The heart and soul of Bali
Captains Log Day 5 – 28/12/19 10:31 pm.
Damp and still exhilarated from their aquatic escapades at Waterbom the trio jumped into a bluebird taxi heading back for a quick pitstop to their accommodation to pick up their luggage and then bring the road trip to Ubud.
Ubud is located more in central Bali and forgoes the coastlines and the beaches for beautiful temples and forests. Surrounded by a tropical jungle Ubud is known as an epicentre for arts and culture in Bali. Ubud has developed a reputation as a place with a positive vibe, possibly explaining why so many artists and naturalists have settled in the lush, green areas around town.
Since the town was located so far from the central Kuta, they had anticipated a bit of a road trip, but had not expected their taxi driver to get lost and result in a 2.5 hour voyage.
It was not until the last 20 minutes till the taxi driver switched off his meter and apologised. His broken English had picked up in the fact that General Nuj had used the word ‘report’ and ‘refund’ a few times alongside a few obscenities. He started pleading and apologised, hoping not to get fired and was able to continue to feed his family. The group assured him, that despite the navigational issues – they were not going to report the pilot.
Arriving at their accommodation, they once again followed a proven recipe, they checked in, dumped their luggage and headed off to explore.
Instantly, it was easy to see why Ubud is one of those places where a holiday of a few days can turn into a stay of weeks, months or even years. The size of the town’s expat community attests to this, and once you are there you can see how the nature of this cultured Balinese town can convert tourist to residents.
They walked around until they found an amazing restaurant that they had read about. As Ubud is home to many yoga retreats, healing centres and alternative lifestyle happenings, it is evident that the locals are centred around mind, body and soul, one expression of this is the many vegan and vegetarian restaurants that are scattered around the town.
Kismet restaurant was one of these places, famous for its modern take on vegetarian fusion cuisine the trio had decided that this would be the selected place for dinner on their first night in Ubud. They were not disappointed. The food was absolutely spectacular, mains included polenta lasagne, burnt pumpkin and truffle ravioli and mushroom, sage and zucchini pasta. Despite General Nuj’s constant complaining that the food was vegetarian, he also admitted to enjoying his meal.
Satisfied after an awesome and somewhat healthy meal the trio headed to a bar where a mouse scared the crap out of General Nuj, forcing us to move several times until an optimal position that was both ‘safe’ and ‘cool’ enough was found. Things started to escalate rather quickly, as one large Bintang, turned to two and then finally four, they sat intoxicated, smoking Shisha, playing games and laughed as kids letting off fireworks played around them until, the clock hit 2am and they realised they needed to head back home. Stumbling they walked the now somewhat eerily dark streets winding through the forest.
They woke up suffering from the previous night’s activities extremely hungover and feeling like they had been hit by a truck. Seems like the vegetarian food and the healthy options they had had for dinner was counter acted by the absolute onslaught of alcohol and shisha which followed.
Although the hangover was strong, they all knew that they had to get up and explore the town. Moving extremely slowly they opened the curtains to find an army of monkeys littering their front porch. Jumping from tree to tree there was at least 15 monkeys hanging around the resort room. Not ideal for a hangover, they stealthily escaped the room and made it to the outside world without any terror monkey attacks.
They walked along and unlike the night before, the streets were much livelier with people walking around, shops open and the occasional “Sir Massage” coming from the laneways. They walked along looking for an ideal place for coffee, and unlike any other place they had travelled the problem was not finding a place but rather selecting one, as the place full of little ‘Melbournesque’ cafes.
They found one and had a light breakfast which took a few retries as the Admirals fruit bowl was returning with plastic as an added ingredient. Just as they sat and watched the crowed outside, a storm brewed up and it was not long before it popped its head out, raining down hard. A loud and spectacular thunder, lightning sound & light show was going on as they left the café and rushed back home, hoping to pick up some umbrellas and praying that the monkey swarm had left. Drenched they entered the rooms and dried off, it was just 2 pm and the day was ahead of them, but this rain was a killer. After pondering and planning for a bit of time they made a call to just challenge the rain head on and just go out as planned without fear. The trio took some umbrellas and braced the rain, which miraculously died down to a drizzle and headed out to the Monkey forest.
The Ubud Monkey Forest is a nature reserve and Hindu temple located in Ubud, Bali Indonesia. Technically its official name is the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. The forest scenery is unearthly with giant roots bending around bridges, huge stone carvings of Komodo Dragons sticking out from the sides of riverbanks and beautiful temples all home to a huge gang of Long-tailed monkeys.
The drizzle did not dampen the mood as the trio explored the grounds of the monkey forest, often stopping to say hi to the local residents and to take a few selfies with them. They surveyed the forest and enjoyed the company.
Once again surviving Monkey terror attacks and feeling like ‘chimpions’ they left the forest and proceeded to explore the Ubud Art Markets where young Bali artists showcase their craftsmanship and the artistry of the Balinese Culture
Cultured and Monkeyed out the captain and General Nuj found a small store that sold some Bintangs and decided to just sit and chug down a few, enhancing the shopping experience.
They headed back to the hotel to freshen up and have a bit of down time as well as organise the next day’s activities before heading for dinner.
Dinner was at Cafe Wayan, another highly rated restaurant located within walking distance of the hotel they were staying at. Renowned for its excellent local Indonesian cuisine, the food once again reflected its high online rating, with generous portions and amazing service. The satays and the entrée platter a huge hit with the trio. Still feeling the aftereffects of the last nights Bintangs, and suffering from a food coma, the trio decided not to back the night up with another round, and rather headed home to rest up.
The last morning in Ubud began early, as the trio had a quick breakfast and checked out of their accommodation. A driver was waiting to pick them up and take them to Nusa Dua, showing them attractions along the way. The said goodbye to their monkey comrades and jumped in the car and were off to explore. They made friends with their driver, who had remarkably good English and was able to explain life in Bali in detail as they kicked off the journey.
First up they headed to the Goa Gajah, or Elephant Cave which the locals believed to have been built as place for spiritual meditation. It was extremely hot as they walked around the complex, which consisted of elephant cave, some baths, fountains and a sculpture. As the group were walking around a somewhat old man with a ridiculously long fingernails approached them and asked them to follow him, the trio looked at each other and go – ah here we go again. Not wanting to disrespect him, they complied as he walked them down into the forest and into the temple for a blessing, along the way showing them and explaining to them in his indecipherable English various landmarks and statues They finished up with him and reluctantly tipped the scamster, then fled as fast as they could to escape the heat, back to the car and to the next destination.
Next up the driver took them to the Tirta Empul temple, Tirta Empul means Holy Spring in Balinese. The temple compound consists of bathing structures, famous for their holy spring water, where Balinese Hindus go to for ritual purification. The temple pond has a spring which gives out fresh water regularly, which Balinese Hindus consider to be holy or amritha. The pool is fed by 10 spring outlets that pour into a pool of water in which locals consider a water cleansing ritual. Visitors can partake by dunking their heads under the spring outlets and moving from left to right around the pool. The trio arrived at the water temple and decided that ”when in Rome”, the only issue being that they came completely unprepared, without towels or a change of clothes. They stripped down and changed into the provided sarongs, the Captain and general Nuj took the rather risqué route and decided to go ‘Commando’ aka not wearing any underwear and do a complete body cleanse. Ensuring not to flash the large amounts of people present for the cleansing they jumped into the very cold water, instantly feeling the sharp pain of rough rocks and pebbles under their feet. It was not long that they were in the water before the General freaked out, as a large fish swam between his legs! His screams and shrieks could be heard from outside the temple, the poor peaceful temple goers were in for a treat, as every step we took towards the fountains came with bountiful screams and shrill shrieks of pain and fear from the General, who often lost balance and tried to grab on to the Admiral and Captain. Whilst the Admiral tried to find inner peace, she also chastised the Captain and General severely for their shenanigans, as the purification process continued and they took water from each of the 13 springs. Drenched and feeling purified and on edge, they dried off and explored the temple grounds, hoping that the taxing purification was worth the loss of years of life due to stress.
Dried off and exhausted from the water the trio headed for the next location which was lunch with views of Mount Batur is an active volcano north west of Mount Agung. The first documented eruption was in 1804 and the most recent was in 2000, rather than climbing the volcano the driver took them to a vantage point at which they could see the natural wonder in its full and epic beauty. They enjoyed an all you can eat lunch, stuffing their faces whilst sitting on a balcony that gave them a spectacular view of the volcano, as well as Mount Agung. A rather uneventful lunch aside from the fact that the Captain’s chair fell apart just after he had come back from his second serving and that he somehow managed to end up outside the restaurant and down the street when he visited the bathroom they carried on back to the car.
They were then taken to the Coffee plantations in the region, where they amongst other coffees got to try the famous ‘Poop’ coffee. Which is exactly that, an animal, which is much a cross between a cat, a possum and a raccoon, eats the coffee beans, processes them in their belly and then poops them out. The beans are then collected, cleaned and roasted. The result a smooth blend of our favourite beverage. It was very nice. In addition to the poop coffee, the trio got to try other coffees, such as coconut coffee, avocado coffee and saffron coffee. They even got to briefly meet the animal, that lay half asleep with its pee pee facing towards us as they took a photo. They got a chance to explore the compounds and take a few photos around the scenic location. The Captain also thought it was a good idea to taste a raw banana from a tree, which tasted really terrible (as expected), They bought some coffee and headed off.
They were then taken to the Rice Paddy’s in Ubud, where they could go and explore the rice life. The trio were let loose and went on an adventure across the rice fields, zigzagging horizontally and vertically through a mazelike landscape. The greenery and lush landscape were postcard perfect. Intoxicated by the visuals the trio continued on, without realising soon that they were lost. They looked around and the absence of tourists highlighted these concerns. They continued to walk along the path and finally found a set of tourist families from Hong Kong, that had a similar suspicion of being lost. Both the parties continued until finally after a good 40 minutes found the main road and felt a sigh of relief. The lack of signs and instructions led them to this point. Feeling confident, they said goodbye to their comrades and started walking down the road, they walked and walked, with a few cars passing by, however the street being pretty quiet. The sun was setting, and the lack of traffic and people started to play on the trios minds. The grasped with the help of Google maps, that they were still far away from the city centre in which they had been dropped and where the car waited. Feeling rather defeated and exhausted they called the driver to come and make the rescue. Thank god he picked up and somehow, came to help, up the windy and steep one-way roads he arrived with the car, as we jumped in and breathed a sigh of relief.
Time had flown, and the sun had started to set, we would not have enough time to visit our final destination of the waterfall, so they decided to head straight to Nusa Dua, and finish off their tour and adventure in Ubud.
A long journey across the island later, battling traffic and crowds they finally made it to Nusa Dua and were able to check into their hotel. They bid their amazing driver Made goodbye and stumbled to reception.
