Bali (Ubud) - Indonesia
07 March – 09 March 2020
Ubud is the perfect foil to the nightlife carnage of Kuta. It’s your serene tonic to the tourist shaken core of the ‘downtown’ area of Bali’s popular visitor hub. Imbued with finest of Balinese qualities, its tropical rainforest & terraced rice paddy fields are dotted with Hindu temples and shrines, setting this location as perhaps the most idyllic, authentic and iconic of locations in Bali. There’s a feel about Ubud, a calmness and an ambience whose atmospheric presence has tones of mystery and tranquillity. It’s uplifting, and that surge of elation has its unique sense of being just in this particular spot. Bali has other places of course, wilder, more chaotic, more hedonistic, but none as enchanting.
I need to write this entry a little backwards as one of our highlights of the location was the fabulous stay at Villa Naga Putih. Without question, the most phenomenal of property I’ve had the pleasure of staying at. With it tropical jungle setting, a few kms away from the centre of Ubud, its sprawling 2700m2 of space, fashioned across three levels, was almost too much room for the six of us. In fact, it was too much room, so much so that we had to consciously set ourselves the task of visiting other rooms on the property just to fully appreciation and experience the whole. It was epic, there’s no other way of describing it. It’s places like these that quite often prompt you to allow yourself, momentarily, to indulge in atypical notions of partaking in creatively driven lifestyles that could somehow manage to sustain your existence in a place such as this. Like somehow the setting itself could conjure up an untapped quality that could perpetuate your dream state lifestyle. Of course you know it’s absurd, but, you also know that there are people out there that have managed to do it. It’s nice to dream…and you only need to live in just one of the many dreams you have to consider yourself as a success as an ‘alternative’.
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Our exit out of Seminyak earlier that day took brought us to Tegenungan Waterfall as the first order of business. A nice enough location just outside of the town of Tegenungan Kemenuh village in Gianyar, some 10kms south of Ubud. It was a suggestion provided by Komang, and a reasonable one at that, but in all honesty, its more than difficult for both Inga and I to fully appreciate the beauty of a waterfall these days. Without question our frame of reference, against which we compare any waterfall we see, is the mighty Iguazu Falls on the Argentine/Brazilian border. Everything simply pales by comparison. A pleasant enough stop of course but not nearly postcard worthy. Almost not photo worthy, but not doing some would seem unnecessarily supercilious and slightly conceited on our part.
Tegenungan Waterfall - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegenungan Waterfall - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegenungan Waterfall - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
We had lunch at the Dirty Duck Diner in Ubud. Not nearly as seedy and unsanitary as it sounds, in fact, quite the introduction or re-introduction to Ubud. Sitting in open air dining pavilions amongst luscious greenery that typifies the surrounds here, ordering anything but the speciality, the Balinese crispy fried duck, would be an absolute travesty. And whilst the food was fairly good, for me the highlight was simply the restaurant surrounds. Beautiful, captivating, divine. This was what I wanted from Ubud. Calmness in a tranquil sea of green.
Dirty Duck Diner - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Dirty Duck Diner - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Dirty Duck Diner - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Dirty Duck Diner - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Dirty Duck Diner - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Dirty Duck Diner - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Later that afternoon we headed of to one of the now many places that offer ‘sky high’ swings that allow you to soar high above the exquisite natural jungle & terraced rice fields settings. Set on platforms positions on terraced hillsides you get the opportunity to sail out into the open air, allowing you to take in majestic views and set yourself up for some more than instagrammable photos. The swings themselves have a harness which you’re required to strap yourself into but that doesn’t really diminish from the thrill of flying out over the valley on a wooden plank tied to rope! It’s pretty damn cool!
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Tegalalang rice terrace swing - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
The next day, our penultimate day on this short excursion, involved a massage for the girls, a bit of a walk around Ubud centre and then a wonderful late afternoon, early evening dinner at the Bridges Bali restaurant. My brother-in-law managed to chose this place from a myriad of online recommendations, and I have to say, he hit the nail on the head. For atmosphere, scenery and service, this place was impeccable. It’s one of those places that I’d be happy to stay at for hours, getting intoxicated from the tropical perfumes, ambience and my choice of concoctions from the bar. Simply exquisite and far too short of an experience for my liking. Alas, when you have a place like Villa Naga Putih to return to for the evening then complaining is simply not allowed.
Bridges Restaurant - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Bridges Restaurant - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Villa Naga Putih - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Bridges Restaurant - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Bridges Restaurant - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Bridges Restaurant - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Bridges Restaurant - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
Bridges Restaurant - Ubud - Bali - Indonesia
That my friends was it however.
The next day Inga and I left mid-morning and jumped a flight back to Melbourne. Several weeks later COVID-19 had forced itself into our psyche, had changed our way of live and blunted nearly everything else that we took for granted. For the majority of us 2020 is going to have a gigantic asterisk next to its name. We were forced to adapt and morph into introverted hobbits – peering out of our apartment windows, watching the days take place in front of our eyes without ever truly being part of it. Life will get back to normal, or, some form of normal relatively soon, but the scar that COVID-19 will leave is something that will be visible for a few years to come.
