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Published: June 24th 2008
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After a 1-2 hour drive we arrived unscathed in Ubud. We passed through the capital Denpasar and quickly moved on, it’s not a pretty place. Ubud, however, is a very pretty place. It sits in the hills among stretches of paddy fields. It is cooler than the coast and has a very upmarket vibe. This is reflected in the cafes and hotels. We stopped on the main street which is called Monkey Forest Road, by virtue of the fact it has a forest with lots of monkeys in it at the end of the road.
We had a coffee in a very posh bar set in gardens with lakes while we perused the LP. We were looking for something a little more within our price range. It seemed as though the world was our oyster. Bali has never really improved in terms of tourist numbers since the 2 bombing incidents and it was off season, so it was a case of being able to have the pick of the bunch. We settled for ‘Ala’s Hibiscus II’, which was just out of the main drag down a side street and across 2 paddy fields. It was fantastic. We had uninterrupted views
across the land and could see the volcanic mountain that was Bali’s tallest in the distance. The room itself was like being in a fairytale with a huge 4 poster bed and a grand balcony. Breakfast was served each morning on the balcony (jaffles/pancakes/fruit/tea). All this for less than £8 per night….
Ubud is the gastronomic hub of Balinese food. There were lots of award winning restaurants, which were cheap by home standards, but expensive for Indonesia. But we are not Indonesian so we thought we would give one a go. Muri’s Warang had been recommended. It was in a very beautiful setting on the side of the gorge with sweeping views down to the river. The food was beautifully presented, but probably a bit overrated when it came to taste. We are simple folk and prefer the street food.
We decided to give the sacred monkey forest a miss, having enough of monkeys now, and just strolled around the streets taking in the vibe. It has lots of hippie shops and somewhat pretentious shops selling art and crafts and junk at high prices, and probably enough restaurants and cafes to eat somewhere different everyday for a year.
There were lots of designer shops and lots of people wearing designer clothes, staying in the relatively cheap, but very glamorous 5 *Spa resorts.
That evening we fancied a light bite somewhere quite modest, but as it was getting late (about 9pm) most places were closed. It is definitely not a late night party town. Arie’s Warung was still open. Arie was also present, a small elderly gent, who looked a bit like Penfold from Danger Mouse. He was very excited that we picked his eatery and brought us his comments book for the last 2 years filled with enthusiastic remarks from around the globe. We ordered as he hovered over us, while we still read on with as much interest as we could muster, and proceeded to tell us a very long joke about Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. I forget the punchline now, as I had already guessed it wasn’t going to be a side splitter during the long narrative and was inwardly practising my fake laugh, but anyway it wasn’t a great joke, and I was kind of distracted by the mouse that was running around the floor behind him! Our food arrived. And it was
pretty tasteless, bless him.
After returning to our wonderful abode, we ended up staying up quite late talking to the German couple who were staying next door. So the next morning we lay in bed until late. It was raining again anyway. We had a drive and explored the area around Ubud a little. Then we went for a Babi Guling……vegetarians close your eyes….. a suckling pig BBQ. A small warang specialised in this delicacy. The queue was literally down the street, locals and tourists. There was about 5 or 10 people preparing and a huge whole pig that smelled delicious. The food was served in a basket with rice, a spicy green bean salsa, lashings of pork meat and crackling. Large low tables were under a huge pagoda on straw mats and everyone sat around on the floor eating together, and the price was good too. They must have served 3 or 4 pigs over lunch time.
For us there was not a great deal to do in Ubud, except soak up the vibe and relax. Shopping, eating, spas, art galleries and the sacred monkey forest were the main attractions. Eating was our only real hobby there. (Well….shopping
too, but you know not when you are on a budget….or have frugal Stu with you!) So we relaxed and ate and people watched.
The next day we were heading back to the coast in search of beaches and better weather (not that it was cold at any point, it was still humid and sticky, there was just more rain). We were checking our email in an internet café before we left when there was a commotion out on the street. We ran outside, as did everyone else, locals too. Men, dressed in traditional sarongs, were running down the street carrying a huge wooden horse decorated with flowers, and they took turn riding it while 15 or 20 men carried it. Then the women came running, followed by a huge band. There were flowers and dancing and laughing, then came the funeral procession….I couldn’t believe it was a funeral. In Bali, which is mostly Hindu, a funeral is a time for celebration and the more the merrier. No tears here. They all moved through the streets onto the temple where the coffin and flowers were burnt in a huge bonfire. It was quite a sight. Bali is a very
religious place. The mainly Hindu’s that live there are kind and warm, and make their offerings and prayers everyday. They leave little parcels of banana leaves and rice and flowers at the entrance to every room and building and all along the pavements. Unfortunately for Clumsy and Shufflefoot here, that meant lots of trodden and kicked offerings despite all our best efforts not too!
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