Lovina - Ubud
- You could bother to take public transport, and it will definitely be much cheaper, but also very slow. However, there's also a direct bus with AC charging 25.000 Rp (10/98).
- It's much easier to take a tourist bus. They leave very regularly and they pick you up at the hotel. If you don't like the departure hour they propose, shop around. If their morning bus is full, they will say "it's better to leave in the afternoon, sir because then you can spend the morning on the beach" or vice versa if the afternoon bus is full.
- Price of this bus was 5 US$. They did stop half way to wait for another bus and pick up these passengers too.
Transport around Ubud
To and from the airport You can get to the airport by taxi for 65.000 Rp in 1 hour (8/98).
Organised tours Of course there are plenty of organised tours to almost every part of Bali from Ubud. I don't see any reason to join these tours, except maybe if you're alone. Hiring a car will be the same price as joining the tour with 2 persons.
Hiring a car - Hiring a Suzuki jeep is very easy and cheap. The only thing which worried us a bit was insurance. You should write down how much the collision waver in case of an accident will be (you can negotiate on this), and even then I'm not sure what would happen if you really did have an accident. So, be extremely careful.
- We paid 20 US$ for a day including "insurance", excluding petrol.
- Traffic in Bali is not such a big problem, except maybe in the South. An Englishman once told me "It's difficult to drive in Belgium, because you drive on the wrong side of the road, don't you". Well, in Bali they drive on the "right side of the road".
- Make sure you have an international driver's licence. There have been reports on the LP-site of people being checked by the police. Fine is either a 80.000 Rp bribe or a 200.000 Rp fine (8/98).
Hiring a motorbike This is a great way to visit all the neighbouring sights of Ubud. We went up to Tampaksiring by motorbike.Nobody talks about insurance when hiring a motorbike, so be careful.We paid 4 US$ a day excluding petrol.
Hotels
- There are plenty of great hotels in Ubud. As bob Patter said: "I have yet to meet someone who stayed in Ubud and doesn't feel he found the best place in town".
- We stayed at
Artini 3 hotel. It's situated a bit outside of Ubud center (+/- 2 km South), so not so convenient if you're on foot. Therefore we hired a motorbike. The hotel was brand new (1997), it has nice rooms surrounding a beautiful swimming pool (though not so charming as the one in Lovina Beach). We paid 26 US$, but you must haggle a bit. The only negative point was that we had someone trying to watch us through the badroom window. The other Artini got negative reports on the LP-site being too noisy.
- Rhinochaser recommended
Mumbul's Inn, just behind Mumbul's restaurant on Jl. Raya. Rooms 4 and 5 are the best and cost 30 US$, but they have cheaper rooms too (8/98).
- Bob Patters favourite is
Frog Pond. They are catering for backpackers at 8 US$ (97) for a private room with shower, private veranda, garden view and breakfast. The location is very good, the place is popular.
- A bit more upscale is
Oka Wati's Sunset bungalows. Some of the bungalows are decorated Balinese style with lovely furnishings and verandahs. They have a swimming pool and are located in a rice field off Monkey forest road. 25 US$ before the crisis.
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Dewa House at monkey Forest Road 68 (tel 975064) charges 40.000 Rp for a new luxury suite for 3 to 4 people including shower and toilet, good breakfast is included. Staff is very friendly, location is excellent, the birds in the cages can be noisy. (6/98).
Restaurants
Plenty of marvellous restaurants in Ubud. not only the food is very good, but also the presentation is great. Here are the ones we visited.
Add a tourist tax to all the prices mentioned (it was 10 % in 1997).
Bumbu Restaurant In the center of Ubud. Try their marvellous Nasi Campur (3 US$) and melon juice with coconut. Other people didn't like it that much though.
Ary's Warung Situated near the bridge. Equally good though a bit more expensive.
Miro's Garden Go there for dinner. It's very romantically candlelit. The food is also superb.
Casa luna A very popular place, it was crowded when we where there. The food is a bit cheaper then average, but also the food is a bit less then average (for Ubud standards). The drinks were warm and the food was already getting cold. This might have been an exception.
Dirty Duck Situated on Jl. Hanoman. Great creme caramel and roasted chicken (Rhinochaser's favourite 8/98).
Wayan Situated on Monkey Forest road. It has a lovely garden setting and authentic Balinese dishes on the menu. It's very popular.
Lotus Views are great, but food is overpriced and poor. Best to go for a drink.
What to do
Walking There are numerous beautiful walks around Ubud. We tried one across the road in front of the Campuhan Hotel, but we got lost a little bit.
You could also go for a walk in Monkey Forest.
Shopping Ubud is a great place to do your shopp
ing. We waited to do our shopping till we were in Kuta, but this was a mistake. The choice is much better in Ubud, especially f.i. for the wooden toys. They are made in Gyanyar, and the choice is very poor in Kuta, so buy them here.
Also don't miss the Ubud fruit market and eat mangos, rambutan, papaya, silak and other delicacies. Also go to Sukawati, near Ubud. Very few tourists visit this market, so prices and selection are good.
Balinese dances Ubud is the place to see Balinese dances. Although I'm not really a big fan of these things, I really liked it. There are 2 places having performances every evening, we went to Ubud Palace. Go early enough to get a good seat. Price was 7000 Rp ( = 3 US$ in 5/97).
You could also visit the school where the children are trained.
Trip number 1 - This trip can be easily done by motorbike.
- First we went to Goa Gaja at 4 km from Ubud. On the way there we stopped to see the wood carvers. It's really a spectacular sight to see them carving images of 3 to 4 metres high.
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Goa Gaja itself is not that special. Maybe we should have made a walk through the rice paddies to see another temple, but it was too hot then.
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Gunung Kawi on the other hand is a marvellous sight and definitely not to miss. Try to go there in late afternoon, since you will have great sunlight. When you're down in the valley, also follow the signs to the left to a small water fall for about 500 metres. The walk and the views are great.
- Also go to the right to visit the tenth temple, it's a 15 minutes walk through the rice paddies with again nice views. If you like the carved coconuts they sell, buy them here because we didn't see them anywhere else.Near to Gunung Kawi is
Tirta Empul. For the Balinese this is a very important temple, for me it was OK, not as good as Gunung Kawi.
Trip number 2 - We did this trip with a hired jeep. We started very early to get to Besakih as soon as possible.
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Besakih is of course a marvellous temple. Early in the morning, there were no tourists, but plenty of Balinese who were already worshipping (I think there must have been a religious celebration that day). The only drawback of going in the morning is that the sun comes up behind the Besakih volcano, which is not too good for taking pictures. You must leave your car on the parking lot and then walk 500 metres up the mountain.
- From Besakih we went further to
Lake Batur and the Batur temple. This was really a disappointment. The view of the lake standing on the craterrim is of course nice, but everywhere you stop you will attract a swarm of vendors who really have no respect at all. The Batur temple is also nothing special. Note that you have to pay to enter the region.
- I recieved a mail with info on climbing the
Batur volcano. I give it here uncensored.
In Bali I visited the active volcano Batur. When i was there current big ashes and lava eruptions happend at Batur 4 ( small crater at the side of the volcano).
I recommend going up in in the afternoon, and wait until night for seeing the red stones flying through the night. It is no problem to walk there at night with a torch.
During daytime a guide is not necessary, also not for the decend at night. But for climbing up at night, a guide makes sense and costs only 5-10 US$. But be very carefull. I was more courious and stupid than carefull and walked approx 20 meters close to the cimney where the lava comes out and thought there is a regularity in the big eruptions (up to 300 meters high ash clouds and stones up to one meter long). But there is no 100% regularity!!!!!!! Normaly big eruptions happend every 20-30 minutes after a calm time with very small or no eruptions, but it could ber different. 10 minutes after I left there was a gig eruption. The whole area 200 meters around the crater was red by stones and even 1km far away stones were falling down. At this time I was about 600 meters far away and some stones came down around me. So I had more fortune than common sense and that's it what I would lie to tell every interested traveller. Its a great and safe place to see volcanic eruptions and there are good viewpoints to follow this theatre from an above position. But going to close to the cimney is extremely dangerous, and in case of an accident I am sure even if someone recognizes that , noone will help you within the danger zone.
From there we went South to Sanur to confirm our flight tickets and to lay on the beach for a while. Then we went further to
Tanah Lot.Tanah Lot is hypertouristic, especially at sunset, but still worth to see. There's a promontorium from where you have a nice view. You cannot visit the island of the temple itself anymore. We went to have drink on the terrace to see sunset, but it turned out to be cloudy that day. Untill now, I did not met 1 traveller who really saw a clear sunset there, so don't expect too much of it.
- All these trips can also be organised by an agency if you are alone or don't want to sort it out yourself. However, if you're 2 people, it's cheaper to organize it yourself.
Medical problems
The Ubud Clinic is on Jl. Raya and got good reports. A visit will set you back 75.000 Rp (8/98).
Books
There's a good second hand shop on Jl. Raya called Ganesha.They by your old books and sell them for double of the price.
There's a library at Pondok Pekak which rents books for 1000 Rp per day.
Tanah Lot at sunset
Go on to "Tirtagangga page"
