After a few days in Seminyak we were ready for some exploring, so head out for the second half of our trip based in and around Ubud, an area famed for it's culture and variety. Ubud's popularity seemed to sky rocket following the book Eat, Pray, Love and what was once a sleepy cultural centre is now bussleing with life.
I booked our villa on the outskirts of Ubud, although sadly wasn't warned it was only accessible by moped, the walk through the rice paddies was wonderful though.
Morning boys!
We finally found our villa, Jagi Villa half way down the road and were greeted by the lovely owners. We dropped our bags off, had a quick cup of tea and then begun exploring Ubud.
First stop was Ubud Monkey Forest which is a wonderful temple series based in lush forest, filled with very cheeky and overly friendly monkeys. A word of warning do not take open bags, food or anything remotely nice smelling as the monkeys will mug you.
Entry was 30,000RP per adult and it's worth every penny, I could've spent all day wondering around.
From the monkey forest we strolled back up to the centre of town and spent time roaming the shops and markets.
I had to include these photos just to show how tourism is affecting Ubud, I think I could write a whole post about it, and maybe I will, but it's sad to see how a once sleepy artistic place is now selling mass produced Bintang t-shirts and cock shaped bottle openers (thumbs up emoji here) !
Luckily, after the madness of the shopping areas, we stumbled upon Soma High vibe cafe, a wonderful cafe in the centre of Bali, walking through their courtyard I instantly felt relaxed again.
The vanilla coconut smoothie is to die for, honestly.
I also highly recommend the pizza, but I ate it too quickly to photograph, bag blogger!
We spent the next days wondering around the many temples, indulging in food and drink (there's a good selection for vegetarians, vegans and raw foodies across Ubud).
There is a beautiful temple, shrine, theatre etc. etc. every turn and you could easily spend a week exploring everything. My best advice for a day, or three, in Ubud is to get lost; the main centre of town is easily explored by foot, but those wanting to go further a field will do well with a bike (around 200,000 RP / $2 a day) or moped (around 500,000RP / $5 a day). However, The monkey forest, ubud palace and ubud water palace (Puri Saren Agung) make for a brilliant days itinerary in Ubud and will leave you plenty of time to find somewhere to eat and to find tickets for a dance show in the evening...more on that later.
xo