinner. As Echo Beach is so close we decided to take a drive down the opposite side of the beach to see what was on offer.

We were amazed at how many restaurants were actually down by the ‘quieter’ side of the beach and we welcomed the smell of BBQ food coming up from the sand. Unfortunately we were too late to take full advantage of the BBQ as most of the meats had already been eaten but we took note to come again, earlier next time.

We settled for a little warung right on the beach and sat peacefully watching the waves through the darkness. I ended up having more noodles with chicken satay and scoffed the lot!

It had been an incredible day and I can’t wait to get back to Ubud and have more adventures…

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Lots of Love

Xx

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