From Gili Meno it was straight inland to the town of Ubud. Bali’s cultural hub and stop over for nearly every tourist to Bali. Ubud is a busy tourist town with many artworks, souvenirs stores, restaurants and sights. At the centre of town you’ll find the busy Ubud market that sells a variety of useful and useless goods. A bargaining hotspot and home to many sights and smells.
One of the many attractions in Ubud is the Monkey Sanctuary. It’s a temple in the South of town, but most people come here to see the monkeys rather than to worship. The monkeys are tame and are only looking for a free meal. Some of them are really voracious and eager, but you’ll never feel threatened by them. The odd show of the teeth or jumping on you unannounced might result in a scream as the case with some tourists.
We used Ubud as a base to see more of central Bali. One day we took a bicycle tour from Mount Batur back down to Ubud. It was approximately 25km of downhill to Ubud – easy again. I was complaining that I wanted to see the people of Bali, not the ones serving me beer or asking if I needed a taxi. I wanted to see the ones working the fields, living in the countryside, the hard working man, the real Bali. This cycle trip was the ideal opportunity to see the ‘real’ Bali.
You don’t need to go on a tour for this. Rent your own bike, even better, rent a scooter and get lost. The cycle trip was cool, but we wanted more freedom, so we decided to rent a scooter later during the trip. Something we should have done as we set foot in Bali – scooters are the way to go!
The cycle trip took us through many rice paddies and gave me the opportunity to wonder off and take some photos of what I saw to be the Bali behind the tourist veil.
