Welcome back to Ubud

Back in town after so many years: Edward Viljoen of KSRO fame for those listening to Sonoma County radio. And he allows us this time to follow each of his steps by posting directly with his blackberry to his weblog. Despite these changes in his own way of travelling and documentating it he still enjoys, what he sees:
Ubud stays the same
Warm, friendly, authentic, silly, fun, mystical

Ubud is a vibrant village-town in the middle of Bali and is the cultural hot spot of the island. The not so distant history of back packing universe seeking tourist days still lingers among the wifi cafes and designer shops - you can still find a home-stay or an old style room with breakfast next door to a world class boutique hotel.

Sprawling mansions stand on the outskirts in the midst of rice fields, ducks and geese. Tour busses clog the narrow streets and adventure companies create excursions, elephant rides and treks.

But Ubud stays the same to me as it was the first time I met it. Warm, friendly, authentic, silly, fun, mystical.

It is our second base on this tour and it's central location makes it easy to get from Ubud to the temples on our itinerary or if we wanted......mountains, beaches, and major towns.

Tonight Balinese Dancing - porcelain faces, unmoving-unsmiling mouths with all the passion, fun, romance and drama in the eyes only. Darting eyes, just like the fingers and their mesmerising lateral dance movements. Spectacularly slow body movements in postures that look like a back ache trying to happen!

But first, Bebek Tutu - traditional smoked duck lunch. Read more!

Riding the vulcano - downhill!

Pat, Chris, Ruth and Stuart on one of their walks starting directly from outside of the Ladybamboo Villa
After several cool and delicious dips in the pool and soaking in the still, quite nights in Ubud we decided to go on a bike ride. We were driven to the top of the volcano for a breakfast of pineapple pancakes and sweet tea, all with a sweeping view of the crater and lake. Then, off we went – down hill to Ubud!
Seeing Bali by bike is a great way of experiencing life here. We stopped to look at vanilla pods growing, to savour cool tropical fruits in a paddy field and to take pictures of the many happy children running in the streets after our bikes. After several miles of downhill we hit our first uphill, the guides were greeted with the shouts of ‘I thought this was all down hill’ as we slowed our pace and puffed up hill!

But, we were never disappointed as our friendly guides yelled ‘next left’ and we went rushing from concrete roads onto bumpy, muddy paths. These were the greatest parts of this trip as we ventured onto paths less travelled and were rewarded with seeing animals, birds, and Balinese people getting on with their daily lives.
By 1pm we had reached a temple, surrounded by huge trees and we rested here for a while. The air was so fresh and clean, and the temple seemed to be more about rejoicing in nature – a beautiful place to think and appreciate life. When we looked up to the sky, however, we saw dark clouds forming and knew that we were likely to get wet! Off we went, choosing the muddiest path possible of course!
A short way on we took shelter in a building whilst we watched the rain come down and sat with artists who were making their wooden handicrafts. We finally made it back to Ubud, hungry but happy. Our guides hadn’t finished with us yet though, as we were whisked off to have a banquet at Roda Restaurant on Jl. Kajeng. This was the perfect ending to a day that I think one we will all remember. After eating as much as we could, back to Lady Bamboo we went. Happy to shut out the noises of Ubud and welcome back our sanctuary, away from the worries of the world.

My husband, Stuart and I work in Banda Aceh, at the very tip of Sumatra, where the tsunami devastated so many lives in 2004. My parents, Pat and Chris always make it out from the UK to wherever we are working and this year was no different.

We booked to stay at the Lady Bamboo in Ubud because it looked so inviting on their website. When we arrived, we were not disappointed. Lady Bamboo is an oasis within an oasis. Ubud is a magical place, full of surprises and delights and Lady Bamboo was our tranquil refuge. The staff at Lady Bamboo are attentive, but not over whelming and blend into your own style of relaxing. Read more!

Ubud Tours I: Up to Kintamani

An often recommended tour from Ubud is to get up to the village of Kintamani to have breakfast at a restaurant overlooking Lake Batur and Mount Batur. The first glimpse of this active volcano will take your breath away even more if you have managed to take one of the organised Tours offered by the local Padma Tours in Jl. Kajeng, central Ubud or the International Sobek with its tour office on the Sayan river. You can start the day with an early breakfast at 3 a.m. in Ubud's Ladybamboo Villa and other participating Ubud Accommodations and returning back to Ubud for an early lunch and a good siesta. The strong ones with little time let the morning roll out with one of the lovely bike downhills of Bali, others might do that on a seperate day - or not at all:)

Balinese in the mountains look differently shows photographer ©Ingo Jezierski

The bike route from Kintamani to Ubud winds down through farmland, fields and tiny villages where ordinary Balinese go about their lives. Little children run out as you pass, waving and calling "Hallo." The guide stops frequently to acquaint you with local crops, including coffee, cacao, turmeric, ginger and taro.

Bali is so gorgeous, you can't help but gasp and stop from time to time when a hillside terraced with rice paddies or a thousand-year old temple comes into view. Read more!