Ubud Archives - Wandering North

Asia Indonesia Indonesia Trip 2017

No Elephants or Menstruation at the Elephant Temple

On my third day in Ubud i hired a driver to take me to some of the far flung sites. It was nice to drive through the countryside, seeing villages and suburbs, with people going on with daily life, all with the picturesque scenery. We stopped to gawk at more rice terraces, which i really cannot get enough of.

I went to the Goa Gajah temple/cave, also known as the elephant cave or temple, which is odd, as there is nothing elephant-like about it. It is just an 11th C temple with a cool cave you enter through the mouth of a carved demon head. There are also pools with sacred water, but the nicest part was the walk up and down stairs in the lush forest to visit a Buddhist temple and lily covered pond.

I also visited Gunung Kawi which is one of the oldest temples/monuments in the country (so sayeth Lonely Planet). This one forces you up and down hundreds of stairs to descend into a valley to see ruins and temples, then forces you to hike up and down to visit other temples that are less impressive than their jungle settings. I was exhausted and sweaty, but the walking was beautiful. Plus, how could i complain when i wasn’t walking those same stairs with a giant sack of wood or plants on my head like some i saw.

When visiting these and a number of other temples here, if you’re scantily dressed (i.e. shorts) you will be made to wear a sarong to cover your naked legs – a measure i appreciated as there are a lot of people wearing shorts who shouldn’t be (plus, men look good in sarongs). I was covered shoulder to toe in black, so i was good to enter, but the temples here have one additional warning: women may not enter if they are menstruating. Each temple had multiple signs to this effect though there was no one checking as far as i could tell. I can’t imagine any tourist abiding by this prohibition, but consider yourself warned.

That night, after dinner, i went to a traditional dance show in Ubud. (They are happing nightly as far as i could tell.) i’m not a big fan of dance, but thought this would be worth taking in. It was. It isn’t dance in a traditional, western way; it’s more like theatre/mask work and movement. There was a large live percussion (+ one flute) band and each vignette featured one or more dancers with elaborate costumes and masks. It was beautiful. What was not beautiful was the crowd who were the rudest bunch of douchbags. They took photos through the whole show – with flashes – standing up, walking around, taking videos…and did i mention the photos with flash? They also reviewed and edited their pictures during the show. I wanted to slay them all, but i didn’t. I just say there silently hating them and trying not to let that hatred ruin the show. When the cast came out for the curtain call, one of them said that NOW we could take photos. Here’s mine:

But the show was great and very good value.

The next day in Ubud, my final full day there, i started out in great spirits and went to the market after breakfast to do my shopping. I always save my shopping for the final day, once i know how much money i still have and how much things cost.

There wasn’t much i wanted for myself – a pair of earrings, some coffee beans, and maybe some tiny trinket – but i had things for others to get. The market is great fun for browsing and haggling. (Prices seem to be about s third of the first price asked.)

Lots of clothing, carved wooden things, paintings, tea and spices, art, baskets, and the usual tacky stuff.

I finished by shopping just as the daily downpour started. I got caught outside for two minutes max, and i was soaked through. I spent the rest of the day hiding out in cafes and smoking cigars on my covered hotel balcony.

When the rain did let up i returned to the monkey forest for a bit more monkey action.

I felt kind of melancholy that day. I think it was one day too long in Ubud. It is lovely, but i like to be a bit busier or maybe it was just that my trip is wrapping up, but i felt down. All that went away the next morning when i left Ubud for Denpasar. When in doubt, move on.

Asia Indonesia Indonesia Trip 2017

Ubud on Foot

My first full day in Ubud was spent exploring the city on foot. I visited about six super cool cafés and had an espresso at each. I visited various temples, including the main two. Before i came here i looked at maps and read my guide book strategizing so i would be sure to see the Balinese Hindu temple architecture and carvings. I needn’t have worried because every building here has a small temple and it seems like every second building is a religious site with statues, intricately carved doors, and altars or spirit houses. I took way too many photos.

I Knew there were rice fields one could walk into from Ubud so i found the path and set off. It was completely pastoral aside from a temple complex at the beginning of the journey and the odd sign promising cold coconuts at the end.

It was a stunning path through the most verdant of landscapes…palm tress, vines, grasses, and fields of rice.

There was even a picturesque bamboo swing that swung out over the valley.

I didn’t see much in the way of wildlife; lizards, dragonflies, centipedes, and butterflies – the latter of which i could have done without. (I hate their unpredictable flight patterns.)
It was beautiful but hot, shadeless, and humid, by the time i reached the top i was red faced and sweating so much i was nearly blind. Even my Kat Von D waterproof eyeliner didn’t survive. I did find a perfect oasis though. Outdoors with fresh pineapple juice and a view of a lily-covered pond and the fields. Restored, i made my way back, watching people toiling in the rice fields. Seriously. I don’t think about it often enough but rice is planted and harvested (and here anyway) processed BY HAND. That is just incredible for a food product so cheap and abundant. And to think we throw it around at weddings like jerks.

I don’t know what i did the rest of that day but i think i went like this: walk, coffee, walk, juice, walk, dinner, cigar, walk, bed. A thoroughly delightful day. Ubud is very touristy, and in a way i wish it wasn’t, but i must admit to enjoying the ease of it all.

Asia Indonesia Indonesia Trip 2017

The Monkeys of Ubud

I arrived in Denpasar mid morning and caught a taxi to Ubud. The ride can take an hour and a half, but mine took longer as we got stuck in interminable traffic. I didn’t mind too much though as the scenery was great.

So Bali is predominantly Hindu, unlike Java which is Muslim. So gone are the calls to prayer and here are countless statues of deities and offerings of flowers. The island – or what i saw of it on this first day – is green. Every conceivable shade of green, dotted with flowering vines, orchids, magnolias, lilies…it is stunning.

It is also very touristy. Ubud is a tourist town. Restaurants catering to foreigners, margaritas, pizza, gelato, tour touts, tacky souvenir shops, spas, and bad tattoo studios. The streets are crawling with tourists, most sporting some combination of tie-dyed harem pants, Ganesha tank tops, tattoos, beards, beads, and dresses they would never wear at home. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It just means that the place has a less than authentic gloss, and also that it is a terribly easy place to visit.

My first day i didn’t have time for my customary get-my-bearings wander; i had plans to meet up with a mother/daughter travel duo from the States whom i had met at Goa Jamblang. We had lunch and hung out poolside at a Miami Beach-esque restaurant, waiting out the afternoon rain (which i have since discovered is a daily occurrence).

After that we went to the Monkey Forest: an expanse of impossibly green jungley terrain dotted with temples, statues, bridges, and twisting walkways.

But it also has monkeys. Macaques. Monkeys everywhere. Running, climbing trees, hanging off temples, eating bananas (so cliché and so adorable), grooming each other, assaulting tourists, and having sex (with each other). You have to be careful of the monkeys. Don’t look them in the eye. Don’t smile at them. Don’t hide food on your person, because, as one sign warned, “the monkeys will know.”

I didn’t have any monkey-related troubles. I just stalked them with my camera, trying to catch them being adorable.

After that i parted ways with my companions, and continued to walk. Had dinner at a beautiful outdoor restaurant where, although smoking is allowed, I annoyed all the other patrons with my cigar smoke (unintentionally).

Back to my hotel and to bed. … wait! Have I neglected to mention my hotel? Hotel Okawati. On a charming side street off Monkey Forest Road (note: ALL side streets here are charming), it is a small complex of tropical plants around a turquoise pool next to rice fields from which frogs and birds fill the air with their chatter. It is lovely. More lovely than i am accustomed to, but I’ll tough it out.

Tag: Ubud