We travelled by taxi to reach Ubud as it was only an hour away. We stayed in a cute little family run homestay and it was perfect for the time we had in Ubud. We were happy to be away from the beach and back in a busy town where we could get a feel for Baleniesen life.
On our first night in Ubud we rented a scooter from our homestay and headed into the town. The town was very buzzy with lots of restaurants and shops. It had a really nice feel to it. There was a huge market in the centre of ubud that sold lots of clothes and souvenirs and obviously I ended up buying something! After wandering around the town we found a cheap hidden restaurant that did really good Indonesian food. It was just off one of the main streets but in a really cute garden. It was a hidden gem!
On our first day in Ubud we headed to the Sangeh Monkey Forest (yes if you’ve read my previous blogs my worst nightmare). Now there is a main monkey Forest in the centre of Ubud but I had heard/read bad reviews on it saying they treat the monkeys badly there and they can become quite aggressive. Therefore we decided to head to the other monkey Forest which was a bit of a drive away but it was nice to see some of the villages in Ubud on the way.
The Sangeh Monkey Forest has 600 monkeys in total in the forest. It was a huge forest, very green with lots of temples within it. When we arrived at the entrance of the forest there were lots of tour guides offering tours around the forest (this was for no price), we decided to walk around with a guide just in case the monkeys decided to attack us!! The tour guide was excellent in telling us information about the forest and the temples. The monkeys on the other hand were terrifying for me but George on the other hand loved them and had them climbing all over them! I had realised by this point that monkeys were really not my cup of tea and I just wanted to find the exit! Nonetheless the Forest was really peaceful and the monkeys were (mostly) very respectful and non aggressive. It was also interesting to hear that the monkeys to the Balinese people are sacred and they worship them. Overall it was a great trip and I would highly recommend over the other monkey forest as it is much less touristy (we were the only people in the forest) and the monkeys seemed so peaceful!
After the Monkey Forest we headed to the Tegenungan Waterfall which is 25 minutes outside of Ubud. We arrived at the waterfall and we immediately could see it was an extremely touristy spot. There were lots of market stalls and restaurants approaching the waterfall which we had some lunch at before heading down to the waterfall. The steps down to the waterfall were a little steep but definitely were doable! The waterfall itself was massive and it was just one straight stream which made it different to the waterfalls we had seen in the past. We were able to swim in the waterfall (with all the other tourists..) which was also really nice.
We travelled back into Ubud after our day of adventures and had a really early night as we had to be up at 1.30am. Our early start was because we were going to climb Mount Batur (an active volcano an hour outside of Ubud). We were picked up at 2am and taken to the starting point of the trek up to Mount Batur. We were in a group with 2 other couples and were given our breakfast once we arrived at 3am.
Obviously at 3am it was still pitch black outside so we needed a torch in order to see where we were going when climbing the mountain. The hike was extremely rocky on the way up and you really had to watch where you were going. Luckily as it was 3am it was actually quite cold so the heat didn’t factor into the hardness of the hike! We stopped every half an hour and made sure we drunk plenty of water. We approached the top of the mountain at around 5.30am just as the sun was rising. The sunrise was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately about half an hour in the clouds came over so the visibility got quite pour but then luckily the sun begun to shine through the clouds making it an ever better sunrise.
After the sunrise we headed over to where the active volcano was. This was pretty cool as neither of us had seen anything like this before. Oh and then guess what obviously had to be over by the active volcano … monkeys! So this was a great surprise for me… These monkeys were actually really aggressive, a lot of people got bitten by them so if you do go up to the volcano stay clear of the monkeys like I did!
The hike down the mountain was one of the scariest things ever! I thought the way up for rocks were bad but the way down was even worse. The rocks made the trek extremely slippery and you also had nothing to hold onto. I was scared I was going to break my neck the whole way down! It was a relief once we had reached the bottom as luckily there were no broken bones and we were back in one piece! We got to the bottom of the mountain around 8.30am, so all in all it was about a 5 hour trek.
This mountain climb was honestly one of the best things we have done on our trip so far. We enjoyed every second (apart from the coming down) and you didn’t even need to be that fit to do it. The sunrise was beautiful and it was nice to watch it with a hot chocolate too. Even though the early start is extremely early I would 100% recommend this to anyone going to Ubud, it is something that can’t be missed!
We spent the rest of our last day relaxing around the pool as we were really tired from the exhausting morning we just had. That evening it was the rugby World Cup final so we found a sports bar (with lots of British people in) and watched the game there. It was fun to be around lots of English people again even though the result wasn’t as we wanted! We headed back to our favourite little restaurant where we went on the first night for our last night in Ubud. The owners were happy to see us return and we had a really yummy meal.
The following day we were leaving Ubud but not till later in the day as our next destination was only a couple of hours down the road so we didn’t have to be there at a specific time. We had been recommended whilst in Ubud to try the suckling pig, so on our final day for our lunch we headed to the best restaurant that served this in the town. The food did not disappoint, it was so tasty and the crackling made the whole meal even better!
We ordered our taxi once we got back to our homestay, said our goodbyes to the lovely family to hosted us and headed to our next destination. Ubud was such a cool place with so much culture and interesting things to do. It was really nice to do some touristy things again and get a real taste of Indonesian life. We were really sad to leave actually because the family who we stayed with made us feel so welcome, gave us amazing advice and were all in all just so lovely! Next stop … Amed!!
Adventure Awaits... 