Ubud and Kuta

After spending almost every day on a beach in paradise and having only surfing and hanging out in mind, we were happy to get some culture and sightseeing. We left Gili Trawangan in sunny conditions just to see the world going down above Bali on our arrival. Huge dark clouds covered the coastline and the mountains in the backcountry. We were lucky to not get wet and a shuttlebus took us further inland to Ubud. The city is known for beeing the cultural center of Bali. A lot of Cafes, museums and a lot of temples were located in and around Ubud, which makes it the perfect destination at the end of our holiday.

We found a really nice homestay in a narrow street away from the mainroad. We pretty much lived in the living romm of the families home. The door of our room was painted with the traditional hindu-pictures just like the house itself. It was really comfortable and we felt like sleeping in a temple.

The next day begun with a booked tour to the most interesting destinations in and around Ubud. Luckily it was just the two of us, so we had a personal driver and could go and stay how long we would like to. The first stop was a museum with old and new paintings of Balinese painters. Somehow old pictures are made in the beginning of the 20th century so not that old. The second stop braught us to the Ape-cave. It is a cave built by Hindus and Buddhists for praying. Although it is right in the city, the cave is located in a temple surrounded by rainforest. Once we walked down it got really hot and the humidity made us breath harder and caused light headaches.

 

 

 Moving on and getting out of Ubud, we went to a place made by Hindus and Buddhists too. You need to climb down more than 300 steps, passing little grocery shops, monkey statues and rice fields. At the bottom of the valley you need to cross an old bridge to come to an old house. The people lived really spartanic back in the old days in a house built into the existing walls. But the actual highlight are the 8 statues that are cut into the about 20m high rocky walls of the valley. they are about 7-10m high and a symbol of the appriciatino of their gods. The Hinduism of Bali is quite different from the one in India. There is no 'Kastensystem' and the Gods are a little different and influenced by Buddhists. But Bali is the last Bastillon of Hinduism in Indonesia. All other islands are either islamic or rainforest like in Westpapua and a different world.

 

 

 

 

 Our forth stop was in a huge temple where all pilgrims come to wash themselfes in pure water. It lookes like a swimmingpool and the water comes ritually cleaned from inside of the temple. People can wash of old  and bad things and can go on with a pure soul. It is hard to describe, because there are so many things to be connected and explained to understand the full meaning. The last stop was about an hour north of Ubud deepin the mountains. A place called Kintanami. A village upon a quite narrow ridge, hanging on steep hillsided. The view is amazing. The volcano Mt. Batur and the lake infront of it is an amazing scenerey for our lunch. The whole valley is a lava-built rocky glacier topped with gras, bushes and some trees. It was pretty cold up there and we were happy to have our jacket covering us. 

 

 

 

 

After the tour we went shopping to give the loved ones back home some presents from our holiday. For the reason it gets dark at 7 in Indonesia it is really beautiful to go shopping when it is dark and have dinner inbetween. On sunday we went to Kuta which we denied for so long and foud a reasonable Homestay for the one night we had to spend in the most busy city of Bali. A lot of noise and drunk tourists and so many streetsellers made the stay worth an experience which shouldn't last more than the one night. The beach was crowded by Indonesian enjoying there day off work. The streets were filled with tourists and nightclubs although it is not even high season jet. We enjoyed the sunset at the beach and had a really delicious dinner later the night, before we had to say goodbye in the morning and went for different destinations. I had one week left and didn't want to stay on a beachbreak in a dirty and busy city. So the only question was: Where to go for surfing?