Day 13 – Exploring Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Saturday, July 15, 2023 – Today we started with an early breakfast at our resort and headed out to explore Ubud. We had been advised to get out as early as possible to hit some of the popular local areas before they got crowded. One thing that was very evident walking around last night was that Ubud was filled with tourists from around the world. So we set out to visit a few places that were within walking distance of our resort.

Our first stop was the Campuhan Ridge Walk, a 1.2 mile (2 km) paved walkway along a ridge between two river gulleys. Our hike started with a mishap. On the stairs down to the start of the ridge walk Karen slipped and landed on her bum. Fortunately the slip was not serious, but Karen ended up bringing home a large bruise as an additional souvenir. The Ridge Walk was a nice hike with a climb at the start and then a relatively flat path along the top of the ridge until another small climb at the top end of the walk. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we took in views of some incredible houses and resorts built into the opposite hillsides.

After our walk we stopped by the @LazyCatsCafe to refuel with a snack and beverages. The cafe offers a nice street view from the second floor to watch the city morning activity. We liked the saying displayed on the wall: “BEING LAZY DOES NOT MEAN DOING NOTHING, IT MEANS DEDICATING TIME TO YOURSELF WITHOUT THE NEED TO BE PRODUCTIVE.” It was great for Karen to find decaf coffee (Thailand and Indonesia are both famous for their coffee, but decaf is not a thing!) while Greg enjoyed a delicious Masala chai tea.

Next up was a visit to Mandala Suci Wenara Wana (the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary). This is a protected park on the edge of Ubud city that houses 3 Hindu temples and is home to about 600 macaque monkeys. As you walk through the park you can experience the monkeys up close and personal. You need to keep food, drinks and all personal items tucked away, otherwise the monkeys will be happy to take them off your hands. Literally – we saw monkeys jump up and reach right into people’s bags. There are no fences or cages and the monkeys are allowed to roam and freely interact with whoever is inside the park. A few of these clever monkeys even go outside the park in search of tourists and their treasures. The village that manages the park feeds the monkeys sweet potatoes and bananas throughout the day so the monkeys are well fed and typically stay within the forest. We were not able to go into any of the temples as there were Hindu ceremonies happening (and we saw many people come into the park for those ceremonies) but we certainly did have fun watching the monkeys.

After getting many steps in for the day we returned to the resort for a shower and a massage. Our resort arranged for two women to come to Kano Sari and give us massages. We felt it was our responsibility to compare a Balinese massage to the ones we experienced in Thailand – thumbs up for Balinese massage!

Relaxed and refreshed we headed back out to attend one of the local traditional dance performances. There are many to choose from each evening that are held in various locations around the city. We attended the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance presented by the Taman Kaja Community. The Kecak Fire dance is the telling of Ramayana, an old Hindu story, that is shared through costumed dancers and is accompanied by vocal percussion music from a choir of about a hundred men that sit, stand, and lay in concentric circles around the fire. The dance involves almost all the adults from the Taman Kaja community. The Trance Dance (Sanghyang Djaran) depicts a horse rider who is “lulled into a trance” to walk over hot coconut husk coals. We found the costumes magnificent, the dances and stories fascinating and the supporting music provided by the men’s choir fantastic.

We ended our night with a very nice dinner. I took a picture of the bill because it came to over 1.1 Million Indonesian Rupiahs. It sounds like a lot until you realize it is equal to approximately $76 US. This was at a very nice restaurant that clearly caters to tourists – the pricing was extravagant by Balinese standards (and a nice treat for us).