We were pretty sad to be leaving the super chilled Nusa Islands, but excited for some change of scenery in Ubud. It’s more inland so we’ve not had any beach days here, but there’s lots to keep you busy.

We were driven to our hotel straight after getting off the fast boat in Sanur which took nearly an hour. We’re staying a fair way from the centre but it’s lovely accommodation. You have to walk down huge stairs to get down to our simple but quaint double room, right next to the outdoor pool which has a little river flowing next to it. We were relieved to have air conditioning AND boiling hot water for our showers! We headed out for a little walk around the area before realising there wasn’t much nearby (lots of clothes shops/mini marts but nowhere to eat that didn’t look like you’d get food poisoning!) so we headed back to the hotel and decided to get ready and get a Grab taxi to a restaurant in Ubud Central that Gaby’s friend had recommended. The town is really cute with lots of quirky eateries and another very chilled atmosphere. Our dinner was delicious and we then had a wander and tried out a few of the bars. Our taxi driver, whose name we still can’t pronounce and so called him by his easier nickname of Harry, had mentioned that he did site seeing tours and had had a cancellation for the next day and offered us a very good price for 10 hours of his services, so we jumped at the opportunity to have a full day of exploring Ubud!

Our day started with an 11am pickup and the first stop was the Luwak Coffee plantation where we got to sample several Bali coffees and teas for free, and we opted to try their very unique blend that is made from the coffee beans digested by a civet (an animal that looks like a cross between a Fox and a ferret). Apparently the beans ferment in the civets digestive tract and are then extracted from the civets poop... makes you wonder what human first looked at civet poop and thought “I think something delicious can be made from that!” The plantation & tour guide was great, and it overlooked stunning rice terraces and forestry. They had some swings you could pay to be strapped into and swing out over the pretty scenery, but there was a long queue so we decided to come back later to do that when it was less busy.

Our next stop was Gunung Kawi Temples where we had to dress in a Balinese skirt (see blog profile picture) and Harry joined us and explained a lot of their culture and traditions to us. For example; a lot of the temples have pools of water because they believe that if you show respect and worship the water it will listen and respond positively, as humans consist of 80% water and so there’s a strong link there. Harry shared many interesting beliefs with us and it was so interesting to listen to his stories. We drove past a tree with clothes hanging on it and he pointed it out explaining how people do it as a sign of respect to the tree. He also acted as our personal photographer here. He got us to stand at the top of a stairway at one point while he took a photo from the bottom because it looked like we were walking up into the clouds like a stairway to heaven. He was such a sweetie! He has the most infectious positive energy too. He told us that every morning him and his family sing a song together as soon as they wake up which is all about positivity and happiness and being a divine entity (he also sang it constantly in the car). He even sings it to his banana trees and attributes this as the reason he produces the most delicious bananas around!

The third stop was Tirta Empul Temple which was fairly similar but a lot more crowded. There were water pools you could bathe in to purify your soul, but we didn’t bother as we’re already pure enough! Only joking, it was very busy and you had to hire special gowns to wear and seemed like a lot of hassle, plus there were huge fish swimming around in there.

Fourth stop was Gianyar Elephant cave & waterfall which was ok. It was another temple and we were getting a bit bored of temples at this point. Next stop was Tegenungan waterfall which was pretty nice! But again, very busy. We didn’t swim in the water as we didn’t take our towels but lots of others were. It was quite nice standing near it and having the cool mist to cool us down (it was very hot that day). After that we had just enough time to make it back to Luwak Coffee plantation to do the swing over the forest before it got dark & the plantation closed. As we took turns the sun was slowly disappearing and the sky looked very pretty (although meant our pictures didn’t come out great as it got dark, but still a lovely experience).

Harry then dropped us to one of his favourite restaurants which is just a 5 minute walk from our accommodation. Apparently a family who lived in a kind of palace decided to open a restaurant in their back garden, and its now grown into a well known chain of restaurants across Indonesia. It was really beautiful and set amongst rice paddies with little rivers flowing through and all the tables were really spread out across the huge space. So we had a lovely end to the day dining in the palace gardens like Queens. Unfortunately, that night Gaby suffered awful food poisoning so we won’t be going back there. We had a nice chilled day the next day to allow her to recover. I also needed to recover the trauma of having the biggest & fastest spider I’ve ever seen terrorising us in our own room! We spotted it at about 4am. Gaby attempted to smack it with a shoe and missed as it was so fast and smarmy, and I then stayed awake for 3 hours just staring at it while it raced around our wall, before finally scurrying out of our door that I quickly opened when it headed that way (followed by stuffing a towel under the door crack so it could not return and I could FINALLY get some sleep).

Our final full day in Ubud included a trip to the Sacred Monkey Forest which was really fun. We were pretty on edge to begin with but soon relaxed around the monkeys and spent a few hours wandering the huge forest and watching them with fascination. After that we wandered into the town and had a nice Italian meal for tea, before deciding to walk off our big meal with a 30 minute walk home. BIG MISTAKE. Without realising, this resulted in us walking down a dark street where we were faced with three dogs barking aggressively and slowly closing in on us at one point. We both briefly feared for our lives, but we made it through unscathed. Next time we’ll just roll into a taxi after our pizza. Never again.

Harry offered to take us to Seminyak today, with some more site seeing along the way at another great price. So il fill you in on today’s antics when we get to Seminyak. Much love xxxx