Ubud

On August 25th, Sber and Vale joined me :) It was so nice, they came to visit me!! Moreover, on September 9th, my little sister also turns 50, so it’s a great reason for a nice trip!! Vale also has her birthday in September on the 8th, and Peppa also in September on the 28th. She will come to spend a few weeks traveling with me from Singapore on September 5th.

Well, all September-born like me :)

When I reached Ubud, I immediately realized it wasn’t the place for me! The traffic, the heat, the tourists like me but the ones you don’t want to see :)

The rice fields are beautiful and you can do a thousand activities, but no, it’s really not a nice place to stay. To be avoided, especially after the mango forest, it was brutal!

The place where we stayed was in the middle of greenery, the garden was very beautiful and with a pool, but the bungalows were very neglected even though they were very large with a nice terrace. The cleanliness was not great, the towels were dirty, and overall it was not pleasant. The traffic is everywhere, it’s very hot because it’s not by the sea, there’s no wind. In short, you get it, to be avoided!

We had an experience at the limits of the known by embarking on a car and Jeep tour to see the sunrise on Mount Batur. We left at 3 in the morning, the driver took us to an exchange point (like goods) to hand us over to another driver with a Jeep who took us up the mountain at 3 km/h. We couldn’t see anything, the Jeep was struggling, and so were we. It even had psychedelic lights that, if possible, worsened the mood, like: why did we do this, who are these people, and where are they taking us?? When we stopped in front of a dark shack and the driver got out, we thought the worst! But no, after a few seconds that felt like hours, a woman appeared with some bottles, and we realized she was refueling! Well, then we set off again, it was freezing cold, we were lightly dressed, Sber in shorts was in the seat next to the driver (a bit more sheltered), Vale and I were in the back, exposed to the bumps and the cold wind. You get it, you have an idea? Well, after about 30 minutes, we arrived halfway up the mountain, and I won’t even mention the maneuver to park (we saw ourselves overturned in the ditch), and we found the other 10,000 tourists, goods exchange, perched on their Jeeps waiting for the sunrise!!

Well, at 6 they even gave us breakfast (boiled eggs, bananas, water, and bread). The sunrise finally came, and you start thinking, why did I spend this money (850K each!!!) and get up at 2 in the morning? Sber gave us a bracelet sold by a woman who had made it with her hands with the lava of the volcano, etc. (I doubt it). We went back down and saw what we had done going up, the road is not really a road and is very steep. Anyway, we survived all this, and they handed us back to our driver. The day then continued with a coffee plantation, a Disney-like rice terrace, and hot thermal water pools (I must say, beautiful). After that, we had ourselves taken back to the hotel, we were exhausted. The next day, the girls went to the nearby waterfalls with the scooter, and I relaxed and took a walk.

We left Ubud on August 29th for the Gili Islands. Our trusted taxi driver Gede, who we now help pay for his daughter’s studies, picked us up… expensive compared to others, but at least we know who we’re giving the money to. In short, don’t go to Ubud. The activities you can do there can be found elsewhere too.