Ubud was a nice escape from the hectic Kuta scene. Located one hour north of Kuta, the little yoga- chic, organic, rice patty, monkey filled town gave off a vibe that often times reminded us of home and other times reminded us that we were indeed tourists in a different country.
We stayed at Sudana Homestay for three nights (130,000rp/ $10 per night). The family run homestay was very comforting, had a nice garden, average rooms, and included breakfast daily. We initially booked a place next door to Sudana, but when we arrived the owner claimed she had never received any booking and has been booked for a week. So, in that case, Sudana herself invided us to stay at her homestay for a price that we were able to bargain with.
Just as we arrived, changed clothes and set out to explore the town, we were lucky to experience some type of celebratory parade that occurred right when we stepped outside of our homestay! It was a neat experience watching the locals working together to support hundreds of pounds of weight on their shoulders via bamboo planks holding temples with people in them. It was also the first time we were able to listen to traditional Balanese music and watch the locals perform.
After the parade strolled past the main street, we headed to a heathy restaurant with organic, vegan, vegetarian, raw and meat options. It was SO nice being able to dine at a restaurant that had healthier food choices with actual food standards and expectations than some previous places we had frequented. We ordered Balanese Soup consisting of potatoes and various vegetables and a light broth, Balanese chicken curry, chicken sate and gado gado which consists of steamed vegetables, barley or rice, tempe, topped with peanut sauce yum!
Gado gado:
Soup and curry:
Sate:
We then made our way to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary and spent a few extremely entertaining hours observing, feeding, and letting wild monkeys jump on our heads and attack us. It was a great place to visit because although the monkeys are accustomed to seeing humans, they aren't in enclosures or caged, they are still wild! A monkey actually jumped on my head, plucked my earring from my ear and threw it on the ground! They are amazing, cute, and viscous little creatures.
Later that night we decided to hunt down the infamous "Sari Organiks" restaurant located about 30 minutes off the main road of town and only accessible by foot or motorbike paths through hundreds of rice patties. Suffice it to say, we didn't make it anywhere close to there our first try or first night in Ubud. Instead we found ourselves feeling extremely foreign and slightly uncomfortable walking and searching through the endless pathways twining around the hundreds of acres of rice patties at dark.
We had two uncomfortable interactions: one with a local man who laughed at us when we asked where Sari Organic Farm was, then pulled down his pants and did whatever he needed to do in the river right in front of our faces. The second was a kid who said "what you don't speak Indonesian" after we asked where Sari was while pointing to the sign, making us feel even more invasive of local territory... Despite that, it was truly magical being surrounded by such picturesque beauty.
Day two in ubud we decided to seek out Sari once again. Although it took us about 2 hours and four different path routes to reach the place, I can't say that it wasn't worth it. Everything that every person has said about Sari is true. You get to eat a delicious, healthy and fresh meal, while overlooking acres of rice patties and lush agriculture.
I ordered a salad with greens, tomato, cucumber, beets, feta cheese, ginger, bell peppers, cashew nuts, onion, topped with a tahini dressing!!!
Aidan ordered some fabulous mixed veggie dish with chicken and rice and we both shared a portion of babaghanoush and pita and guacamole and crackers...
some of the best guac I've ever had (Minus my moms and Kristi Chambers')!
Appetizers and the view:
The entrance to the massage room:
The bath itself:
On our last day in ubud we felt like we had run out of local things to do... Did we want to take a yoga class? Take a tour of a water temple outside of town? Visit the bird sanctuary 30 minutes away? So we rented a motorbike and zoomed off to find the Luwak Coffee Plantation a bit outside of town. After asking numerous locals and driving through the rainy Balinese countryside for fourt five minues we finally stumbled upon the coffee farm.
The luwak coffee is among some of the world's most expensive and decadent coffee so we felt obligated to see what the buzz was all about right in its home base of Bali. Apparently the Luwak eats the best quality coffee berries from the trees, then they ferment in their digestive tract, but don't fully digest so the coffee beans are found in the Luwaks poop. The beans are then taken from the nature and roasted to perfections, crushed and grinded.
We were the only people there so we had a five star coffee and tea tasting experience. We paid extra to try the luwak coffee, which wasn't too special tasting for us. It was more mild that "regular coffee" and had a more earthy taste. We preferred the ginseng coffee rosella tea and lemongrass tea.
The Luwak:
Coffee plants:
Roasting the coffee:
Grinding the coffee:
Sampling tray:
The Luwak Coffee taster:
Some amazing rice patties on the side of the road:
After a slow day of motorbiking, sipping coffee and light rain, we headed to Coco's Market and treated ourselves to Brie cheese, which we miss soooo much, crackers and wine. Then we booked our bus tickets to Padangbai, where we would catch a slow ferry and end in Lombok to begin the next chapter of our adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment