OUR BALI HOLIDAY PART ONE - UBUD

Hello again, my dear readers.  Hope you are all ok.

We are back from our holidays in Bali and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Our plan was to go there for nine days splitting them between two places that we really like, Ubud and Seminyak.  The town of Ubud is known as centre for traditional crafts and dance.  

It is surrounded by deep forests, terraced rice paddies dotted with Hindu temples and shrines and is home to a top class eco and health retreats, a vast collection of art galleries and other creative outlets.   

Seminyak, on the other hand is a trendy place known for its luxury hotels, hip cafes as well as restaurants and high-end clothing boutiques and homewares shops lining every street to which you turn.  They have a totally different vibe and attract different crowds but we wanted to experience the best of two worlds. We decided to spent the first three days in Ubud, decompressing from the buzz and fuss of the big city and after that we will pack our bags and would arrange a drive to take to Seminyak which is about 1.5 hour away by car, depending on the traffic.

We did quite a bit of research of where to stay as we always do since both of us are quite particular about what we like and most importantly what we don't about a place.  One of our high priorities is the layout of the rooms. Don't laugh, but we take extra caution to make sure that the bathroom and toilet facilities are separated from the main quarters by a solid wall and a door as on our travels we came across quite a few hotels and resorts where the boundaries between the two are rather blurred.  

We once stayed at a golf retreat where the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom was made entirely of glass with no curtain in sight.  It does look great on a picture but in reality totally grosses me out.  In the end we found a lovely looking place call Tejaprana Resort and Spa.  It comprises 28 cosily furnished villas, all facing east allowing you to take full advantage of the warmth and benefits of the morning sun. Each villa is complemented with a gazebo, an infinity plunge pool and an outdoor natural stone bathtub bringing you yet closer to the Balinese landscape embracing the resort. The only time you might see other residents is over breakfast that is served on a big open terrace along a common pool providing the same vista views that you get from your villa. 

The rooms are beautifully furnished, its decor showcasing Balinese culture and a craftsmanship of the local artisans while keeping up with the modern world like the presence of latest model of a Nespresso machine, build-in adaptors and docks that solve your electrical currency differences, also next to each bed was a build- panel with touch-up light switches that allow you to control all the light features inside and outside without leaving the bed.

By the time we landed, cleared customs and arrived at the villa was 4 o’clock Australian time.  The moment the staff brought our luggage insight, we crashed the bed and fell into a blissful sleep.  You can imagine my surprise when I woke up to some strange noises coming from the pool area.  I carefully peeled through the glass doors and saw a monkey sitting on our roof staring back at me.  We were warned not to stare back at them as they might attack you but I couldn't resist taking a photo of the ape.  Surprisingly, it seemed not to mind.

There were a couple of things that we read about on a net that we haven't seen or done before and after a lovely breakfast we contacted our driver to take us to Tegenungan Waterfall, one of Bali's most beautiful spots and the top 10 of highly recommended things to do while in Ubud.   

As I mentioned a few times before, my husband and I have been to Bali many times.  We fell in love with this place from the first visit back in 2004.  We stayed at a private villa that included a butler, a chef and a chauffeur named Kadek.  He is a highly professional and a very kind man.  We liked him a lot, so whenever we are in Bali we use his services.  Sadly due to the development and shift in demographic and recent war in Ukraine a lot of people have come to live there since our first visit and the traffic which was not on its good behavior back then, has become a total nuisance.  When it used to take half hour is now taking almost two and his was not peak season yet.

Anyway, we made it to the waterfall, it looks and sounds mighty powerful.  We hoped that we would be able to swim there but it was not the case.  The waterfall looked and sounded very powerful and attracts a lot of visitors all year round.  Another recently added attraction was Bali Glass bridge.  

It looked stunning from where we were and the view from there must be amazing but if you want to walk on it, it will cost you $25/person.  It would've cost us $50 which seemed rather steep, so I  perish the thought.  

On the way back to the car we stopped at one of local fruit stalls and bought some fruit that I only ever eaten while in Bali:  mangosteens.  They are so delicious and I couldn't wait till I was able to taste them again.  They sometimes make it to our fruit shops and sold for $5 each.     

On the way back to the resort we stopped at the newly built Ubud Art Market, a recently build proper structure sprawled over two huge buildings hosting multitude of vendors selling their wares to the locals and tourists alike.  

It was late afternoon when we made it back to the resort.  We spent the next few blissful hours by the pool enjoying the view over the forest listening to the birds chirping in the trees, swimming, reading and daydreaming.  

The following morning we donned our gym gear because we were going to do the Campuhana Ridge Walk, another one on the list of the top 10 things to do while you are in Ubud.   

The trail is about 2 km long walk that runs through the rice fields and lush green countryside with sweeping view that you don't get to see if you stay in Ubud central.

Although the trail has very little elevation, it took us almost two hours to complete the walk as we took our time stopping and taking photos of anything that caught our attention, from the sprawling villas hidden among the trees to the rise fields, Hindu temples and colourful villages that we came across and so on.

Upon our return to the car, we asked Kadek to take us to another attraction that we had not seen before, Elephant Cave.  

It was built in the 9th century and believed to be a place built for spiritual meditation.  The entrance to the cave depicts a giant menacing face whose wide open mouth forms the doorway while forest motifs and other animals are carved on both sides of it.  

The other features of the site are the large meeting hall and a collection of large stone carvings and a few meters away is a pond where the holy water is taken for ceremony.  

After visiting the cave we felt quite hungry and tired so we asked our driver to take us back to the villa where we repeated the same ritual that we had the day the day before:  swimming, sunbathing, reading and just daydreaming.

The following day we woke up late, had breakfast, took our time packing our bags, paid the bill and drove off to our next destination, Seminyak.  But that is for the next post.

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo