Sometimes there are towns that are good, and sometimes there are town that are great! Ubud falls into the latter category. It’s neat, a little quirky and really friendly. The town itself is considered to be cultural capital of Bali. On an island where tourism is flourishing, sometimes it’s hard to find a place that is the “Real Bali”. It’s a place where traditional art and culture is everywhere to be discovered. We only have good things to say about this town, it’s one of those places that both Andrew and I find to have that “special” quality that we look for in a town we are visiting. I know there has been a lot of hoopla about Ubud every since the popular book “Eat, Pray, Love” was published, but that’s not the only reason to take a trip here. I can imagine it would be a place where a few days stay could easily turn into much much longer.
Immediately after exiting our bus from the coastal town of Kuta to the inland town of Ubud, we met a fellow named Katut. He drove us to a few hotels until we found one that we liked. Along this trip we have developed a strategy when it comes to touts, sellers of anyone in the tourism industry… it is to trust our gut! We really caught a good vibe from him so when he offered to come back in the evening to take us to his dance performance… he didn’t hesitate. Ubud is known for being a town with a lot of the traditions of Bali still in effect. There seems to be always a celebration of some kind happening, whether it is full moon, black moon or anything else. Traditional Balinese dancing is something that is also very popular and is hosted at the temples in the night. Our new friend Katut’s performance did not disappoint us; he played the Gamelan in the show dressed in a Balinese traditional outfit. After the performance we were invited to his home to have dinner with him. We love being included in things with locals; the kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze us. His wife cooked us a lovely meal, and we got to see his home. We spent a few hours chatting about life and we really appreciated every minute of it. Our meal consisted of various forms of chicken (smoked, congealed blood, bbq); we learned from Katut that he buys a live chicken everyday to slaughter himself. He uses every single part of the chicken and nothing ever goes to waste. He is one of those rare types that are completely glowing with happiness. Really inspiring!
Another thing Ubud is known for is being an artist town; it is where majority of Balinese art comes from. It seems everyone and their brother is artistic in some manner. Katut, for example plays the Gamelan (xylophone made of brass, hit with a bamboo hammer), is an amazing artist and sculptor and can also do traditional Balinese dancing. His entire family is artistic and almost all the members of his troop are related to him. There are hundreds of shops selling amazing art, and for Andrew and me it was very difficult to decide upon a “perfect” piece. We really wanted to bring something special back home with us, to remind us of our time in Bali and something that we both agreed on. After several days checking out shops we narrowed it down to two pieces. Which one we will decide upon is still not known.
Since we only have three days in Ubud… we felt we should maximize our time. Gone are the days where time is of no importance to us, so we had an early rise and off we went for a six hour hike/walk through the monkey forest, rice patties and village. Of course we timed everything wrong, and we were walking through the rice paddies in mid day sun. But I’m not complaining about the heat… since in only a few weeks time I will be braving the cold Canadian winter back in Toronto. Katot met us at our hotel later that day to drive us to a spa that he had heard was good. We indulged ourselves with a 1hr Balinese style massage and a 30 min body scrub after. It was fabulous… and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening at the spa.
For our last and final day in Bali we took a tour of a temple outside Ubud and ate lunch on a patio overlooking the rice terrances. It was extremely hot and the humidity was quite oppressive, we finished our day a little tired and worn out. We were invited back to our new friend Katot’s house for some Balinese coffee before our bus ride to the airport.
Spending time in Ubud was a wonderful way to say goodbye to Bali. We know that someday in the future we will return to Bali and of course a definitely stop will be to Ubud. I think the culture in Bali is so interesting, and the further we removed ourselves from touristy parts like Kuta beach… the stronger it became. It was sad to say goodbye to Ubud, but we were excited to see what our next stop of Australia had in store for us.
~Nicola
Click on album to view in picasa
 |
| Ubud, Bali |
No comments:
Post a Comment