Advertisement
Published: March 15th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Things did get better. Ubud turned out to be a great place to chill out for a while. I spent 4 days here leaving on the morning of the 14th for the Aussie-invaded beaches at Kuta and Legian. I really didn't do too much whilst in Ubud but to be fair doing nothing was what I had in mind right from the start following my escapades in Yogya and
that bus journey over from Bromo. There was a real noticeable difference between this town and the rest of what I'd seen of Indonesia. Everything in Ubud is super polished and clearly geared towards better off tourists rather than poor struggling backpackers! Some restaurants were super high end and selling things that were pricey even by Western standards. I had to keep reminding myself I was in Indonesia. The main streets were lined with shops that seriously wouldn't look out of place along any European city's main high street... Polo, Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith etc etc. And these were broken up by stores selling paintings and handicrafts all at seriously over-inflated prices. But despite this, the town did manage to retain some authenticity and with a little bit of perseverance it was
possible to hunt out a handful of cheap(ish)
warungs.
One thing (and perhaps the only thing) that was cheap here were the massages and I finally managed to treat myself to my first Asian massage. For about 10USD I got a 1 hour full-body massage and then a body scrub afterwards making my skin all nice and smooth! It wasn't the best massage I've ever had but it was still pretty decent.
It was easy to walk around Ubud. It's not at all a large town. The Palace was worth seeing as was the central market. I bought myself a Bintang Beer T-shirt to fit in with the rest of the tourists for about 3USD which suprisingly hasn't fallen to pieces yet. I also went to see the Hindu Temples and thieving Macaque monkeys at the Monkey Forest Sanctuary just south of town. The temples were very nice but the monkeys, despite never showing any agression, always seemed to have a slightly sinister look about them as if at any moment they would just flip out and steal all your stuff. I saw one guy get his favourite cap nicked. He ran after it
like a crazy person and luckily for him the monkey dropped it before jumping over a wall!
So after doing a whole lot of nothing in Ubud I took a shuttle mini-van down to the beaches. I had no idea where I was going (as usual). I knew that there were three beaches... Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. Kuta was the furthest south and the closest to the airport but also the tackiest and most cramped. A little further north came Legian and then Seminyak at the end which had way posher resorts and less druken Aussies. I ended up meeting a fellow Brit on the way who was heading to Seminyak so I shared a taxi with him up to the hotel he'd booked. It was posh. Too posh for me! He'd just come into some money having bet on a Peter Odemwingie hat trick against the Wolves... flukey bugger. So I made my way south in the hope of hitting something semi-decent and within my budget fairly soon. It didn't happen though and I walked practically all the way back down then road I'd just come up in a taxi until I got a room at
Senen Beach Inn at Legian Beach. I was determined not to end up in Kuta though!
I spent 4 days here before flying up to Kuala Lumpur. It was a decent few days although I didn't really get too involved in the whole party scene here. Think Benidorm and then fill it with drunken Aussies and triple the prices of drinks and you'll see why. In fact, scratch that. Just think Benidorm and triple the prices of drinks and that's enough. It was curious how even the locals speak like Australians here. The previous sounds of "Massage Sir?" and "Taxi?" have now become "Massage
Mate?" or "Transport
Mate?" each with the little Aussie twang at the end. One guy even thought that England was the little island off the east coast of Australia. Still, the beaches really weren't too bad and I have to say that the sunsets are amongst the best I've ever seen. I took some surfing lessons at an academy on Legian beach. This was something that I wanted to do on my previous trip to the Caribbean but just never, erm, had the time to do it. For about 30USD I got a
couple of hours tutition and in that time I just about managed to stand up and stay vertical for more than a millisecond! It was great fun though and I'll try it again on this trip if I come across a decent place for novices to practice.
On another day I rented a scooter from the guys at the hostel and went exploring a wee bit. I first went to Sanur beach on the eastern side of the island but didn't spend too long here. It's full of retired oldies and there wasn't really a whole lot to see. If Kuta is Benidorm then Sanur is surely Torrevieja. So after a bite to eat I got back on me bike and headed down the pininsula to the temple of Uluwatu, perched on a cliff 70 metres above the ocean. The temple itself isn't so impressive but the location makes it a little bit special. I timed it just right to get there for the sunset and it was well worth getting to. All I had to do then was make my way back to Legian in the dark. In theory it's only one road but then again
I've already lost count of how many times I've heard myself say that. I inevitably got lost approaching Kuta and had to stop numerous times to ask for directions even though I couldn't have been more than a stones throw away. I got there in the end, and most importantly without any grazes or scratches to show for it!
On Saturday 18th I took a taxi to the airport for my afternoon flight. My destination - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Suerte
Advertisement
Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0367s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Vani
non-member comment
Awesome info
Thank u so much!!! I was debating on staying at Ubud because it is not close 2 the ocean. You've convinced me otherwise. thank u!!! Hope u had a grand time in Malaysia.