First days in Ubud

The last days in Ubud (Bali) have been everything but boring. Thus, I am splitting the post for Ubud into multiple parts.

To get to Ubud we took the early morning ferry ⛴️ from Gili T. (Lombok) to Padangbai (Bali). It was almost the same experience as a few days before when we went into the opposite direction: it took much longer than advertised and because of missing air conditioning as well as high temperatures we were also sweating again like hell. 🥵
At the ferry terminal in Padangbai we probably met the most persistent taxi broker on the whole island. He was that determined to get us in the car 🚗 of one of his colleagues, that he followed us all the way to the cosy café (Orang-Orang) and waited for us near the entrance while we had some coffee, beer as well as a small lunch; not letting us out of his sight. 👀 On our way to the café we even stopped for Klara to exchange some money - it didn’t matter. He stayed at our side the whole time and probably waited for almost 1,5 hours 🕦 until we finally gave up and bargained with him an acceptable price for the 2-hour drive to Ubud. Needless to say that the drive was again characterized by many overtaking maneuvers that put the lives of others on the street at risk.

On our first night in Ubud we met with Oleg (who we knew from Bandung on Java) again for a revival dinner/drinks 🍹 at a really nice restaurant (Warung Gauri) that a French guy from the room in our hostel has recommended to us. It was a really funny evening, which allowed to share some travel stories as well as some plans & tips 🗺️ with each other. Oleg recommended the Balinese Cooking 🧑‍🍳 class to us which we have attended the next morning. Pick up was at 8 am. We went straight to a small market 🏬 where we could learn about the ingredients that we would be using that day. At the cooking class we were preparing typical Balinese dishes - most of the time with mainly the same basic ingredients (minced garlic 🧄, onion 🧅 and lemon grass 🌱 as well as diced tomato 🍅 , celery leaves 🍃 and a few spices 🔥). All in all we prepared 11 dishes for our delicious buffet. My favourite dish was the tuna fish ball soup 🥣 that we prepared as a starter. Obviously, Nasi Goreng and Mei Goreng were part of the main course. For desert we made banana dumplings with coconut rasps 🥥 and palm sugar 🌴 which were really good.
In the afternoon, I finally found some time to relax and to develop a rough plan 🗺️ for my remaining days in Indonesia, before Paula and I got a 30 min. foot massage as well as 30 min. head/neck/shoulder massage 💆. It was so good. I will probably go again in the next few days 😅
In the evening we met with Rico (who we knew from the snorkelling trip on Gili T.) and went for dinner, tested some bars and their cocktails 🍸 and agreed on things to do together on the next day.

The next morning we rented scooters 🛴 to explore the greater Ubud area. Although we already had some practice from our first tries on Lombok we knew that driving through Ubud center was no joke. Luckily, the traffic situation got much better once we were out of Ubud. Then it was actually fun to drive around. Our first stop was the Tegalalang rice terrace - a famous place for instagramers and a really touristy place indeed. To take pictures 📸 on one of the whips you had to pay 500.000 IDR (approx. 30 EUR). Absolutely not worth it in our opinion. Instead we bought a ticket for a 10th of the price to get in and walk around the place. Little did we know, that there was no access to the rice terrace and place is really small. We really felt ripped off and were disappointed. ☹️ I guess none of us liked this place. So we quickly got out of there.
Our next destination was a random waterfall 💦 on the way which Klara has nicely spotted from her scooter. This place was impressive since you could get really close to the approx. 15 m high waterfall and feel the power of its water. On the opposite side was a tall corridor completely covered in green plants 🌱 that we crossed to get to the exit. For our last stop for today we drove to the „Segara Windhu“ coffee plantation to learn about and try Luwak coffee ☕️ You might have heard about it: the Arabica beans are fermented in the stomach of the luwak cat. It sounds disgusting at first, but there is an elaborate cleansing process in place and the coffee tastes indeed very well. We went on a shopping spree in the „Segara Windhu“ shop before we left the place; and if I wouldn’t be traveling for 5 more months, I would have also bought more than just the cappuccino chocolate 🍫 😅
After that varied day, we drove back to our hostel in Ubud and went for dinner 🍲 in the „Warung Gauri“ restaurant (like 2 days before).
After dinner it was time to say „good bye“ to Klara & Paula 👋. They will leave Indonesia 🇮🇩 in a couple of days and I figured that there is still so much more to see and do in Ubud, Bali and elsewhere so that our travel plans do not match any longer.

So, if you read this, I can only repeat what I said then: it was really fun to travel with you for the past days. You have enriched my journey with many great experiences and I am grateful for that! 🙏

Safe travels & Take care 🫡Lue lisää