Ubud - Bali - Indonesia 7/9

The morning heat slowly sneaked up on us through those thick black out curtains as we opened our eyes, realizing, we're in Ubud, Bali. It was still early, but I was excited to explore, and I felt great! Breakfast wasn't going to be served until 7:00 am, so I took Keith out for a walk.

Keith showed me the restaurants he got our dinner from last night. Mamma Mia Pizza and Warung Ubud, both right around the corner. We walked a bit further North as the famous Yoga Barn was close by as well, and it was gorgeous. There was still mist from the morning. We walked for about 20 minutes, bought some pastries, and went back to our villa for breakfast.

The Yoga Barn

We had read online that the breakfast from Umae Villa wasn't that good. But, though simple, we actually thoroughly enjoyed it. There were tea, juices, toast, and the eggs were cooked to perfection. The interesting thing was, though, that we got different quantities of items each morning even though we ordered the same thing every day.

Our Breakfast at Umae Villa

We decided to rent a scooter that morning as Keith was excited to get back on the bike again. We lived really close to the Monkey Forest, one of Ubud's main attractions, so we kept putting it off thinking that we could go there any time we want. Turns out in the end, we actually didn't go to the Monkey Forest at all.

Ubud Traditional Market

We went into town centre to look for food and walk around. The first place we went to was the Ubud Traditional Market. This is a 2-3 story complex with hundreds of small stores selling things from art work to clothing to food. We got there around 10:00 am and were one of the first few customers, so we got their "special first customer good luck deal". The vendors were a lot nicer here, and they don't hassle you as much when you don't buy their products. We found a small store that had some bags I liked, the lady gave us a pretty kick ass discount so we ended up buying all of our souvenirs from her. We bought 3 bags, 6 t-shirts, 1 button up shirt, a slinglet, and a sarong for around $30 CAD total.

Fair Warung

We were super happy with our purchase, and continued walking through the main street of Ubud. We saw the palace, but weren't interested to go in. The heat was quite difficult for me to get used to, and it was around 11am when we stopped by Fair Warung so we went in and enjoyed some fruit juices and crepes. We were quite early, and got the one gazebo all to ourselves. There was internet, so we got comfy and chilled for a while. I had a great time there, with the wind cooling us down, the gazebo blocking the sun. "I could get used to living like this" I thought to myself. We noticed there were little rocks glued onto the pillars of the gazebo of people signing their names or writing short messages. It was amazingly adorable so I asked the staff for some markers and left our names on one of the rocks.

Umae Villa

We headed back soon after that to escape from the heat, which was wise, but although we blasted our air conditioning at its strongest setting, the room still heated up like an oven by 4pm. One of Ubud's most popular restaurants is right across from where we live, so we went there for late lunch. The restaurant's called "Who's Who", and is owned by a young dutch guy. The food was good, perfectly cooked, light and fresh.

Crème de Caramel from Melting Wok Warung

For the next few days, I was pretty sick, and we ended up staying in a lot. I had a fever and was achy head to toe for a full day. Keith took care of me and we ended up eating at the few restaurants around us a lot: Mamma Mia (almost everyday), Warung Ubud twice, Taco Casa once, Who's Who twice. We had to cancel our reservation at Bali's number 1 restaurant, Locavore, because I was ill. Too bad we weren't able to get in it again after that as they are always fully booked. We did, however, ended up going to Melting Wok Warung, which was owned by a French lady, and was freshly delicious! They even accommodated us in adjusting the serving in a take out item, and their Crème de Caramel was to die for!



Campunhan Ridge

One of the mornings, I don't remember which day, we went hiking on Campunhan Ridge. We road the motorcycle down the road headed East from the Ubud Palace, then down a really steep hill where there were young students sweeping the floor. We parked the bike and headed around a renovating temple, then hiked on the ridge all the way to the end (about 2 km). The ridge would've been amazing if it wasn't for the drought that made the grass all yellow. Nevertheless, it was a great walk and it was nice going out for some fresh air.

Karsa Spa

During our stay in Ubud we also booked a spa appointment at Karsa Spa. The location was very nice, and the treatments were great, but for some reason, the Smart Day Spa remained top 1 in our minds.

Karsa Spa

Not sure if it was because I fell ill or simply due to unreasonable expectations resulting from the movie Eat, Pray, Love, Ubud wasn't as "magical" as I thought it would be. Everything came across just a tad too commercial, and the streets were filled with tourists. The scooter, however, was the highlight of my Ubud experience. It's very convenient to get around and made our lives much easier.

For our transition to Seminyak, we had booked just a driver. We already know where we wanted to go, so we didn't need a tour guide this time. As the sun sets, I felt a tiny hint of sorrow and regret. I thought that maybe I hadn't cherished this stay in Ubud as much as I should, and perhaps I hadn't cherished the people around me as much as I should either. I starred at the signature Balinese ceiling, and fell asleep in our lovely glass hut.

To be continued...