Ubud

Ubud is known as the craft and cultural centre of Bali. It's charm is obvious to the tourist and the many items for sale here that have the character of Bali are amazing. The surrounding villages have many workshops and galleries and all this adds to the atmosphere. One of the highlights in Ubud is the Monkey Forest...a place that pays homage to the monkeys and is environmently exquisite. The forest itself is amazing with trees and vines everywhere for the monkeys to live and play in comfort. Feeding them bananas can be a bit of a challenge but fun anyway!

The streets abound with all variety of shops even a D & G! The restaurants make you very welcome and they are great places to cool off after checking out all the goods for sale. One of the most noticable things for us was the introduction of modern technology on show. ATM's, digital photo shops, Commonwealth Bank and many other advances that are now on show. Ubud is certainly going ahead. We spent sometime here just browsing particularly in the Ubud Markets and then came across the preparations for a cremation. What a good day!

Wayan then took us on another excursion to see a new waterfall that we hadn't seen before. After walking down a long road, going down 170 steps we came across the most gorgeous view of a waterfall we have seen for a while. Aparently it hadn't been open to the public before as the access was not good but now it will be a definite place to come and see. Again we appreciated having someone to show us the best of Bali!! Thanks Wayan...

After sometime at the waterfall it was time to go back to Kuta via Ubud. On arrival we came across a huge traffic jam and soon discovered that the Cremation preparations were in full swing. Hundreds of people had been at the actual site as part of a pre cremation process and were now leaving. Took a long time to get into Ubud and we ended up walking the last few streets to make it easy. Another quick trip into the markets and then off for a cool drink to satisfy our thirst. Ubud is a delightful town to visit and has lots to offer the meandering tourists.

 Bali 2010