Monday 24 October : Arriving in Ubud
After leaving Kuta in Lombok it was a 8 hour travel to Ubud in Bali with tel he shuttle bus and fast boat. Once we arrived in Ubud I quickly noticed that I had a wrong picture of Ubud in my mind. I expected it to be a really small village inside the jungle 😅 It turned out to be a very well developed village with alot of shops etc.
I was really tired from the travelling and felt a bit weird. I am seeing and doing so many things in so little time, that my body has a hard time to get used to all that. In the evening I explored Ubud with Charlotte and we had a good dinner. I ordered Chicken Tepanyaki which was awesome! After that we went to a desert restsurant were they make all kinds of exclusive things. I got a very small portion, which I am not used to 😂But I want to learn to enjoy my food, rather then eat lots of it. In the past I choose quantity over quality, and that's something I want to change in my life. During my stay in Gili Air I met this girl who was vegetarian. She kind of inspired me and made me consious about the things that happen with the animals we eat. How can a chicken be good for you that only costs €5 per kilo. His whole life is in that. They don't even see daylight, have no space to move and get injected with all kinds of medicines. That can't be good for your body (over a longer period) in my opinion. So from now on I will try to eat less meat or eat it from an animal who had a normal life. Also wenn I get back to Switzerland I will eat more bio. Okay enough about the cliché stuff, but I just realised that really sick things are happening in this world 😷

Tuesday 25 October
I spend my first night in Aji's Homestay. He runs it together with his wife. Mister Aji is around 74 years old and is a really friendly man. He used to be a teacher but is retired. Now he likes to paint, which he is incredibly good at in my opinion. He does traditional artwork and paints stories about God and demons. They have 3 little bungalows. Their house is really Balinese style. Normally people have one house with rooms inside. In Bali this is different. They have like 3 small buildings and alot is happening outside. They have a seperat building for the kitchen, bedroom and livingroom. Way different then in Hoĺland!!!

The wife of Mr. Aji served breakfast at my lodge in the morning. Also here I got a banana pancake with a bowl of cold fresh fruits😍
Today we went to the Sacred Monkey Forest. It's a very touristic temple were alot of monkeys live. The nature was really amazing. We saw some old trees with very long roots. There was a river flowing through the park which made it kind of magical. After 1 hour we saw the most of it and we exited.
After that we went to the "Earth Cafe" which is one of the so many healthy places to eat delicious healthy foods. I ordered a Yoghurt smoothie bowl with a pumpkin soup and a fresh coconut 😍
Later in the afternoon Charlotte and I split up. I noticed that I needed some alone time to explore the area. Charlotte thought the same so that was good. I still wanted to climb a vulcano in Bali so I went to the tourist information. That's were I met Dana, a German girl who also wanted to hike. We decided to go together and we chose the hardest vulcano, Mount Agung 😈.
After that I went for some Gado Gado in a small local restaurant with food from Jakarta. This was the first time I ate it cold. She said it was normal, but I was not sure if she made it fresh or that it was already made a while ago😅 I guess the last, because after that I had a bad stomach pain.
In the evening we met up again and went to a Yin Yoga class. This is exactly the kind of yoga I need. You stay in a specific position for a period of time, to increase flexibility.
After the yoga we went to a healthy restaurant again, the food in Ubud is unbelievable. So many healthy restaurants with amazing food😀 I went to bed at 22.00 for 1 hour sleep.

Wednesday 26 October: Mount Agung!
Okay after 1 hour sleep I got picked up at 0.00 and we drove to Mount Agung. We started at 02.00 and there were only 6 people going up the mountain. I'm glad we started at 800m. The first half hour I wanted to quit 😪I still had a bad stomach and was tired. Gladly after a break my stomach was getting better. I was starting to enjoy the hike in the dark. The hike wasn't as hard as Mount Rinjani last week, but still steep enough 😃
Around 5.30 we reached the point to watch sunrise while having a small breakfast from our guide. Later on we walked 100 more meters to the top. The view was beautiful and the colors of the stone inside the crater were very special😍 we made some pictures and started descending. The way down was shitty. I think i fell like 5 times because it was so slippery. We went fast and after 2 hours we reached our starting point.The hike was good and the guides were really funny, we had some good laughs😂😆
When I got back home I went back to bed again. In the evening I had dinner with Dana and we went for a Balinese massage which was awesome. I almost fall asleep every time haha. After the massage I was really tired because of the long day and went to bed.

Thursday 27 October:
After a great sleep I woke up and rented a scooter. I rented a bigger one then before, a 150cc scooter which was great for driving in the mountains. After I picked up Charlotte we went to the Nungnung Waterfall. Once arrived we paid €0.75 entrance and had to walk down alot of stairs. Once we were at the bottom the nature was beautifull. Lots and lots of green and from the top there was an huge amount of water falling down from 60 meters. There was almost no one visiting the waterfall which was great😀 after going into the waterfall we had to walk back all the way up again. There was also a 70 year old lady at the waterfall, I think she spended half the day to get back up again😂 after the visit we went to Ubud again where we ate some healthy food at Alchemy.

I spended the afternoon by myself and went to the hidden caves in Sukawati, south of Ubud. I
There were 3 canyons to see, which was really nice. It's amazing what nature can create over a longer time. During the walking in the canyon I noticed my knee was hurting and was a bit swollen. Looks like a supra patellar inflammation. I don't know why it's hurting, maybe because of the hike on the mountain. The way down was pretty hard on the knees 😕 Oh well, let's give it some time and rest.

In the evening I made up with Mr. Aji to visit the palace of Ubud. His daughter lives there and he comes there every day to pray. Mr. Aji gave me traditional Balinese clothing and we went to the palace by scooter. I wanted to wear my helmet, but he said "don't need, we wear Balinese hat", Which was just a small bandana hat made of cotton 😂
The palace was one big area surrounded by temples. Mr Aji told me alot about the history and culture of Bali. Also he told me stories about the gods and demons, which were really interesting. He can talk for hours about it i think, but after one and a half hour it was enough for me and I drove back home.
In the evening I made up with Charlotte and Sanne because it's our last night. We drunk a cocktail and ate some healthy foods. Maybe I will see Charlotte again in Thailand.
After I got back home I was really tired. I wanted to get up at 05.00 to still go to the rice fields, because I didn't see them yet and everyone says they are a must visit when you are in Ubud. But I felt so tired that I decided to set my alarm at 07.00, I accepted the fact i wasn't going to see the Tegalalang Rice Fields..

Friday 28 October:
Surprisingly I woke up at 05.00 and felt pretty fit! I decided to go to the rice fields😁 At 05.45 I arrived but couldn't find any entrance. There was no one there. After awhile I parked the scooter somewhere and found a small path going into the rice fields. The rice paddies are so beautifull here!! After some hiking along the water and jumps through bushes I made my way down. There was no one in the rice fields which made it feel really special. I'm so happy I still went there🙂
Once back home I packed my stuff and a friend of the son of Mr. Aji brought me to the airport.

Ubud was very nice. I could definitely stay here for a longer time. Also I still want to see more of North Bali the next time I come here. But for now....
CHIANG MAI HERE I COME 😄 🏞🏕

Geschreven door FrankArends