There And Back Again: Bali: Ubud

I went to Bali for about a week recently with a friend. We went to Ubud and Amed, and skipped party-town Kuta.

Ubud was NICE. It was pretty, so clean and relaxing after India. People made an effort to make things look pretty, sticking flowers everywhere. I revelled in the almost no-hassle environment after India. So it took me a couple of days to realise how touristy Ubud was. There were many restaurants, shops, galleries and bungalows. But they all cater for tourists. As it was low-season, there were more shops than tourists when we were there. Prices were also pretty touristy.

I did a couple of yoga classes at the best yoga studio I've ever been to at the Yoga Barn. It was a wooden building with opened walls, breezes and sunlight. Perfect. Well, nearly except when the builders on an adjoining site started going with their hammers at 8am.

Outside performance space at the Yoga Barn

You can make trips around Ubud e.g. bicycle tours (my friend went on a good one with Bali on Bike) or trekking tours around the terraced paddy fields, and villages. There were also streets of craft e.g. bone-jewellery, wooden furniture makers outside of Ubud. Scooters seemed to be the preferred mode of travel. For the less adventurous, taxis are available at negotiated prices for day/half day/few hours trips.