Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

24th April – 29th April 2018

Our flight from Sydney left on time, which was handy, and it wasn’t as long as we anticipated. The whole journey was around 6 hours, but as it isn’t classed as long-haul, we didn’t get any food. We were grateful at this point that we had bought the food in the airport. Joe slept for most of the flight, while I caught up on some blog writing.

When we landed in Bali it was very hot and humid. We got off the plane and had to get a bus to the terminal. When we got there, there were big queues to get through passport control, and then we had to wait ages for our bags. Once they finally arrived, we had to queue one more time to get through customs, before we were free.

When we stepped into the arrivals hall, we were bombarded with people shouting ‘taxi’ at us. We didn’t know what to do for the best, but we just knew that we needed cash out. After some trouble with the ATMs, we finally got sorted before deciding to go with one taxi company. There were so many and we probably paid double what we should have done but it was very intimidating and we were going a long way, so the equivalent of £30 was fine for now.

The journey itself was quite terrifying. There are no traffic rules over here and people just drive wherever they like. There were so many motorbikes just weaving in and out of cars without even checking over their shoulders, it was just madness! On some mopeds there were families of four squeezed on! We just couldn’t believe what we were seeing! After about three hours (when it should only take one and a half hours) we made it to our hostel. It was a long and scary journey but we made it in one piece.

To get to our hostel, we had to walk down a little path; it was all well sign-posted, so it made it nice and easy to find. The hostel reception hours were only until 5pm but I had emailed in advance to say that we wouldn’t be landing until 4.30, so it would be at least 6 o’clock before we arrived. I didn’t quite anticipate so much traffic, so when we arrived at 7.30, I was just hoping that someone would be there to check us in.

When we arrived, Widia was there waiting for us. Widia is the owner of the hostel and the most kind and gentle man! He was so excited to see us and couldn’t do enough for us to settle us in. He showed us to our room, where we sat and chilled for a few minutes.

As it was already dark, and we didn’t know anything about the area, we didn’t want to venture too far for dinner. We didn’t have anything with us to cook, and I didn’t feel like finding a supermarket to even attempt cooking, so we agreed we would go out. I googled restaurants in the area and found a little café nearby, called Kafe.

After a short walk down some very pretty streets, we found the café and were seated outside. I wasn’t particularly hungry so only ordered soup – although I didn’t know how good that would be in the heat. When it arrived I was happy with my decision – it was delicious. Joe ordered a chicken fajita wrap which looked equally as good, and the best part was, it only cost us 170,000 IDR (which is around £9).

Once we had finished our meal, we took a nice stroll back to the hostel, where we chilled out and tried to sort our photos from Australia, before going to bed at around 11.30 – it was nice to know we could get up at any time the next day!

Even though we had the chance for a lie in, I was still awake at 7. I didn’t mind though, because I could just lie in bed and chill while Joe carried on sleeping. Just before 8, I got up and showered and started to get myself ready for the day. Just as I was about to get in the shower, I dropped the toiletries bag, breaking the brand new shower gel we had been carrying around since Melbourne, while we used up the other one we had – not ideal! Joe woke up as I got out of the shower, so it was perfect timing.

Once we were both ready, we went downstairs for breakfast – it was included in the price and the reviews were very good. When we got down there, no one was there, but as Widia runs the place on his own, we just had to find him and two of his staff came down for us. Although the reviews were good about the pancakes, we both opted for the omelette and toast as we were hungry and still had four more mornings to try the pancakes.

After breakfast, we went back to the room to get the things together in the bag, before we set off out for the day. We didn’t have an itinerary for a change, we decided that our first day would be spent exploring the town of Ubud, to see what it was like.

We started off by wandering up and down the streets. Looking up at the buildings was fascinating, as the detail was amazing, on the everyday buildings along the road. I couldn’t quite get over how beautiful some of the places looked. Along the way, we would get asked, lots of times, if we wanted a taxi – it was a little annoying but I guess this is their way of making a living, so we were always polite.

Most of the buildings on the first street that we walked down, were shops, mostly selling nice, floaty, ‘hippie’ type clothing, and cafes. We did so well in Australia with eating in and cooking for ourselves when we were on the road, but when every other building is a café or restaurant, it’s so difficult! It was also quite difficult to try and avoid the clothes shops too – I didn’t do too well with this one.

On our walk around the streets, we passed the monkey sanctuary. We had already decided to leave this for another day, as we wanted a whole day set aside to explore and see what was around. Although we didn’t go in, that didn’t stop the monkeys from coming out! They were just roaming the streets, looking for things to steal. As we were watching them, one went up behind a man and stole his water bottle from his hand, just as I was telling Joe about the time that it happened to me in Ecuador! It’s much funnier to watch, than be on the receiving end of it!

Eventually, we made our way up to the market. I had decided that I wanted some hippie clothes – not that I have any room in my bags – and I thought the market would be the best place to haggle. As soon as we entered the markets, we were hassled by every stall owner. I understand they are trying to earn a living, but it’s definitely more off-putting for me. I ended up buying a couple of things in the end, even though I’m not completely sure that it was the right decision, but oh well!

From the markets, we continued to wander the streets. We walked up and down lots of cute little alleyways and passed many more cafes. We eventually made our way to the Royal Palace, where we went inside. The detail was unbelievable and the colours were amazing. We had a little sit in the shade and composed ourselves before carrying on.

Across the road from the temple, was an ice cream place (something I later found out we should maybe avoid, but we survived). We got a scoop each, but before we had even paid, I had licked mine off, onto the floor. The whole process was a disaster, as I tried to catch it, covering my hands and my hat in chocolate ice cream. The woman gave me a tiny bit more, but it was the world’s smallest scoop – it was a sad moment.

After the ice cream disaster, we decided to stand still and eat what we had left (Joe’s being much more than mine), before carrying on. We wandered up and down many more streets, resisting the urge to sit in somewhere and take advantage of their 2-for-1 cocktail offers.

Once we had had enough, we wandered back to the hostel to cool down and chill out. We scoped out the kitchen, which wasn’t very big, well equipped or used by many guests (I didn’t think), before deciding what to cook for dinner. Although it’s only cheap to eat out, it’s still cheaper to cook while we can and save our money for exciting things.

We nipped back out to the supermarket to grab some rice and eggs for dinner, before I got on with cooking. I didn’t want to risk the meats, as they didn’t look the healthiest, and we don’t want to spend anytime in bed, ill, if we can help it. We had fried eggs, with rice and a hot and spicy mayo, which we had also bought. After we had eaten, Joe washed up, before we went up to bed.

Earlier in the day, we had emailed a company about a sunrise trek that they offer, and we wanted to go it the next morning. The pick up time for us, was 2am, so as we were fed and tidied up, we took full advantage of the early night, and were in bed, going to sleep, for 7.30!

Despite another guest in the hostel playing loud music during our sleeping time (it was around 10.30 so we couldn’t really complain), I had quite a good six hours sleep and felt okay when the alarm went off at 1.30am. we got up and ready, and headed out of our room at 1.57, to be greeted by the transfer driver. This made us feel slightly rushed, as he was early, meaning that we forgot to get our water out of the fridge.

After picking up two more couples, we drove to Pineh Colada Base Camp, where we had some ‘breakfast’ (at 3am). We were given pancakes with banana and chocolate sauce, and a bottle of water, luckily. Once we had eaten these, we were taken a little bit further, to the bottom of Mt. Batur to start our hike.

When we arrived, we met our hiking guide, who provided us with torches, as it was pitch black, which was a good thing, as we wanted to be at the top for sunrise. Mount Batur is one of the remaining active volcanoes in Indonesia, but it is one of the smaller ones, at 1717km tall. At 3.50am, we set off on our hike, with only our torches to guide our way.

The most difficult part about the journey up, was definitely that we couldn’t see anything! Having to hold the torch in one hand made it difficult to balance at times, and it was a very rocky terrain. There were lots of loose rocks and gravel, which made it hard for some people to climb; I feel lucky that we both manged to cope quite well with the walk. At one point, the girl in front of me slipped on a large rock, knocking it down the mountainside, making it hit my shin. It was a little bit sore, but it didn’t stop me from carrying on.

Although our group was only made up of six people, there were hundreds climbing up for the sunrise. We had to keep stopping every now and then for the group to regather, but this was a good chance for a rest.

Just before 5.30, we made it to the first lookout point. We stopped for a little break and had the option to stay there, or carry on a little further, to the peak. Three of our group stayed at this first lookout, but me, Joe and one other girl, decided to carry on with the guide – I couldn’t not go to the top at this point.

After about twenty more minutes of hiking – a much more difficult twenty minutes – we reached the peak! We seemed to arrive just in time, before some sunlight started to appear. We sat on the edge for a while, waiting for the sun to rise. While we were waiting, the clouds kept coming and going, eventually revealing Mt. Agung about 18km in the distance. The views were unbelievably stunning and it was well worth everything we had been through – it’s another highlight of the trip!

Although there were lots of people up there, with lots of cameras, most people were courteous with one another, so everyone could get their photos and enjoy the views. Before we made our way back down, we were given banana butties, for breakfast number two.

 

Going down a mountainside, is always much more difficult than going up, especially on my knees! We made it back down to the first view point though, where we met up with the other three. From there, we could see how high we had just climbed to the peak and it looked pretty steep! I was a little confused at this stage, as there was a sign there saying that it was Mt. Batur and the peak was 1717km, but that wasn’t the top of what we had just climbed, so I don’t know if that was something different.

Once the group had been reunited, we had a look around the crater of Mt. Batur – we could see right down. There were a few hot steam vents coming off, but it’s not due to erupt any time soon.

After we had looked at the crater, we started to make our way back down. As it was pitch black when we came up, I had no idea if we were going down the same way, but I soon guessed we weren’t, as it was very dusty, rather than rocky. Although it was a little bit slippery, it was a lot nicer going down that way, than what I imagined it would have been like, going down the way we came up. It wasn’t too steep, but my knees still felt it, especially as the ground was loose, but we made it to the bottom just before 9.

At the bottom, we had to wait a few minutes for the rest of the group to join us, before we could get our lift back to Ubud. On the way back we both had a mini snooze, but it was impossible not to in the warm car, after a long hike and a 1.30am get up!

Back in Ubud, we were the first to be dropped off, which was handy. When we got inside, we went straight downstairs for our third breakfast, as it had only just gone 10am! It was necessary after the hike; we had well and truly earned it and it was free, so why not. I had the omelette again, but Joe tried the pancakes and they looked amazing!

After breakfast, we went up to the room to wash our feet and legs, and got ready for the rest of the day. We couldn’t quite decide what to do, as there were still a few things that we wanted to see, but we didn’t know how much energy we had left. In the end, we decided to just do the monkey sanctuary and see how we felt after that.

Just before we arrived, we made sure that we put everything inside the bag, so that we didn’t lose anything to the monkeys. We had a wander around the forest, seeing lots of monkeys, and having a few needed rests. We were able to see some temples, but couldn’t go in them all, as they were closed for prayer. One temple had lots of bats sleeping in it, which was cool but strange to see.

While we were resting at one point, a monkey started to approach us, I freaked slightly and stood up, but Joe stayed calm (as you’re supposed to do). The monkey went up to Joe and started to touch his bag, we thought we were fine because everything was away, but it reached into the side pocket and grabbed the hand sanitiser! How it knew it was there, I don’t know, but it wasn’t on show! It ran off with it and we later saw it drinking it; there wasn’t much left in it, but I hope we aren’t responsible for a monkey death.

After the theft, we made sure everything went into the bag and was zipped up. We carried on walking to the Holy Temple, where there were dozens and dozens of monkeys. We walked along bridges, under beautiful trees, dodging the scary monkeys and keeping everything to ourselves. One of the guidelines is to make sure you don’t make eye contact with the monkeys and they see it as a sign of aggression, but this was so difficult, so we just ended up walking with our heads down.

Although the monkeys looked cute, especially the tiny baby ones which were being carried by their parents, it was just a little bit frightening. We went to the open theatre, where we sat, making sure no monkeys were around.

This didn’t last very long though, as they are constantly on the move! There were some monkey fights going on, and Joe made a new friend, as one climbed onto his knee and took a nibble of the GoPro stick. Luckily Joe had a firm grip, even though the monkeys will probably have better luck with it than I’ve had.

Monkey sanctuary

 

After lots of rest, we eventually made our way out of the monkey forest. We had a wander in some of the shops along the road, before finding ourselves in a café. There was a deal on, with 10% off the total bill, with the monkey forest ticket, so we thought why not! We both ordered a smoothie as we needed refreshing in the hot weather. Mine was much nicer than Joe’s, although he drank it all. We sat for a while and watched the crazy traffic world of Ubud go by.

From the café, we decided to head back to the hostel. It was just before 3 and we had had a very long day so far and were both feeling pretty low on energy. We stopped in the supermarket and chemist on the way back for some bits and bobs.

Back at the hostel, I gave Joe a haircut – it had been a while – before we showered and chilled out for the rest of the day. We sat on the balcony, whilst catching up on some things, before I went down to cook dinner. We went right back to basics for dinner, as we had pasta and sauce. It sounded plain to both of us before it was cooked, but it actually tasted quite nice!

After dinner, Joe cleaned up and we went up to the room. Even though we were in a four-bed dorm, we had been the only two people in it since we arrived, which was nice as we could lounge around and spread out a little, but spreading out isn’t a good thing when trying to keep everything into one backpack! I caught up on come writing, while Joe sorted some photos out and nipped out for some chocolate – we both needed something sweet. We were both trying to stay awake as long as possible, so that we didn’t get into a horrible sleep routine, but ended up giving in about 9ish – not bad after such a long day!

Waking up with painful muscles was an unfamiliar feeling for me, but one I enjoyed as I knew it had been a good hike up Mt. Batur. We got disturbed in the night again by someone hammering on one of the doors; it sounded like our door at first but then we heard others having conversations but they were too quiet for us to figure out what they were saying, annoyingly! We both managed to fall back to sleep soon after though. I was awake earlier than Joe again, but I don’t mind lying in bed for an hour or so while he sleeps in, it’s nice to relax.

We both got up around 8 and got ourselves dressed, before heading down for breakfast. I ordered the pancake this time and it was as good as the reviews said! I did some research about the walk that we wanted to do and it said that we should set off early, before it got too hot – we were already much later than advised. Despite this, we didn’t want to miss out, so we finished getting ready and layered ourselves up with sun cream and insect repellent before setting off, at about 9.

I was glad I had done the extra bit of research, because it gave us little hints and tips about how to get there and where the start was and this was very handy. We arrived at the start of the Campuhan Ridge Walk at about 9.30 and regathered ourselves in the shade, before starting.

The beginning of the walk was fairly steep, but definitely manageable. It was a little hilly, and it was extremely hot and humid but we powered through with little rest breaks in the small shady spots the trees created. The views were beautiful, all around us, as we passed forests and rice fields. There was a tree swing at one point, and as I haven’t resisted one yet, I hopped on and got an even better view of the valley! Although it was hot, it wasn’t impossible, so I’m glad the research didn’t put us off.

After about an hour of walking, we arrived at some little villages. We wandered through them, until we stopped in a café near the far end. The café was one that I read about, which was again, another good bit of research because I’m not sure if we would have picked it otherwise (we might have ended up stopping a little sooner).

When we first went in, we sat at a low table, on some cushions – very hippie like. I went for a little wander and noticed there was a ‘bamboo bungalow’ which was available which also had a low down table and lots of cushions to sit on, so we moved there instead. We ordered some drinks to refresh ourselves and chilled out, enjoying the views. The scenery was stunning: we could see over the pond with beautiful lotus flowers in it, to the rice fields beside the café. For drinks, I ordered a lime and honey drink which was very sweet, but I liked it and Joe ordered a fresh coconut which wasn’t the best – it didn’t seem to have much taste.

Over an hour went by and we were still well and truly chilled out. As we were getting a little peckish and it was near lunch time, we decided to share a ham and cheese ‘jaffle’ which was the world’s smallest toastie and some sweet potato fries. After eating, we lay down and chatted for a while.

After about two hours, we decided that we should probably start to make a move again. We weren’t in a rush, but we still had to finish the walk and my legs were seizing up more as the day was going on. We carried on along the path, but after a few minutes we decided that there wasn’t much else up there, so we turned around and headed back towards Ubud.

Once we completed the ridge walk, we had a little rest near the starting point, while we decided what to do next. Sitting and resting wasn’t good for my legs though, I needed to keep moving.

When we got back into the centre of town, we went to ‘Folk’, a bar/ restaurant with a pool. It was a place that we had spotted earlier in the week and decided that we would spend our final day there, if we had seen everything that we wanted to. As our final day was the next day, we popped in to book a bed, but they were already fully booked! We were gutted that we had missed our chance, we had been looking forward to it!

From Folk, we wandered the streets, looking for another café to sit in while we reconsidered what to do with our final day. We found a nice little place which opened up onto some more rice fields – a view that neither of us were expecting. We ordered another drink each while we did some research of day pools in Ubud. I made an enquiry with one place which was just a tiny bit further than where we had walked on the ridge walk, and it wasn’t too expensive.

Once we had finished our drinks, we wandered to the supermarket for our daily shop. We wanted some snacks for our pool day, to stop us spending lots of money on food at the pool, and we needed something for dinner. I had decided that I was too tired to cook, and as Joe keeps telling me that he can cook, I said it was his turn… we ended up eating out! In his defence neither of us could decide what we wanted from the supermarket and as it’s so cheap, it’s much easier to justify.

Before going for dinner, we went back to the hostel for a bit, as it was a little early. We used our time to research somewhere for dinner, and to chill, but my legs were definitely getting worse, even though I thought the second walk might have helped to ease them. I wanted to try some typical Indonesian food, if we were going to eat out, so we had a look for a warung (a typical Indonesian café) in the area. We eventually decided on one, after changing our minds a few times, and set off at about 5ish.

After about twenty minutes we arrived at Fair Warung Bale, which is a charity restaurant, where all of the profits go to giving people who need it, proper medical care. It’s a charity created by a Swiss man who couldn’t resist helping after visiting Indonesia. The workers are young, local people who haven’t had a good start to life and need some support. There were so many good reviews on TripAdvisor, we had to try it.

It wasn’t the easiest of places to find and if I hadn’t had read about it, we would have walked right passed it, but I’m glad we didn’t. I ordered a red chicken karre, which is like a curry and it was amazing! There were so many beautiful flavours, even if the chillis were a bit hot for me. Joe ordered mahi-mahi and that was equally as good. It was such a lovely feeling knowing that our dinner was helping the young people learn new skills, while the money that we paid was helping others with medical problems. It was all such a good price too and even with a 20% tip, it still came to less than £15 for both meals, a drink each and a bottle of water!

From the restaurant, we made our way back to the hostel. When we got back, we showered, which felt great after the hot walk we had done. We didn’t do much with our evening again; we chilled out and sorted some more bits out before getting an earlyish night.

Despite not hearing back from Jungle Fish (the place with the pool), we decided to get up kind of early and head over there anyway. It was quite a walk and the sunbeds and entrance was on a first come, first served basis and we didn’t want to miss out again! We were ready for breakfast at 8 and both had pancakes again; although mine weren’t cooked in the middle so I didn’t eat it all.

After having a wash and getting the bag together, we set off at about 8.30 and headed back to the Campuhan Ridge Walk, for a second attempt. It was a much cloudier morning, so it made the walk a little easier, although it was still very humid.

We arrived at Jungle Fish just before 10 and it was so worth the walk and the disappointment of not getting in the other place: it was beautiful! When we arrived, we were one of the first there, and it was very quiet. We chose our sunbeds and it didn’t take us long to get in the pool. It was cold but refreshing and we were the only ones in there, so that made it even better! We got some typical infinity pool photos and relaxed in the water.

As it was a cloudy day, it got a little chilly after a while, so we ended up getting out. We went back to our sunbeds which were in the shade and chilled out. We both spent a little time doing some research – it’s very hard for me to just sit around doing nothing and there was free wifi, so I took advantage.

The whole day was spent switching between the pool and the sunbeds, with lots of time in and out of the shade too. The pool had some pool beds too, with comfy pillows, so we used them, when they were free. The views were stunning where ever we were, overlooking the jungle – we had a dream day!

For lunch, we ate the snacks that we had bought in the supermarket on the previous day. It wasn’t the healthiest option but it was a lot cheaper!

So that we had time to walk home before the sun set, as we were about an hour away, we set off at about 4.30 (we had well and truly got our money’s worth – it only cost £15 for the two of us). We walked back along the ridge walk, which is much easier going back, as it is more downhill.

When we got back into the centre of Ubud, we wanted to grab a patch on the way back to the hostel. I was actually looking for a bracelet as we had been looking for a patch since we arrived and hadn’t had any luck, so I had given up. We ended up in the market again but found a different alleyway that we didn’t find the last time. We searched and searched but couldn’t even find a bracelet with ‘Bali’ on. I was ready to give up, when I spotted a stall with patches!

After the successful patch hunt, we carried on back to the hostel. We needed a pharmacy too to buy more suncream but we didn’t pass one, so decided to save that job for the morning.

When we got back to the hostel, we had a roommate! The first one since we arrived! We had our showers, before I cooked tea. During both showers, and cooking tea, the power kept cutting out. It hadn’t done this before, but it must have happened at least 10 time within an hour. It made the tasks a little more difficult, but we got there in the end.

After dinner, Joe washed up, meeting a frog on his way; luckily I was already on my way back to the room. We chilled out for a little, before heading out for a drink to enjoy our last night in Ubud. While I was getting ready in the bathroom, something landed on my head; I don’t know if it was a mini frog or gecko or what but it freaked me out!

We went to a nearby bar for a drink. Joe had a bintang which is the local beer and I had a tropical smoothie which was really refreshing. We sat there for a while, talking about our next few plans, before walking back to the hostel.

Back at the hostel our roomie was already in bed, so we had to be quiet. We got ourselves ready for bed and chilled out before falling asleep, ready for our final morning in Ubud.

We had a bit of a lie in the next day, but we needed to be up in time to pack before we had to leave. We got up around 8 and packed up our bags, which was a huge struggle, before going down for breakfast. For breakfast, we both had omelettes, as I had seen the pancake mix in the fridge, uncovered, the night before and we didn’t want to get ill from that.

After breakfast, we nipped out into the town to get some sun cream. This was a bigger task than anticipated as big bottles didn’t seem to exist and with us sharing, we go through so much, so quickly. In the end, we ended up getting two different kinds to see which we preferred, for the next time.

When we got back to the hostel, we should have had half an hour to finish gathering our things before we were being collected to go to our next stop. However, when we arrived back, the driver was already there. We had to be quick, while he went to get another passenger and we met him on the top road.

Bali so far has been fascinating for me. The dedication and hard work of the local people is inspiring. It’s amazing to see the beautiful buildings and temples that they build by hand, and still do today with just as much effort. Balinese people are strong believers in karma and really believe that good luck will come there way if they do well, which is nice. We head away from Bali for a few days, as we hop over to the Gili Islands, but we’ll be back to explore some more soon!

To travel is to live, Katie x