Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Ubud - “Located about 25 kilometres from Denpasar the village is impressed for either domestic or foreign painters. Ubud is noted as a centre of painters and carvers from classical days up to the modern ones” Quoted from the official “Discover fo Denpasar”, Denpasar Government Office.

The Tourist office said it was a two stage trip. Take bus from Kereng Station to Batubulan Station and then take a Bemo to Ubud. First I had to find the bus station. I went to where it was shown on the map but I didn't see any buses or any building that looked like a bus station. I asked several people but nobody knew anything about a bus station. Finally two young girls said they didn't know either, but one asked another local person in their local language. She told me it was straight ahead and around corner. About 50 meters away just past the yellow building. I went around the corner and didn't see any buses or any building that looked like a bus station. I was talking to a man who spoke some English and two two girls I had talked to earlier had followed me and came and stood beside me. Together we established this was the “bus station” There were three stalls with signs over them representing destinations. Only one had a “bus”; which was in fact a small van and it was parked under sign that indicated Batubulan. Only problem was as the man said “there is no bus to Batubulon” and offered to take me on his motorcycle. So we agreed on round trip price of 100,000 Rp and the girls said it was a fair price and Hussein, the driver, arranged to pick me up the next day at 10 AM.

We depart amongst the jammed streets sucking up motorcycle and diesel exhaust fumes and I am expecting to get into open country. It never happened. After the congested Denpasar, we pass a section where the highway is lined with shop/factories displaying monuments and statues mostly of the Hindu type, but also some Buddhist material. After this section the highway becomes lined with paint shops displaying their wares. I got the impression the painting were factory production but I am not sure. Some had signs saying “painting to order” and some had signs indicating a persons name as painter. Just before Ubud proper we pass a few rice paddies and then enter tourist city.

Ubud seems to exist solely for tourism. There are many pale faces on the streets which are lined with gift, souvenir, craft and clothing and textile shops galore. As well as Soul Soap stores, Crystal shops, spa and yoga centers. Ubud does have a lot of good cafes and I had Hussein stop at one for a long black and a muffin. I have not found a coffee shop in Denpasar city which seemed strange to me because I thought Indonesians drank a lot of coffee. I must have been getting mixed up with Vietnam. (On the way from the airport I did espy Starbucks.)

Back to Ubud. I went to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary which is a small monkey sanctuary in a jungle vale. It is home to some 537 Balinese Macaques.

Balinese Macaques

 

 

 

 

In the Monkey forest - rotation of image not possible after upload and upload takes too long to do over again

There are many homestays in Ubud and my thinking behind the day trip was that I would check out the possibility for staying a few days as the climate is cooler than Denpansar, there is a bit less traffic and generally a better running environment. I had preselected some homestay names and we checked one out and it was booked until Jan 10. It would have been quite an effort to locate other reasonably priced accommodation so I directed my driver back to Denpasar and decided I would stay put until after the new year. The dense tourism at Ubud didn't attract me as a tourist myself but it did have an attraction in it's climate and possible running area and its coffee shops.

By the time I got back my legs were sore from straddling a motorcycle for two hours and watching that I didn't scrape my knees on vehicles travelling beside us.