Ubud and Some Diving

After we reluctantly left Nusa Lembongan and took a much less bumpy boat ride back to the mainland than our outward journey, we caught a taxi from the port to Ubud. Ubud is an inland town which is famous for its temples, paddy fields and waterfalls.

Unfortunately it is also well known for its traffic and the main street is clogged most of the day and into the night with a constant stream of cars and motorbikes.

We had booked into a hotel near the centre of  town down a side street that was still really busy with traffic. We had an enormous room with a four poster bed, a big terrace and a carved wooden door. The whole room had the look of a temple from the outside. The hotel of course had a lovely swimming pool which was very welcome in the afternoon heat. Perhaps the best bit of the hotel though was the home baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast !

Within walking distance of our hotel were a number of temples which were very active. The temples are not open to tourists all the time as they are active sites of worship but when they are not being used for ceremonies it is possible to visit.

The Ubud Water Palace was very impressive with large ponds crossed by a bridge to reach the actual temple gates. The carvings in all these temples are very impressive.

Also Pura Dalem Ubud is just at the end of the street where we were staying. This was closed for much of the time we were in Ubud for ceremonies but this did mean that the stairs were decorated with flowers making it very pretty.

Ubud is also situated a stone’s throw from rice farming areas. Just a short walk from the main street leads you away from the hustle and bustle and into the very tranquil rice paddies.

Despite their being plenty of things to do in Ubud itself there are also lots of interesting places to visit in the surrounding areas. It is possible to hire a driver and car to take you to these places but given the traffic we decided that it would be easier and quicker to hire a couple of mopeds and drive ourselves.

The first place we headed for on our mopeds was in the Ubud itself – the Ubud Monkey Forest. This is a forested area that is in the middle of the built up area of Ubud but there are about 1200 long tailed macaques who make it their home.

In amongst the forest are also a number of temples – it is Bali after all – which the monkeys are quite happy to climb all over.

You have to be a bit careful around the monkeys as they can be aggressive and we saw a number of tourists being hissed at. There are frequently bites when tourists get too close.

Perhaps the funniest thing we saw here was a bloke sitting down with a backpack on. Two monkeys climbed onto his back and… well you can see below what happened next! Fortunately for the backpacker it was over quickly.

About a 30 minute scooter ride out of town is an area of rice terraces called the Tegallalang Rice Terrace.

The local farmers have set a small fee allowing tourists to walk through their terraces which was well worth it. After the hustle and bustle of Ubud the peace and tranquillity here was a welcome break and it is a very beautiful place.

Of course enterprising locals have also set up swings and rent long flowing dresses to people who want to take photos for their Insta Accounts and many of the people working in the fields are more than happy to pose… for a small fee.

The area surrounding Ubud is very well known for its waterfalls and most of these have been commercialised to a greater or lesser extent. We visited a lot of waterfalls while here and they are really varied – some were very busy and others had hardly anyone there.

It is possible to swim at most of the waterfalls and as many of them involve what can be a strenuous walk in the heat to get there, it is a welcome treat to be able to jump in and cool off.

We ended up riding about 140km on our mopeds over a number of days as we zipped around the beautiful countryside. Most of the driving was on quiet rural roads although occasionally we’d end up on a busy road having to dodge traffic jams – although we tried to minimise this.

As we were driving along we came across a traffic jam on a small country road. This was, for once, a stroke of luck as there was a procession taking place to a local temple, with women carrying offerings to the temple. Bali is full of these sorts of things and there is always one temple or another having a special day or week of ceremonies.

On the rural roads they really are only wide enough for one car but despite this it gave is a giggle to see the white line painted down the middle!

While we had access to the mopeds we also visited two temples that are around a 40 minute drive away from Ubud.

The first is a very popular stop on the tourist trail in Bali and is called Pura Tirta Empul. This is famous for its pools with water running into the pools under which people can undergo a cleansing ritual. If you arrive early you will see the locals at prayer but as soon as the coaches start to arrive it becomes very busy with tourists who are provided with the appropriate clothing to take part.

The second temple we visited that day was Gunung Kawi Tampaksiring. It was much less busy which surprised us as we actually preferred this site, which covered a larger area and had more things to explore off the beaten track. lt was also less commercial and subsequently felt more authentic. There was a long staircase leading down to this temple where the main attractions are two big walls of rock cut shrines dating from the 11^th century.

After Ubud we took a taxi to the East coast of Bali mainland, to a place called Tulamben. This was a 3 hour journey although its only just over 100km.

Tulamben is a really quiet region of Bali and the only real reason to come here is for the diving. There is a wreck called the USAT Liberty which has been rated as one of the best in the world.

This wreck was famous for its big schools of fish and in particular a group of Humphead Parrotfish that lived in the wreck. Having dived this wreck before on a previous dive trip to Indonesia I was looking forward to experiencing it again, however, sadly there has been a significant change. The fish life on and around the wreck is much depleted since covid. The lack of tourism for two years meant poverty for many and some locals took to spear-fishing on the wreck to simply survive.

However Tulamben is also famous for its macro/muck diving and this has not been affected. I love a bit of muck diving although I concede that it is an acquired taste. I managed to see Harlequin shrimp, big seahorses and pygmy seahorses as well as a range of octopii. My guide got incredibly excited when we realised that an octopus that we were following was a mototi, a type of blue ring octopus. They are very rare and he had never seen one before – I’d only seen one once before. Very Cool.

We only spent 3 days on the East coast but I managed to fit in 6 long dives – over 1 hour each – and really enjoyed myself.

Unfortunately this was the end of our three month tour of Asia but it has been a fabulous trip and has definitely whet our appetite for future visits. For now though, it was time for us to head back to the airport in Denpasar and catch our flight back home.