Asia

After a week it was time to leave Ubud but we had a fantastic and relaxing time here. The lush green surroundings, special hindu buildings, fresh healthy-tasty food, friendly locals in traditional clothing, beautiful flowers and weird plants and the smell of incense makes this place special. It is very touristy and westernised in some places, only white people sit in bars and american pop songs are played at most restaurants but if you leave the crazy main roads which are full of cars and scooters you can find more peaceful and traditional places. We had lots of great local food; fried rice with pork or chicken, fried banana, tofu, tempe (fermented soy beans, similar to tofu but more chunky) lots of weird vegetables and fruits, balinese omlette, fish sate, delicious sauces with seeds or peanuts, fresh vegetable and noodle soup, fruit juices, banana panckes and lots of rice! We accidently became almost vegan/vegetarian for most of the time because a lot of the best dishes dont have meat. Once we bought some food from a stall wrapped in massive banana leaves including the spiciest rice dish ever, our faces were tingly all over for minutes after we finished.
In front of every house and temple, on statues and even cars you see offerings to Hindu gods put out by locals on a daily basis. Flowers, incense, cookies, sweeties, rice or even cigarettes. They are beautifully presented in little trays made from leaves and you have to be careful not to step on any as you walk down the street.
On our last day we visited the monkey sanctuary just outside of town. We went in the early afternoon as we heard that was when the monkeys are fed so they are less likely to be aggressive or want to steal your stuff! The monkeys live semi wild in an area of forest around a valley with steep sides and a couple of temples. They climb and run around all over the walls and statues and even swing accross the valley like Tarzan.Read more