Balinese | My Beautiful Places

The sound of the rain drops touching the large leaves of the jungle. From all the wonders of Ubud, this simple memory is my favorite. It’s my ticket back there every time I close my eyes and think about that beautiful place.

The start of September is still dry season In Bali, but that green needs rain. So in all the evenings I have spent in Ubud, rain came to visit the town and gave it a little fresh good night kiss.

It was past 11pm in a rainy evening when a taxi stopped in front on almost hidden gate, on one of the few main roads in Ubud, close to the huge white statue of Arjuna, the Hindu God, at the intersection of Jalan Raya Ubud and Jalan Raya Andong.

Two people and a big suitcase came out, laughing a bit too loud for the quiet around. I was ending a 2h great conversation with my taxi driver, a father of 5 who was so kind to drive me to Ubud at that late hour. We shoke hands as the gate opened and he saw I was now in good hands, with my new host. I entered following the young man who opened the gate and a wave of frangipani perfume surrounded me in the dark, as an irresistible invitation to enter. It was all black at first but little by little the surroundings were revealing: first I saw a few small shrines with Hindu Gods statues and offerings, then a small paved alley, which we followed, passing by a small pond covered with water lilies, then huge white frangipani trees, after a small pool hidden behind a dense curtain of banana trees… and finally the whole garden in its full beauty magically protected by the dark. A “WOW” escaped my lips… Alice in Wonderland couldn’t have felt more charmed then myself in this paradise like place!

Another host came, a little older man, wearing a green sarong around his waist and a white turban on the head. Smiling, he welcomed me with a Balinese bow.

– Welcome! Your bungalow is waiting for you.

I couldn’t hide my surprise and enchantment when he showed me a 2 levels high wooden bungalow, with a large white canopy bed, two bathrooms, two large terraces, one at the entrance facing the jungle and one in the front, to the pool and garden. The windows were of glass only at the first level, all the rest was opened to fresh air that so took the freedom to wonder freely inside. There aren’t many things I love more then sleeping in opened air… It was perfect! I was expecting a room in a bungalow and I got a palace instead. For less then 10 euro per night this made me wonder what reasons I still have to spent any more holidays somewhere else.

Next thing I had to deal with was a very tangled situation: trying to save my hair from a short cut the next day. The swim in the rough sea and a two hours scooter ride earlier that day left my long blond hair looking as a complicated nest of some sort of bird. It felt unfixable… When I arrived, I throw a glance on the list of services from a beauty saloon I saw inside the garden, just in case I needed to pay them a visit next morning, to fix my hair with the scissors. It was that bad! But miraculously, a long cold shower saved it and the bird’s nest was gone. Feeling fresh and happy I submerged in a deep sleep, hearing the song of the last drops of rain falling on the leaves.

Day 1 Ubud revealed

My condensed marathon in Asia was planned to end in Ubud, with a well deserved quiet time. So in the 1^st day I woke up late. An arrow of light have found its way in through the opened windows, straight through the curtains of my canopy bed and finally reaching my hand. Now, in the morning light, all my excitement about that place and its garden from the night before suddenly grew 1000 times more. As I jumped out of bed and went out on the first terrace, the jungle said “hello” in all its green beauty, with unknown sounds and scents. Then I crossed the room, opened the door and ran on the other terrace, this time the garden said “hi there”, with its blue pool as the only contrast in a sea of green, banana trees in bloom, frangipani… Perfection!

Breakfast was served in the middle of the garden, by the small pond covered with water lilies, where a few koi fish were now awake. Black rice, fresh fruits and black tea! A rare and delicious occasion when food was now spicy, an exception since I arrived in Asia.

Ubud, a place I heard so many things, was out there, waiting for me. I followed the little street outside my accommodation and in minutes I was walking the main street in Udub, with shops, restaurants, coffee places, temples and ohh so many tourists. The place was pretty touristy but definitely had its charm and though I do not believe much in the influence of energies, if there is a place on earth that could change this view, it’s Bali, for sure. That peace and perfect serenity can’t only be related to its beauty and green, there’s something more about this place…

My culinary adventure continued as well, I bought a few pieces of all the fruits I found on my way that I have never seen before, sold by people near the market, out of big baskets. I fed on the curiosity in their eyes every time they hurry to cut into pieces a fruit I said I have never tried before, to have me taste it right there and see my reaction. I payed back every gesture of generosity with great excitement and a small quantity I bought. My favourite was by far snakefruit, because of the texture and its taste that reminds me both of pineapple and pomplemousse.

And so, tasting fruits I found the market in Ubud, with huge paintings, carvings, all sorts of art pieces. I totally lost any track of time there, buying bracelets made of lava and silver rings in geometrical shapes with abalones mother of pearl. I did what I like best: wander, without a map, a direction or any time constrainment. I entered each of the temples I found on my way, wore a sarong inside provided from the entrace, admire all the details inside and sneak peak to see people praying or bringing offerings and lighting candles.

I found a hidden alley with a sign and I thought: why not… I walked away from the street, among backyards, following a narrow path by a small dirty river in a very underground area, I passed by a durian tree with big durians hanging down and out of the blue, all was green in front of my eyes. I remembered a post from a friend who was in Ubud once, saying about the rice paddies there, a hidden place that can be found somewhere behind Lotus coffee. Happily there was no one there except 2-3 people working on the paddies far away.

A little path with high coconut treen was splitting this endless green in half, huge squares of paddies on each side, a small broken cottage on the right, a man crossing the way, carrying buckets and tools, his feet and arms black, covered in mud after a working morning. He sends a smile, I answer the same way. I kept looking back, then turn around, then again black, trying to capture all details of this beautiful place. The sun was up, turning the fields into mirrors where clouds were reflecting and the blue sky was turned into silver.

At the end of the alley I found a warung, Sweet Orange seemed to be the name. I could use a light lunch so I entered…. The small terrace inside, with views to the rice paddies, was decorated with coconuts husk faces and Balinese art pieces. I took a seat at one small wooden wound table, on a wooden chair and ordered fried noodles with chicken but asked if they could keep the meat away and a dragon fruit smoothie. I enjoyed my delicious lunch while watching two women in the front, working on the rice paddies with the feeling that I will later remember this moment as one of the best places for lunch in my life. And that I can now confirmed it happened multiple times.

I went back on the busy streets of Ubud where a durian ice-cream tempted me this time. The place had its walls ceiling packed with small yellow lizards which first looked as a cook wallpaper. Only it was one full of life. The sunset time found me wandering the Campuhan Ridge Walk, a famous spot, which I also found by chance. Funny how this happens each time we dedicate the time and patience to a place and we choose to enjoy without a map. The incredible green of Ubud on this side got me in love head over… flip-flops, as I walked by the jungle, among other people, tourists or locals, on one famous cobbled path heading far from the city’s madding crowds of tourists, bikes, cars…

And finally, a day painted in green ended in flames… It started with an invitation handed on the street, in front of a temple, by a boy. It was about the fire dance that was supposed to take place in exact one hour, inside a temple nearby. A chance to catch the story presented in this show from the beginning, not almost the end as in Uluwatu. So not to be missed. I bought one ticket from him and when the time came I took a sit on one of the wooden benches inside the temple’s yard. The fire dance, known as Kecak, began. The performance mixes acting and dancing in beautiful costumes and it narrates the story of Asia’s most epic, Ramayana. Gods, a prince and a princess, a fight between good and bad that ends with a jaw dropping performance: a barefoot dance on hot coals left behind a huge fire made of dry coconuts. As the rhythm grows, the moves intensify and smoke and fire and sparks of light are filling the air in front of an audience left speechless. In the end, woken up from that magic by the frenetic applauses, I had a moment of truth thinking and realising: I am in Ubud!

A late dinner with chicken satay and tongue killing hot peanut sauce, (what else)…, in a warung recommended by a policeman – not for hungry reasons but rather for craving reasons, a raw Balinese chocolate tasting and a late rain shower that found me back in my perfect bungalow. That’s how my day in Ubud ended. Listening to all the raindrops hitting the vegetation around, hoping that the insects and the lizards will stay away of my bed.

I fell asleep thinking why don’t we live all days like that, refusing to stay awake for the answer.

Next: Wander, believe, indulge: 3 days in Ubud

Jungle on the left, jungle on the right, myself in the middle, somewhere. With my hair flying in the wind, I was running on a scooter drove by a local on a dusty bumpy road. Banana trees with large leafs, some taking a bow and offering heavy green bananas, others, more proud, only red banana flowers, all were guarding the road. It was indescribably green. And wild and untamed. Every single time another scooter or car was passing by, magic was happening: we all became invisible in a thick cloud of dust. No one cared!

– Could you take me after to Manta Point? the scooter driver nod his head. Must have been the 5th time I was telling him this in the last 30 minutes, since we left the jetty.

Some dreams are old, other new. Mine was just two days ago born and was already taking me to a famous place, called Manta Point, where Andrew has told me the other days, in Mabul island in Malaysia, how he experienced something out of this world: swimming with the manta rays. September is a perfect time, he added. So there I was, dreaming eyes wide open that day, on another island: Nusa Penida.

Hello Bali

It was evening when I landed in Denpasar, the airport in Bali. Carrying my yellow padded backpack and scratching the allergy on my arm, which I was now officially calling “The revenge of the zebra prawns in Malaysia”, because, of course, of how I got it.

First thing I did arriving in Bali was searching through trash bin, in the airport. This is what emptying your pockets in the wrong moment brings you. My huge suitcase was the only one not showing up. I realised it just after I had decluttered my pockets, throwing away everything, including my ticket with the evidence that I had a luggage. I’ve managed to find it in the trash, ignoring some curious looks and soon after I was reunited with my belongings.

– How much? I needed to get to Kuta

– To Kuta? 20$ The lady answering was organising the taxi drivers waiting in front of the airport exit.

– That’s too much, it’s not even 4km… I left pretending I didn’t hear her asking how much I want to pay.

– Will you drive me to Kuta? I said to a young men I meet a few meters after, following the universal wisdom: the younger, the cheaper.

And so, with 10$ I got in front of my guesthouse in 20 minutes and I also booked a trip for the next day. I knew prices in Bali are cheap but I had no idea what Bali cheap means. I was going to learn it, the hard way, in the next 24h.

– See ya in the morning, at 7am. The taxi driver left, leaving me with my smiling hosts, in the lobby build outside, in the yard. I was welcomed in a beautiful garden with warm smiles and the famous Balinese greetings, joined by a bow. I was starting to feel excited: I was in Bali. A boy showed me my room which was actually an apartment. Huge! The bathroom was the size of my bedroom back home. Ant the price? 5 damn $! I felt as if discovering that Paradise exists.

I was hungry and it was getting late so I left my stuff and I rushed out to check the surroundings in that place named Kuta… and grab some food. I kept repeating one mantra to myself: watch your gourmand mouth, stay away of the Bali belly, getting sick while alone here is bad, bad, bad.

Bali belly is just as famous and terrible as the Delhi belly in New Delhi. It keeps you in the bed or should I rather say: on the toilet, for a few days. The rules are simple: only bottled water, even when brushing your teeth, no peeled fruits from markets, no fresh anything, and God forbid, no street food! That’s the devil. Meanwhile I kept hearing in my head my Aussie friend, Ilana, telling me a few months before, while we were tracking in Petra: “Don’t worry, you’ll get the Bali belly, everyone does, we all did, but you’ll be fine, cmon, you’ll enjoy Bali”…

I was so determined to play it safe. Until the first street food stalls I met around the corner. They also had green coconut so who could resist??? It’s been 24h already since my last green coconut in Mabul. I got fried rice and shrimps, thinking that street food might be ok since is well cooked on fire. The lady was way over nice to serve me since they were closing the place. She stopped from what she was doing to take my order and then ask the cook, a guy next to her, to make one last fired rice for me. It was good, quite delicious, but I was eating and thinking how bad it will be if I will spend the next days in bed… vomiting and trying in vain to live outside the toilet. I was quite frightened of this perspective and stopped eating after a few bites.

– Finished? the lady asked me?

– I am soo full, yes, was super good, thank you… I was so lying considering that I ordered it saying I was starving. And the idea I was wasting food, which I almost never do, made me feel so bad.

She brought me a spoon to use it for the soft interior of the coconut, that white soft part which is so delicious in green coconuts. I was alone, sitting on the margin of a long metal table with white plastic chairs. The surrounding street-food stalls around, decorated with tens of photos of dishes that they serve, were closing also, washing dishes, throwing garbage, preparing the next day.

Even if I knew I shouldn’t judge Bali by the impression Kuta leaves, I couldn’t stop thinking: what’s all that? A short walk after my frugal dinner, on the main street, didn’t help me change that poor impression. With the beach on one side, big but too dark to see much though the impressive Balinese gate at the entrance, hidden after behind a 2m concrete wall and the pubs on the other side, passing by Hard Rock caffe and a few night clubs, all these didn’t help me doubt my first and bad impression of Bali. Is this all? Can’t be! That high gate to the beach, the famous Kuta beach, that was the only one related so far to how I imagined Bali. And what I could see from the beach, the wide beach with high palm trees, was promising more.

I went to my room, took a cold shower, again (no hot water apparently) and fell into a deep dreamless sleep at the end of a long trip and the beginning of a fantastic new one.

To be continued: Nusa Penida and the famous sunset on Kuta beach