Bali Part 5: Ubud of My Heart
Happy Monday!
The weekends always fly by too fast, am I right? This weekend was a scorcher in Melbourne. On Sunday we went to our first class at our new gym. Later we tried to go for a walk in the neighbourhood and get some groceries. It was too hot though. We kept stopping in stores just to cool off for a few minutes and then rushed back home to our air conditioning.
Today's post is the last one about our Bali trip over Christmas.
Our drive to Ubud was only 50 km from Sunday's beach club but it took over two hours to drive there. Even though it was a slow drive, it was an opportunity to check out more of Bali. And it was so different than I expected. I didn’t do much research before our trip, so in my mind, I was going somewhere very exotic. Except it was very modern and developed and charming, but just didn’t feel like the Ubud I had imagined.
We drove through Ubud town to get to our resort and it was a much bigger than I was expecting (you may remember Ubud from the book/movie Eat Pray Love by ). There were lots of great looking restaurants and shops, but where was the rainforest?
When we got to our villa I got my first taste of Balinese culture and the greenery I was looking for. Tj and I only had a few days in Ubud so not very much time to explore, but we definitely want to go back to this part of Bali.
Our first day there we walked around Ubud town. It was so hot! We had some lunch and found a nearby Starbucks so I could get the biggest iced drink they have. We wandered around some markets but we didn't last long. We went back to our villa and hung out in the pool for the rest of the afternoon to cool off.
On our last day there we hired our favourite driver Putu to take us around to some of the touristy sites before driving Tj and me to the airport later that night.
We got lucky. It was hot, but not nearly as hot as the previous day. Our first stop was the Tegalalang Rice Terrace. Now, this was the Ubud of my heart! I've never seen anything like it. It was so different and beautiful. I didn't really notice any bugs but it is a bit of a hike, so if you ever go make sure to wear shoes you can walk in. Definitely, a must see if you are ever in Bali!
Next stop was the famous Monkey Forest. Tickets were about $5.00 a person and it was definitely worth it. There are monkeys everywhere and they are not shy! We had read that they can be aggressive and steal your things like your sunglasses or stuff from your bag, so we left everything in the car except for our cameras. The monkeys left us alone, but it was pretty weird to see them running by right beside you. It was a really cool experience. The trees in this forest were pretty spectacular too, with lots of vines hanging down. It was a great way to spend our afternoon and another must see.
Earlier in the day when we were at lunch, we found out our flight was delayed by 4 hours! Just like had happened on the way there. We were now supposed to leave at something stupid like 2:30 am. We debated staying another night but weren't getting very lucky finding any accommodation. It all worked out in the end and thankfully when we dropped Dave and Lauryn off at their next hotel, they let us come in for a swim to cool off and change before our flight. It's been a long time since I slept on the floor at an airport but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do lol.
I miss our Bali trip and travelling! My next big trip is to Canada but Tj and I are starting to think about our holiday in April! It's going to be so much fun to plan it all out. They say you should book your next vacation soon after you get back so that you always have something to look forward to. That's nice but it makes me kind of sad in a way. How can we make the things we love like travelling our full-time life?!
Hope you have a great week :)
You can read more about our Bali trip here:
Bali Trip: Seminyak (oops I didn’t number this one properly)