Thailand
Ayu and I flew from Hanoi to Bangkok, picked up the blue duffel bag of souvenirs and gifts we had left in the airport, killed time for the rest of the day, and flew to Chiang Mai in the evening. We had really wanted to take the bus or train for the experience, but everything was sold out since Songkran was just around the corner. We spent two fun weeks in Chiang Mai, enjoying the four days of water fights of Songkran and lots of cheap Thai food and massages. As with last year, I didn’t dare take my camera out for fear of it getting water-damaged, but if you search YouTube, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what we were up to.
During our stay in Chiang Mai, we also went to Pai, a “chill, counter-culture, hippie mountain town”, to paraphrase the common sentiment echoed among Southeast Asia backpackers. My advice: don’t go to Pai. It’s overrun with the same types of people you’d find on Khao San Road in Bangkok, the tourist sites aren’t that great, and it’s a long, quasi-nauseous minivan ride to get there from Chiang Mai. Our 48-hour trip was, at best, completely forgettable; at worst, we wasted two days of our lives.
After Chiang Mai, we flew to Phuket, met up with another friend from America, and took a boat to Koh Phi-Phi, where we had four days of cloudy, but still awesome, beach and island time. I came down with tummy issues for the first time in about fifteen months, so I gave myself a small pat on the back for that. For about a day, I stayed within sprinting distance of the toilet and popped Pepto pills, activated charcoal, and antibiotics like candy.
We took a boat back to Phuket and spent three days on Surin Beach, a quiet beach far from the rowdiness of Patong, to savor our last few days in Thailand. There was lots of Thai food, sunsets, and bittersweet nostalgia (especially for me) before moving on to Indonesia.
Bali
We flew from Phuket to Bali by way of Singapore and once we landed, I left for Ubud for a few days while the girls went to Canggu. I thought Ubud would be a great place for me to be productive with a number of laptop tasks I had, but it turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’ll explain.
It wasn’t anything in particular, but rather the classic “death by a thousand cuts”. I had to walk around town in the heat for an hour to find a new power adapter because mine didn’t fit in those stupid circular outlets. Every WiFi connection I tried was unreliable. My guesthouse room had one of those stupid one-handed showers and daily power outages. The local coworking space was full at 10:00 in the morning and charging $20 a day, as if this was San Francisco. The streets were a constant stream of motorbikes and noise, as usual, and the road construction in front of my guesthouse caused more congestion and air pollution than normal. The sidewalks were full of slow-moving, day-tripping tourists. About once a minute, a tout somewhere asked me if I needed a ride. And those little fucking ants that you find everywhere in Bali got into my Toblerone bar.
Seriously, I lost my shit after that. Those little fuckers.
I suddenly felt homesick and tired. Very tired. Really, really tired of everything and everyone around me. Tired of dealing with third-world bullshit. Tired of constantly dealing with logistics. Tired of packing and unpacking my stuff. Dare I say it, but I became very tired of traveling.
Before arriving in Ubud, I was hoping that it would be a familiar home away from home, like Chiang Mai. And while it did feel familiar, it also felt weird and distant, like I was in a place that I should have left in my past and not returned to. On my first full day there, I called Ayu after I ordered lunch and all I could tell her on the phone was: “I’m tired and I want to go home. I’m thinking of leaving tomorrow.” We talked for a bit and after we hung up, I sat by myself in the restaurant, ate my food, and cried.
I remember talking to a friend last summer about his Southeast Asia backpacking adventure and he told me about how and when and where he hit his breaking point. For him, it was Cambodia; he had a bad day, flipped a (metaphorical) table, and bought a plane ticket home. For me, it was Ubud that broke my spirit. I realize that it isn’t fair to Ubud or Indonesia to say that since it could have happened anywhere, but that’s where it happened to me. I’m convinced every long-term traveler will reach his or her breaking point eventually and that happened to me after 638 days on the road.
After a lazy, unproductive day (to minimize the chances of something else annoying me) and another night of sleep, I was able to shake off most of my freak-out. No, I didn’t go home the next day as I threatened, but I did feel very checked out. I started to let others make most of the travel arrangements and my camera rarely left its home in my daypack. The only photo I took during my time in Ubud was of my (admittedly phenomenal) view of the neighboring rice paddy. Sadly, that view was the only thing keeping me sane; I especially enjoyed it when a thunderstorm rolled through and I could watch the rain and lightning from the comfort of my patio.
I left Ubud a few days later and met up with the girls on Nusa Lembongan, a small island to the east of Bali, appropriately described by some as how Bali was decades ago. We had six really lovely, relaxed days on the island: two snorkeling trips, lots of swimming in our hotel’s excellent pool, multiple movie nights at the open-air cinema/restaurant down the road, multiple meals of the biggest and best nasi campur I’ve ever had in my life, and lots of sunsets and sundowners.
Nusa Lembongan single-handedly restored my faith in Bali, especially considering my disillusionment with the popular parts of Bali that are overcrowded and overdeveloped. I owe Ayu a million thanks for taking us there.
And speaking of said overdeveloped parts, I spent my last few days on the island in Seminyak, enjoying Indonesian food, some shopping, and a three-hour treatment at a local spa. For better or worse, that’s how I wrapped up my time in Southeast Asia. (For now.)
Hopefully I’ll feel refreshed and energized enough in the coming weeks to write a separate blog post that summarizes the last year of my travels. This post feels too informative (and a bit too depressing) to serve as the final chapter, so I’ll make an effort to write that chapter separately in the near future.
]]>And then the rain started.
The day after the last day of the festival was not one of my favorite memories from this trip. During the 24 hours of constant precipitation, I had to move guesthouses twice, got soaked multiple times in torrential downpours, skipped meals and ate instant noodles in my room because the rain was so heavy, and dealt with a pretty healthy hangover. Perhaps I should have done this research earlier, but I nervously opened the 10-day weather forecast for Phuket and was greeted with probably the worst forecast I’ve ever seen: two weeks of straight rain, 100% every day. Uuuggghhh.
While meditating upon what to do next, I remembered that Bali’s rainy season doesn’t start until the end of October. I wasn’t planning on going to Bali during this trip, but once the idea of sunny beaches, nice weather, and low tourist numbers was planted in my head, I scrambled to make travel plans. AirAsia to the rescue yet again!
Bali
After putting in some long hours over the weekend at a local coworking space to finish everything for the blog, I flew out to Kuala Lumpur, then on to Bali. I spent the first four days in Legian, a beach area just north of Kuta, the most developed and most popular place on Bali for (Australian) tourists. I don’t have much to say about Legian as I was on pure holiday at that point and wasn’t seeking anything interesting or photo-worthy. I don’t think I even took my camera out of its bag. Sunsets, cheap warung food, and a few Bintangs every evening were easily the highlights.
Gili Islands
The really interesting part of the Indonesian trip started on Sunday, when I took a boat to the Gili Islands, a group of three very small islands just off the coast of Lombok (the large island east of Bali). How small, you say? You can circumnavigate each island on foot in about ninety minutes or less; you can cut across the island from one side to the other in less than half an hour if you take a more direct route. The Gilis were completely undeveloped even just thirty years ago, but today they’re very popular for diving and snorkeling. Many people (mostly couples and families) also go for a more simple holiday of swimming and sunbathing.
From west to east:
- Gili Trawangan is the largest and most developed and also has the longest history, especially with backpackers. It has the biggest party scene and a very impressive number of restaurants and bars.
- Gili Meno is the least developed and quietest, though you can still hear the basslines from Trawangan’s parties thumping and reverberating across the water. Meno has, in my opinion, the best beach for swimming, pleasantly devoid of the annoying and painful natural debris – rocks and dead coral – that plagues most of the beaches on all the islands.
- Gili Air is the happy medium of the other two islands. If the Gilis were the story of Goldilocks (more like “Gililocks” amirite?), Gili Air would be the one that’s juuuuuust riiiiiight.
The islands are a delightful departure from the standard beachy tourist experience for a variety of reasons. While the perimeter of each island is dotted with bars, restaurants, and shops for tourists, the interior of each is very much an authentic Muslim village, with simple huts, farms, animals, and mosques. I quickly acclimated to sharing the winding dirt roads with farm carts, children on bikes, cows, horses, small tribes of goats, chickens, and tail-less cats. (Thankfully, there are no stray dogs on any of the islands.) Motorized vehicles are not allowed, which is the main reason why the islands are so serene and peaceful. The only form of “public transportation” is the cidomo, a horse-drawn cart whose only contribution to noise pollution is the clip-clop of hooves and the jingling of small bells.
Not surprisingly, the accommodations tend to be simple bungalows and the power went out several times while I was there. Though, I will give credit where it’s due: 3G service was very good in most places (and better than the islands’ WiFi) since each island has its own large cell tower.
For eight days, I spent every moment either reading, swimming, eating, drinking, or sleeping (or some combination thereof). As ridiculous as it sounds, I was very much needing a holiday to do as little as possible after aggressively traveling and visiting people for many months. Yes, I needed a vacation from my sabbatical. The most pressing obligation of each day was making my way to the western side of the island for a chair or beanbag in the sand, a gorgeous sunset, and a sundowner or four.
Brisbane
After getting my fill of sand and sea, I took the boat back to Bali and had a layover for a couple days before getting on a redeye flight to Brisbane to visit my friend Ayu. I had never been to Australia before and Bali was the closest I would be for a long time, so I decided to take advantage of the proximity and a friendly face who could show me around.
Over the next six days, Ayu played tour guide and we hung out and explored the city (especially South Bank and the riverfront), went swimming and sunbathing, rented a car (an initially nerve-wracking experience for me) so we could drive along the coast to a few spots, and had some quality time and delicious home-cooked meals with her lovely extended family.
One of the most interesting – and certainly most photogenic – activities was a visit to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. The big draws are seeing (or holding, for an extra fee) the koalas and feeding the kangaroos, though the zoo also has lizards, snakes, crocodiles, cassowaries and other birds, dingoes, and duck-billed platypuses. Lessons learned: koalas have very strong claws and kangaroos are surprisingly gentle (at least while eating).
After six very memorable days down under, I found myself on another redeye flight, this time heading north towards Chiang Mai. Immediate plans include Halloween, Yi Peng, Loi Krathong, and the arrival of two friends from America who will be traveling with me throughout the country for several weeks.
]]>The concept of “home” has occupied my thoughts lately. For most people I know, it’s a simple, straightforward concept. In my case however, I have three homes. Hockessin, DE is home because that’s where I grew up and where most of my immediate family still lives. San Francisco is home because that’s where I’ve lived the most as an adult and where I’ll be returning when I’m done traveling. But in the most immediate and daily sense, wherever I lay my head is home. For the last month, my home has been a breezy and sunny third-floor bungalow in beautiful Ubud. Even though I’ve become very comfortable with being nomadic, I’m occasionally struck by the oddity of having three homes, yet not really having a home at all. Filling out my current address on websites has become a lot trickier than it used to be.
My opinion of my current home away from home away from home hasn’t really changed much since my first post. Ubud, and really Bali in general, is a complex dichotomy of tradition and modernism, of wealthy tourists and poor locals, of preserving culture and welcoming foreign influences (and money).
Tapping into tourism money leads to a lot of hovering and hawking; the Balinese haven’t quite mastered the soft touch of salesmanship. I’m watched like a hawk if I peruse the wares of any shop and some restaurant employees will practically accost me (albeit in a very amicable way) if I stop to look at the menu outside. Walking the major streets of Ubud is tacitly inviting a barrage of offers for trinkets, sunglasses, carvings, massages, food, drinks, and taxis. The taxi touts are the most annoying as they verbally assault tourists with one-word sentences from across the street. Hello? Taxi? Yes? Transport? Yes? Cheap! Cheap! After about a week here, I had to adopt my San Francisco style of never leaving the house without sunglasses and earbuds.
I’d like to think that the Balinese are just hospitable to a fault and I realize that they’re all just trying to make ends meet. I still think a more passive approach would yield better results (and I’ve had this exact conversation with other travelers), but I try to be mindful that the locals’ livelihood is at stake. Their communities and economy are now very much dependent on tourism, so they have to hustle every day.
Once I learned to filter out the touts and the obviously non-Balinese stores and the big buses of daytripping Japanese tourists and the stupid wooden penis keychains for sale at trashy souvenir shops, I started to discover a place that appeals to all the senses. The landscape is painted every shade of green imaginable and the roads are lined with temples and beautiful architecture. The food is cheap and incredible and caters to everyone (more on that here). At night, there is a symphony of crickets and frogs and birds and music (both traditional and modern) that wafts in through my open windows; in the morning, the tune changes to roosters and children playing and locals working. And all the while, the fragrant aroma of incense seems to be everywhere. Some of my fondest memories here will be the times I sat on my patio, just watching the clouds or the setting sun or the stars or the moon as a stick of incense burned on the table next to me. Those times were some of the most peaceful and pleasant I’ve ever experienced.
In the interest of assisting my own fallible memory and providing some transparency to my devoted readers, here’s a (mostly complete) list of what I’ve done here:
- Several museums and many art galleries
- Visited villages and shops outside of Ubud
- Several self-guided photo walks
- Read a lot on my patio
- Wrote a lot (mostly about food)
- Lots to Balinese massages ($8 an hour!)
- Sacred Monkey Forest
- Volunteered part-time for two weeks at BARC (the only operating dog shelter in Ubud)
- Made extensive use of a gym membership
- Nursed my leg back to reasonable health
- Skyped with friends and family
- Witnessed a once-every-three-years cremation ceremony
- Hiked the two Lonely Planet treks
- Gunung Kawi
- Cycling tour through the countryside
- Took thousands of photos (and kept several hundred)
- Started learning HDR photography
- Explored the shit out of this town on foot
For the second two weeks of my stay here, I had something of a 9-to-5 life: I’d get up early, eat breakfast, volunteer at BARC for a couple hours, take the middle of the day off to go on a photo walk or explore a new part of town, volunteer for another couple hours in the afternoon, then head off to the gym and dinner afterwards. My time at the shelter was pretty typical for a volunteer, as I alternated between cleaning shit (literally), doing dishes, and playing with puppies.
A funny side-effect of the routine is that I’d go through various news feeds on my tablet in the morning as I ate breakfast, leading to me being much more well-informed about U.S. and world events than I ever was before. However, I don’t know why I bother, as the vast majority of news stories (especially from the U.S.) are frustrating, depressing, or infuriating. I’ve changed my habits to read either GOOD or Gawker instead. I’d rather be inspired or entertained, thank you very much.
Part of me still feels a bit of FOMO that I didn’t explore the rest of the island or the neighboring islands, but I’m quite happy with how the past month has gone. And I have the pictures to prove it! My general philosophy with this type of traveling is to spend more time in less places; call it the Jerry Maguire mentality of backpacking. My interactions with locals have included some really meaningful conversations about culture and society and politics. Multiple times, I’ve had the subtle joy of seeing sincere flattery and a smile come across the face of a local when I casually drop in conversation some lesser-known fact about Balinese culture. Going on multiple tours of the countryside and privately owned rice fields and traditional Balinese homes was also really memorable, both for the photo opportunities and for the chance to connect with people, especially when it was just one-on-one.
There were a lot of “pinch me” moments when I’d suddenly remember where I was. It became so easy to forget that fact when I had a daily routine for a couple weeks. I’d be walking home from the gym, listening to music, enjoying the perfect weather and the scenery and the incense and the buildings and the people, and it would hit me: yes, I was just walking home from the gym, but I was walking home from the gym in Bali. It’s funny to contrast my current feelings of comfort and routine with my feelings of wonder when I first arrived.
I’m sad to be leaving but it’s definitely time to move on. Next transient home: Malaysia! When I was researching this trip a few months ago, I hadn’t really considered Malaysia, but once again, Lonely Planet has succeeded in overwhelming me with a million things to do, so I’m currently pruning my list of choices and working on an itinerary through the country. The first stop will be Kuala Lumpur for a few days and everything after that is still up in the air, though I’m aiming for some time in Taman Negara National Park, the Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang, and Langkawi.
As my time is running out and I still need to pack before my flight, I’ll close with this photo, which is most definitely overly romanticized, but, in a way, captures how I’ve come to view this place through my rose-colored glasses.
Within twenty-four hours of arriving in Ubud, I was overwhelmed with all the amazing food options and had already experienced some of them firsthand. After that first day, I decided I wanted to try as many places as possible during my month-long stay. Elizabeth Gilbert had it all wrong. Forget praying or loving; Ubud is the place for eating!
Drawing on Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, Wikivoyage, recommendations from friends, and my own observations as I explored the town, I compiled a foodie map to keep things somewhat organized. And in the interest of contributing to communal knowledge, I decided I would push my reviews upstream (via TripAdvisor).
Here are the various “rules” (I use the term loosely) and ideas that governed my culinary walkabout:
- Food adventures include lunch, dinner, and snacks, but not breakfast. Every morning, I’m more than happy to sit on my patio, enjoy the incredible view, and devour the French toast, fresh fruit, and tea that are brought up to me. (Side note: coconut syrup – for the French toast – is basically liquid crack. You can buy some at Down to Earth for 35,000 rupiah a “flask”, which is about one-quarter of the price of imported maple syrup, and arguably better.)
- Drink adventures include bars (for alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks), coffee shops, and fruit shakes.
- My restaurant and food choices will obviously have a very strong vegetarian bias. They will also have a very healthy bias, as I’m quite mindful of eating wholesome, well-balanced meals. I usually don’t eat sweets, but for some reason I’ve been craving them like crazy on this entire trip, so some desserts will undoubtedly creep in.
- Lunch and dinner are effectively interchangeable here because each restaurant has only one menu; offerings and prices are always the same. The only difference between the two meals is that some restaurants will have a sexier ambiance at night as they dim the lights and set up candles.
- I will be eating a whole lot of nasi campur. I’ve been obsessed with this dish ever since I first learned about it. For starters, calling it a “dish” is a bit misleading; it’s more like a framework for a dish. Nasi campur is often a plate with a mound of rice in the middle, surrounded by roughly half a dozen servings of other food and often sambal (a chili-based condiment). The beautiful thing about this is that everyone makes their own version; there are as many variations as there are warungs (small, cheap eateries). The dish can come with any combination of protein (meat, seafood, eggs, tofu, tempeh, etc.), vegetables, curry, greens (collared, mustard, sauteed, etc.), prawn crackers, peanuts, or whatever else the cook feels like including. The rice and especially the sambal can also have a lot of variation. Nasi campur is a wonderful way for a warung to really establish a personality. If you couldn’t tell already, I am all about this dish. Not only is it really cool and unique, it’s pretty healthy (no dairy and only good carbs) and has a lot of variety, which is paramount for a responsible vegetarian diet.
- As a point of reference, meals for me are often in the $8 – $10 range. A typical meal includes a non-alcoholic drink (fruit shake/smoothie/lassi/juice or iced tea), a small starter, and a main dish. Desserts are around $3 and are laced with guilt. Sweet, delicious guilt.
Food
This place sneaked up on me a bit. It looks like another casual cafe or warung from the street, but its menu and food are reminiscent of Clear Cafe (similar selection, quality, presentation, and prices). The vegan chai shake was okay (room temperature, not cold at all), the California roll with organic red rice was good (and had incredible presentation), but it was the potato and spinach soup that stole the day; it was Soup Nazi good.
It took me several weeks to realize this, but the small gelato stand next door is actually part of the cafe. I think I finally realized this on my fourth or fifth visit; by “visit”, I mean “moment of weakness while walking home”. If you want gelato, the coffee is tough to beat; if you want non-dairy sorbet, the lemongrass is amazing; if you want something a little different, the lassis are really excellent and have a lot of yogurt, perfect for building up those bacteria!
When Lonely Planet suggests a daytime activity of wasting hours in a “funky Ubud cafe”, they probably have this place in mind. It’s got a great open-air cafe vibe, pleasant music, a very welcoming feel, and the requisite menu of organic, veggie-friendly fare and super healthy drinks. It has the feel of a great place to bring your laptop and work for a while, except for the fact that there’s no WiFi (intentionally). The raw cacao smoothie was okay (a little disappointing in the same way the almond smoothie from Down To Earth was disappointing), the spring rolls were massive and delicious, and the fake club sandwich (made with tofu) was tasty, though it doesn’t really emulate a true club sandwich and falls apart rather easily if you get the rye bread. Nevertheless, everything was great and the menu has lots of goodies. Also, just like Down To Earth, they sell all sorts of earth-friendly products out of their shop.
Nicer, dare I say upscale restaurant on Jalan Dewi Sita with a very nice bar and lots of tables. Now that I think about it, the very professionally designed menu was indicative of this place’s social status. The nasi campur was 70,000 rupiah, which is a bit steep, as I’m used to paying half or sometimes one-third of that price. I ordered it vegetarian, though there was evidently some confusion in the kitchen as I received an unidentifiable chunk of meat in green curry instead of an egg; rather than send the plate back, which would have resulted in thrown-out food (one of my biggest pet peeves), I decided to forge ahead and just eat around. The rest of the dish had greens, soft tofu with sauce, tempeh (quite possibly the best I’ve had in Ubud), and some sauteed veggies with corn. Meat misunderstanding aside, it was a very delicious dish. After dinner, I caved and treated myself to the bubur injin (black rice pudding), which came with slices of banana and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Excellent all around.
One of the biggest draws here is the third-floor dining, which offers beautiful views of the rooftops and lush greenery of Ubud. At lunchtime, especially with a light breeze, the temperature, atmosphere, and scenery is perfect. I didn’t feel like pizza or pasta on the day I went, so I had a few small plates: Greek salad, tomato bruschetta, and grilled zucchini and onions. Everything was prepared perfectly and it was a delicious and healthy lunch. I’ll definitely be back to enjoy the views and food once more before I leave.
Nice spot across the street from the Ubud Palace serving mostly Balinese and Indian food. If you eat dinner here during one of the nightly dance performances at the palace, you’ll get free music during your meal. The spinach, onion, and polenta soup (which was really more like porridge) was good, but the vegetarian nasi campur stole the show: nasi kuning (yellow rice with turmeric), peanuts, spiced and shredded coconut, lawar (sort of like Indonesian slaw), a large rice cracker, and curried tofu, tempeh, and jackfruit. The nasi kuning was probably the best rice I’ve had in Ubud, the jackfruit was delicious, and the shredded coconut was perfect for sprinkling on everything else. This meal made me very happy.
Sure, the food here is great, but let’s be real, you’re really going for the view. This open-air cafe sits next to a very green rice field and if you go when the restaurant isn’t very busy, you may be lucky enough to score one of the two coveted tables that sit right next to the scenery. I’ve been back several times and I always go for the guacamole and rice crackers and the “Ubud Basket”, which comes with tofu triangles, tempeh, prawn crackers, peanuts, and some really good sambal. I’ve very much enjoyed coming here with my laptop (since the cafe is so close to my bungalow) and having a drink or a snack or both while enjoying the music and the scenery.
Cafe Bali
Simple, casual cafe next door to the much more popular Atman Kafe. Same general layout where you can sit in front of the restaurant and watch the street or grab a table towards the back. Entire page of vegetarian options. The pumpkin soup with garlic bread was piping hot and very good. The vegetarian nasi campur (greens, sauteed peppers and mushrooms, potato fritters, tofu satay with peanut sauce, and tempeh) was excellent. The potato fritters explode in your mouth with flavor and then melt. Awesome.
Off the main road a bit, this French-inspired cafe has indoor and outdoor seating, great art on the walls, and a very nice design. I had the pumpkin and tomato soup and Italian salad (greens, tomatoes, and mozzarella), but I found most of the food to be quite bland. It didn’t help matters that it was pricey too. The atmosphere is fantastic and very relaxing, but the food isn’t worth the trip. Definitely go here for a drink and conversation though.
Though known as more of an evening spot with its lively music and salsa dancing, Cafe Havana beckoned to me one day for a leisurely lunch on their patio. At first, I was skeptical that a Cuban restaurant would have anything to offer me until I glanced over their menu and saw a long list of tapas and a vegetarian section. Sold! I built myself a nice lunch from their tapas menu – papas bravas, empanadas (cheese, spinach, and jalapeno), yucca fries, and a spiced corn quesadilla – and paired that with the strawberry mint iced tea. All of the food was starchy and delicious and the tea was very refreshing.
I struck up a conversation with the owner, Ernesto, and he invited me to an informal salsa dancing class that he puts on every Friday evening on the second floor. While the class convinced me I should stick to my usual dancing style, it was fun and I ended up meeting some great people and really enjoyed the whole atmosphere. Ernesto runs the restaurant like he’s personally hosting a party in his home and his energy and happiness are very infectious. The red sangria is delicious and addictive; I had to force myself to stop after two glasses or else I’d start ordering pitchers just for myself.
Short version: this place is a must-go in Ubud for food, drinks, music, and an all-around good time. Even for a quiet lunch on the patio, it rocks.
Located on the same road as the more popular Sari Organik, Cafe Pomegranate is another open-air, breezy, chilled-out restaurant with a beautiful view and delicious food. The menu caught me a bit off-guard, as I was greeted with pizza and Chinese food rather than Indonesian food and sandwiches. No worries though: the pumpkin and carrot soup and vegetarian dumplings were great and the banana juice was so refreshing I ordered two of them. Definitely worth the walk up from town.
Super nice, almost bougie restaurant on Jalan Raya Ubud; the first things I noticed when I sat down were the fancy chairs and the chandelier. This place delivers though, as my lunch here was an incredible meal. The banana lassi was awesome (maybe second only to Tutmak Cafe for the best I’ve ever had) and the tempeh sandwich was probably the best sandwich I’ve had in Ubud, but the Lebanese feta cigars stole the show. Feta lovers, listen up: imagine a small, fried spring roll, but replace the veggie insides with feta. Like sex in the mouth, seriously. Best lunch I’ve had in a long time.
I stopped in here one rainy evening for dinner on my way home from a workout, partially because I was starving, partially because I felt bad that this place was always empty when I walked by, even though it’s super cute. It’s very small (three tables) with an even smaller kitchen and the staff is super nice. The nasi campur (made vegetarian) came with a fried egg, sweet and sour veggies, greens with peanut sauce, prawn crackers, tofu, and tempeh with peanut sauce. Super solid dinner that made me happy I stopped by.
Organic, upscale restaurant that is certainly trendier than any other place in Ubud, but is still casual. Call it “island chic” or “accessible chic”. Case in point, there is a sandal check (you actually get a tag with a number), they have cloth napkins, and the uber hip playlist of music entering my ears included Jurassic 5, French showtunes, and Jamiroquai. They have an impressive international menu with lots of non-alcoholic drink options. I treated myself to a chai vegan shake (chai tea, cashew nut milk, and coconut ice cream) and the TLT (tempeh, lettuce, tomato). The TLT was actually quite spicy, making me very happy that I had the shake to cool my mouth off. Everything was delicious.
Besides having the best name ever, Devilicious dishes up some tasty food in a typical casual setting. In addition to tables, there’s a “counter” at the front of the restaurant where you can watch the street as you eat, a favorite of solo travelers such as myself. The veggie spring rolls (wrapped in cabbage rather than rice paper) are okay, but they felt more like neatly wrapped vegetables; think of a salad that has had its entropy greatly reduced. Go for the Balinese-style spring rolls instead. The nasi campur (modified to be vegetarian) was very good: brown rice, greens, a hard boiled egg with sauce, curry vegetables, tofu with peanut sauce, a rice “sheet” (as opposed to a cracker), and BBQ tempeh crumbles.
The first thing I noticed about this place was its non-atmosphere, especially compared to other restaurants in the area. Most of the tables are communal, there’s no music, and there’s not much of an attempt to give the place an ambiance. I will be the first person to note that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this; I love a simple, hole-in-the-wall place as much as (or probably more than) the next person. However, the other part of the hole-in-the-wall equation is amazing food and, unfortunately, Dewa Warung doesn’t live up to that.
The spring rolls were, well, spring rolls (not much to improve upon there) and the vegetarian nasi campur (greens, tofu with “sambal”, tofu satay with peanut sauce, and tempeh) was average at best. Everything was lukewarm, the greens were bland, the peanut sauce tasted mass-produced, and the “sambal” (notice my use of quotes for a second time now) tasted like stewed tomatoes straight from the can. The meal was very average; I can’t explain it better than that.
I will give Dewa praise for one thing though: this place is dirt cheap. Spring rolls, nasi campur, and a Bintang cost me $4. That’s just ridiculous. That said, I’d rather spend a few dollars more and get better food. If you’re really on a budget though, Dewa might become your go-to spot.
For those of you who live in San Francisco, this place feels like the easy-going lovechild of Herbivore and Rainbow. There are tables outside and upstairs for eating and the first floor is a store selling organic goods from produce to packaged foods to toiletries. The food is organic and vegetarian; the menu is absolutely overwhelming in terms of all the options. You could eat here every day for months and never have the same thing twice. The almond shake was good, but the date, banana, and soy milk smoothie was much better. The lentil soup was good, but the pumpkin and ginger soup is excellent. The tofu veggie wrap and the seitan steak (with mashed potatoes and greens) were fantastic. I love everything about this place, though, as you’d expect, the goods in the store are a bit on the pricey side.
Even in a town that emphasizes nutrition and earth-friendliness, Ethos stands out. Besides denoting the usual vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free items, the menu points out probiotics, prebiotics, and superfoods. The second half of the menu is essentially a written lecture on nutrition, including statistics and charts. They also make their own yogurt. This place is serious about health!
The blueberry lassi was very good and tasted noticeably different than any other lassi I’ve ever had: it had a distinct fermented taste rather than the usual yogurt taste, but was still quite tasty. For dinner, I had the tempeh plate, which also included rice, mashed sweet potatoes, and sauteed mushrooms. Everything was super delicious, though the tempeh could use some sauce since the rice, tempeh, and potatoes are all dry.
The cafe itself is super cute, on a quiet side street, and even has a small library and device charging station. This place completely flew under the radar for me when I was researching restaurants in Ubud and I’m really happy I happened to walk by on the way home from a dance performance. Definitely check this place out!
Not much needs to be said here as this place already has a massive following in Ubud. Full virtually all hours of the day and evening, this is another one of those funky Ubud cafes (to paraphrase Lonely Planet) where you can spend hours on end eating, drinking, reading, talking, listening to music, or working on your laptop. I had the three berries lassi, the tomato and mushroom soup (a special of the day), and the fajitas wrap. Everything was incredible and now I understand why this place is always full.
For a taste of Europe in Ubud, look no further than Kebun. Marble tabletops, wrought-iron lamps and fences, windows with wooden shutters, and a restaurant design that resembles a Parisian courtyard will make you temporarily forget that you’re in Southeast Asia. The menu has quite a decent variety of food, from quiche to salads to snails to steak. The mint lime refresher is very true to its name and the vegetable wrap had a great presentation in addition to being delicious. The accompanying fries were perfect and once I saw there was aioli too, it was game over. I had overlooked this place initially because it seemed too bougie, but now I’m really happy I tried it. Hopefully I’ll have time to go back and try the pumpkin frittata.
Pronounced koo-ay, this great spot on Jalan Raya Ubud has a bakery on the first floor and a restaurant on the second floor. The restaurant has a few tables and a large lounge area with sofas that overlooks the street. The menu is mostly western cafe fare (salads, sandwiches, wraps, quiche, burgers, etc.). I opted for the falafel wrap with salad and was not disappointed. I wasn’t really in the mood for salad, but once I had some of the honey mustard dressing I realized I could eat those greens for days. The falafel wrap (especially the tzatziki) was excellent and even came with some sambal. I also had the red berries iced tea, which was very refreshing. Superb all around.
Simple, non-flashy warung at the very north of Jalan Hanoman. The menu had the least number of vegetarian options I’ve seen since coming to Ubud (two), but fortunately one of them was gado-gado. Their version had carrots, green beans, sprouts, spinach, a hard-boiled egg, potatoes, tofu, and tempeh. The steamed vegetables were all plain (no sauce or spices), so I was extremely thankful for the side bowl of delicious peanut sauce, which I used liberally on almost everything. I treated myself to the “detox” drink (beetroot, ginger, and apple) and the black rice pudding (black rice, palm sugar, coconut milk), which I’d describe as warm, sweet rice soup. Everything was very good and this was possibly the most well-rounded meal I’ve ever had, mostly due to the variety of the gado-gado. They also sell small bags of crackers and cookies, which I couldn’t resist as I was paying my bill.
Cute, comfortable warung in Penestanan. I stopped in for lunch in between treks and by the time I was done, I was relaxed, well-fed, and ready for more adventures. The lumpia was very good and the tempeh satay was excellent (perfectly charred). Both dishes come with a very generous helping of peanut sauce and I felt it was my duty to use all of it. Challenge accepted, mission accomplished.
Known for happy hour, live music, and late-night eats. The food is a little bit pricey, but it’s definitely good. The creamy edamame soup and Mediterranean wrap make a pretty solid lunch, especially if you accompany them with a lemongrass ginger lemonade. They have only one size of table though (multiplied about a dozen times), so come with a group or be prepared to be communal with other guests.
Simple, adorable, family-run warung a bit off the beaten path. Your meal will be prepared and served by various members of the family, including Mama herself. The tomato salad is literally a bowl of tomato chunks with dressing and the tempeh sandwich is just tempeh, dressing, and a few veggies on plain bread. Even though the food is incredibly simple, it’s surprisingly tasty. And cheap! The tomato salad, tempeh sandwich, and a mango juice cost me only $4.
Very capable, very casual Italian joint with two locations on Jalan Hanoman, one south of the monkey forest (by Taco Casa) and one north of the forest (by Kafe). I treated myself to the pizza campagnola (eggplant, mushrooms, and green peppers) and it was a solid Neopolitan-style offering. The garden salad was simple, but massive. No complaints here.
Laying claim to being the first real restaurant in Ubud (that still exists), Murni’s is an upscale warung by the Campuhan bridge with great views of the lush greenery that lines the river gorge. The atmosphere is nice, the scenery is gorgeous, and the food is good: the mie goreng was tasty with lots of veggies and was surprisingly light. However, this place is a bit expensive for a “warung”; some of the prices on the menu were double what I’ve seen at other (perfectly nice) restaurants.
Nice cafe at the center of Ubud that overlooks a very busy and horn-happy section of Jalan Raya Ubud. The menu has a mix of Western and Indonesian dishes, including a page of Indonesian tapas. After nomming on the complimentary bowl of leaf “chips”, I had the vegetarian club sandwich and a blackcurrant iced tea. The sandwich is a bit hard to eat with your hands since it’s so tall, but it’s definitely good. Overall a pleasant and tasty, though noisy, lunch.
I feel a bit weird reviewing a restaurant with “pizza” in its name without actually having eaten pizza there, but I’m going to anyway. I stopped in for lunch one day and treated myself to the bruschetta and the Greek salad, which felt right at the time. I’m sure glad I did, because both were right in my wheelhouse. The bruschetta had very fresh tomatoes and perfect toasted-yet-soft bread. The Greek salad was a monster: no lettuce or greenery of any kind, just big chunks of the good stuff, including an irresponsible amount of feta, which I absolutely loved. The recipe for the salad seriously must call for one whole cucumber, one whole tomato, one block of feta, one can of olives, etc. I will go back at some point for pizza, though it’s going to be hard to not order the same menu items again.
I think this might be my favorite warung in Ubud, which I realize is an incredibly bold statement to make. The adorable name suggests an adorable restaurant, which does not disappoint. On a quiet street, this small spot has five beautiful, handmade tables, simple-but-classy decor, and some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. The family was so gracious and thankful for my patronage that I was convinced the restaurant was hurting for business or advertising, but a quick glance on TripAdvisor reveals that, nope, they’re actually a top-ten restaurant in Ubud. They’re just that warm and welcoming.
The guacamole, which came with rice crackers and some thin fried potatoes, was excellent and even a little bit sweet, which I liked. The real treat though was the vegetarian nasi campur: green beans, fried egg, curry vegetables, tempeh, and tofu. The tofu and tempeh were served in a sauce that was out of this world. It was similar to a smoky BBQ sauce, but that describes only half of the experience; the other half I don’t even have words for. At this point, I don’t even want to know what the sauce was because it would shatter the mystique.
Putu’s was a truly wonderful experience in every sense and I can’t recommend it enough. You know how when you’re writing a review on TripAdvisor and one of the questions is whether or not this was one of the best meals you’ve ever had in a restaurant? This is the type of place where you answer Yes to that question.
Serving as the restaurant for the guesthouse of the same name, this place dishes up cheap and tasty Balinese fare. The vibe is peaceful and you can gaze at the guesthouse itself or the neighboring buildings from the second-story restaurant. The spring rolls and tempeh and vegetable curry were both good and the coffee had the gritty sediment I’ve come to expect on the island. Nothing too interesting or exciting here, just a solid meal for a low price: iced coffee, spring rolls, curry, and rice added up to $5. It’s probably not worth the trek if you’re staying far away, but if you’re staying in the neighborhood or coming in for an evening dance performance, this place is definitely worth checking out.
Restaurant nestled among the rice fields serving up wholesome, organic food with a pretty spectacular view. I had the orange-banana-mango smoothie (good, though it tasted like applesauce), pumpkin salad (good, though the dressing was bland), and marinated tempeh (just plain good), which came with lots of green veggies and potatoes. My meal was excessively colorful, which was very much appreciated. A starch-less lunch meant I was hungry again an hour later, but in a good way. The walk to and from the restaurant is as enjoyable as the food, so make sure you block off a decent amount of time to enjoy the whole experience.
This place is most definitely not your typical warung, as it’s associated with Sjaki-Tari-Us, a Dutch organization that runs two schools in Bali specifically for children and teenagers with mental disabilities. As I waited for my lassi to arrive, Fleur, a sweet Dutch girl who just started a five-month internship at the Ubud location, gave me a tour of the school, which is in the same building as the warung. One group of teachers and volunteers works with the younger children and the other group works with the teenagers. Revenue from the warung and the store (featuring arts and crafts made by the students), as well as donations, help fund the school. Some of the teenagers work in the warung, either helping out in the kitchen or waiting on tables.
To be candid, the caliber of food here is not the primary reason for going. That said, my nasi campur was quite good, including some of the best sambal I’ve ever had; it tasted almost like sun-dried tomatoes, which is one of my great weaknesses. After finishing dinner and paying my bill, I hung around until my waiter, one of the teenagers in the school, emerged from the kitchen and I offered him his tip. At first he refused, to which I put on my most polite and gentle Futurama Fry impression. After a few moments, he bashfully accepted and offered a handshake and a huge smile in return.
If you have any heart at all, Sjaki’s is a must-go in Ubud.
If this place feels like you’re dining in a garden, well, it’s because you sort of are. Part of Swasti Eco Cottages, which has an organic garden, the restaurant is surrounded by lush greenery in a very tranquil setting. In addition to using organic ingredients, the restaurant advertises that they don’t use dairy (but rather vegan substitutes like cashew milk) and their vegetables are “hand washed in reverse osmosis water”. I don’t know what that means chemically or nutritionally, but it sure sounds impressive.
After poring over the international menu, I decided to try the guacamole, tempeh in coconut cream curry, and a banana lassi. The guacamole was served almost like a dessert: it came in an ice cream bowl with a spoon and the toast was more of an afterthought. Clearly, the idea was to scarf it down by the spoonful, which I am certainly not above. It was only okay though; I’ve had better guacamole in Ubud (Cafe Angsa comes to mind). The tempeh curry came with veggies and organic red rice and was quite delicious.
I have to give Lonely Planet all the credit for this one, as I would never have thought to go restaurant-hopping in this part of Ubud (you have to walk through the monkey forest to get here). For a super peaceful environment and some great food, Swasti is an excellent choice.
As a San Franciscan, I feel like I’m very much qualified to evaluate Mexican food, burritos specifically, and the 8-layer burrito at Taco Casa has my stamp of approval. The veggie version has everything you’d expect: organic red rice or cilantro lime rice, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, grilled veggies, and corn. However, the surprising part is that it’s incredibly clean; it feels light and fresh and leaves you pleasantly satisfied without feeling gross. Pair it with a lemonade (or, in my case, two) and you’ve got yourself a solid lunch. No wonder this place is ranked as one of the best in Ubud.
Very capable Japanese restaurant to get your fix of sushi, soy sauce, and sake. Well, you might want to avoid the sake. It’s pricey and not that good, but after a month of taking antibiotics (and therefore not being able to drink), some cold sake, even shitty cold sake, was delightful. The spicy tofu roll was very good (though not spicy at all) and the agedashi tofu was incredibly tasty. After dinner, I talked to the chef and he told me he has inari, though it isn’t on the menu. I may have to go back at some point to try it.
I stopped in here for dinner one evening, somewhat unexpectedly as Laughing Buddha up the road was completely full. Based on the candles and the atmosphere and the style of dress of the waitstaff, I immediately resigned myself to a splurge night, so I ordered a $10 glass of Chilean Merlot. Much to my dismay, the wine was served cold. Granted, I’ve seen this done elsewhere in Southeast Asia, but I was really hoping a classy establishment like this wouldn’t do that. After half an hour of alternating between twiddling my thumbs and warming the glass with my hands, the wine was warm enough to drink. Strike one.
For a starter, I decided to get the roasted spiced cashews, as I had discovered the immense joy of fried cashews when I was on Koh Phangan. However, instead of getting a plate of hot, roasted cashews, I was given a bowl filled with an irresponsibly large mound of cinnamon and sugar with maybe a dozen cashews hiding inside. Seriously, just add some milk and you have one of those shitty breakfast cereals with a cartoon mascot. Hey kids! Be sure to bug your parents to buy some Cinnamon Cashew Crunch! Somehow part of a balanced breakfast! Strike two.
I have to admit that I was waiting for my pumpkin ravioli with a lot of anxiety, almost scared to behold which inventive method they employed to fuck up my entree. Pessimistic, I know, but I just got burned on Chilean wine and roasted cashews, two things I take very seriously. Fortunately, I was able to relax once my dish arrived as it was a very capable and delicious ravioli. Nothing weird, just plain good. To continue the baseball analogy, it wasn’t quite a home run, but maybe a triple? At least a ground-rule double.
Three Monkeys seems like a great spot and I hear there’s a great view of the rice fields if you sit in the back of the restaurant during the day. Since the pumpkin ravioli salvaged my meal, I guess I can recommend the restaurant. Just don’t make the same mistakes I did.
Spoiler alert: the dinner I had here was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life. Granted, I was already in a really good mood because it had been a good day volunteering at the shelter and I had a beer and an amazing massage before going to dinner. Still, I’ve thought this over and I’m quite sure that the food alone was phenomenal, irrespective of my attitude going in.
For dinner, I had a banana lassi, the Vietnamese spring rolls, and the vegetarian nasi campur. The lassi was by far the best I’ve ever had; I ended up getting a second one (for dessert) and I’m still not sure what they add to it that makes it so damn good. My guess is crack. The spring rolls were so perfect that they made me realize that I’ve been wanting Vietnamese spring rolls the entire time I’ve been in Ubud, which explains why I’ve never been fully satisfied by any of the other spring rolls I’ve gotten. And the nasi campur was one of the best I’ve ever had: greens, peanuts, tempeh bits, a potato fritter, a corn fritter, tofu, curry tempeh, and curry egg. Bomb (with a capital “B”) all around. I will definitely be going back and probably ordering the same exact meal because now I need my fix.
Popular, cheap warung on Jalan Raya Ubud that always seems to be full. On my way home from the gym one evening I decided to stop in and try it out. They were “out of” nasi campur, so I had the corn fritters, Javanese-style tempeh, gado-gado, and a lychee iced tea. Honestly I think I overate a bit, even considering the trip to the gym, but it was all only $6! There was nothing amazing or unique, but it was a solid and inexpensive meal.
Another nice warung on Jalan Hanoman with a “counter” facing the street and elevated tables behind. The vegetarian nasi campur had greens, curry vegetables (with some of the best peanut sauce I’ve ever had), tempeh, prawn crackers, and tofu with a dark and very sexy sauce (almost a chocolate taste). Very excellent all around; I probably could have eaten two of those dishes.
This warung is located a bit out of town, so I dovetailed a visit there with my trip to the Blanco Museum. It was only fitting, as I soon found out, that the interesting, colorful, and spicy artwork I saw in the morning would be followed by an interesting, colorful, and spicy lunch. The warung is designed a bit differently than the ones in town I’m used to. The tables are located only at the perimeter of the front lawn for maximum personal space (and maximum walking distance for all the waitresses).
The tempeh starter was nicely prepared and very tasty, but the vegetarian nasi campur stole the show: greens, a hard-boiled egg with sauce, tofu, jackfruit, green beans, brown beans, a sheet of very thin bread (kind of like naan) with corn and potatoes (I think) and other goodies baked in, some sweet, fried pastry/breading crumbles (hard to describe), and some damn spicy sambal. In fact, most of the meal was quite spicy; my mouth was still burning as I walked down the street after lunch was over. The entire meal was bursting with an overwhelming array of colors and flavors. Even the iced tea was dressed up a bit with a dash of lavender. I highly recommend this place for a really unique and mouth-watering (for more than one reason) meal.
This place was a very pleasant surprise. I knew going in that it was a vegetarian restaurant, but didn’t realize it was a true warung; when you order the nasi campur, you go up to the display case and pick out which dishes you want. I opted for the “Bali curry” (tempeh and broccoli), tempeh bits, beet salad, tofu falafel, and a samosa. Narrowing down all the options to this assortment was really difficult as everything looked awesome and healthy. Not surprisingly, all the food was fantastic. The sambal has a strong coconut flavor (so I fell in love with it immediately), the tempeh bits were delightfully sweet (almost honey-like), and the iced Nepal chai accompanied the food perfectly. I’m a fan.
This place is a little tricky to find if you’re not familiar with the area, but that’s part of the appeal. The shade, quiet isolation, and surrounding walls of lush greenery were just what I needed after a forty-minute walk in the sun from the south of town. After cooling down with the iced lemongrass drink, I had the “half coconut”: a coconut is grated in place and sprouts, tomatoes, and basil are added to make a salad in the coconut itself. The “F.A.T.” (feta, avocado, tomato) was more like bruschetta than a sandwich, but still very good. I wasn’t planning on getting dessert, but the waitress offered to grate up the coconut (from my salad) some more and add bananas, cashews, and coconut syrup, which was a delightful way to end the meal. If I was staying close by, I’d be here all the time.
Drink
This is my favorite coffee place in Ubud for two reasons: it has a lot of great spaces for when I want to work on my laptop and the frozen, blended creations are awesome. Both floors have lots of tables and as long as you don’t mind the constant sound of traffic and honking horns, you can be pretty productive here. The Mint Temptation and the Cookies N Cream (complete with a floating Oreo) are guilty pleasures.
Cafe Blossom
Small cafe on Jalan Dewi Sita nestled between boutique shops and restaurants. Great decor and ambiance and the place always seems to be either empty or full and never anything in between. Grab a table or sit at the bar and peruse their sampling of coffee, tea, juices, lassis, and some cocktails and mocktails. The Internet connection is much better than average, though you’ll pay for it by being subjected to a constant aural barrage of motorbike engines and honking horns.
Great coffee shop vibe, very capable iced coffee, and the iced spiced island is interesting (on the good side). The baristas are nice and the couches are comfortable, though they don’t lend themselves well to working on a laptop. Come here to have a conversation or read a book, especially since the Internet connection never seems to work. If you’re looking for a small treat, try either the vegan orange and date blondie or the coffee brownie; both are excellent.
Yet another uber-healthy cafe with an impressive non-alcoholic drink menu, including lots of juices, lassis, and the obligatory shot of wheatgrass. The food menu includes a legend for vegetarian, vegan, nut-free, and gluten-free. Need I say more? I stopped in after dinner one evening to satisfy a raging sweet tooth and ended up getting the banana date soy shake and the lemon poppyseed yogurt cake. The shake was good, the cake was excellent. The ideal spot here is the table on the patio underneath the vines that lets you watch the people and traffic going by.
Nice cafe close to the Monkey Forest; in fact, you can sometimes see monkeys scrambling across the roofs of the shops across the street. I love coming here with my laptop for an afternoon pick-me-up. The combination of air conditioning, a delicious cold drink, and caffeine always leaves me feeling very energized, even if I felt lazy and worthless when I went in. The frozen coffee creations with tapioca balls (and extras like bananas or chocolate or whipped cream) make a perfect afternoon treat.
L.O.L. Bar
By day, this place is mild-mannered and pleasant and a good spot to rest your feet; by night, it’s a bit more fun and rowdy (well, as rowdy as Ubud can get). There’s a stage for live music and on nights that a good band is playing, patrons take full advantage of the shots specials and the bartenders put on their best fire poi impressions. In fact, some of the staff here seems to have an unhealthy obsession with dousing various parts of the bar in lighter fluid and setting it ablaze. Nevertheless, the ages of the clientele here run from 20 to 60. For a very refreshing non-alcoholic drink in the heat of the afternoon, try the strawberry ginger iced tea.
Second-story watering hole that feels like a mashup of an island tiki bar and a suburban dad’s finished basement. I was finishing up dinner across the street at Three Monkeys when I heard some live music start, so I wandered over. A very good reggae cover band was playing that night and their infectious melodies kept most of those in attendance on the dance floor the entire evening. The crowd was fun and involved too: one guy with dreads and glasses got on stage to sing some Bob Marley and a bearded hipster with the deepest v-neck I’ve ever seen took over guitar duties for a couple songs. I had way too much Bintang and found myself discussing scalar energy and the “9/11 hoax” with an older, mustachioed geothermal energy consultant named Joe who spent hours that evening banging his wooden claves with an inconsistent beat, occasionally matching up with the grooves coming out of the band’s amplifiers. Great times all around.
Large, ultra-cool lounge with Middle Eastern flair. Lots of candles and hookahs, comfortable couches, fish tanks, and even a koi pond. When there isn’t a live band in the evening, intoxicating Middle Eastern music wafts through the air. Come here to smoke hookah with friends, or chill out on a couch and listen to live music, or grab a seat at the bar and watch sports, or even get some food.
]]>I’ve spent the last few days getting the lay of the land, walking for miles past shops and markets and touts constantly bugging me about taxis or sunglasses or tours. In that time, I’ve decided that I’m here for the arts, the food, the natural surroundings, and the locals. Screw the stores, the clothing boutiques, the spas, the expensive resorts, the healing, and the yoga. In fact, I’m convinced that being able to selectively filter out undesired stimuli is the only way to survive in this town with your sanity intact.
I’m finding that it’s going to take some time just to plan out what I’m going to do with my time. I’ve been trying to organize my leisure since I landed here, but I keep getting distracted with, well, leisure. My vague agenda includes:
- Self-guided hikes, temple tours, and gallery/museum tours (from Lonely Planet)
- Evening dance performances (there are many every night of the week)
- Self-guided photo walks
- Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
- Finding a worthwhile volunteer opportunity
- Eating at a new restaurant for lunch and dinner every day
- Maintaining a blog post just for my culinary experiences
- Working out at the Ubud Fitness Center
- Various local bands and live music in the evenings
- Cycling tour to nearby villages
Given this ever-growing list, I’ve resigned myself to staying in Bali, and Ubud specifically, for my entire month in Indonesia. I had considered moving to other parts of the island and possibly going to Lombok to climb the volcano there, but given that my leg won’t be 100% for a while, the right decision is to lay low a bit. And while the ever-present touristy nature of Ubud is certainly annoying and gives the place a somewhat unauthentic feeling, there’s still an undeniably cool vibe about this place. As I mentioned already, you just have to learn how to filter out what you don’t care for.
Now that I know I’ll be here for a while, I’m even more grateful for the lodging I found on Agoda (Dewa Bungalows). My room is large and clean, I have a patio with a table and chairs and an amazing third-story view of the city (a rarity here), I have two beds, hot water, and air conditioning, the property is gorgeous and includes a swimming pool among the statues and vines and trees, I enjoy a large and wholesome breakfast every morning, and the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. Arguably the best part of it all is the location; I’m on a popular street (Jalan Hanoman), but not one of the two really popular streets. I’ve already found four fantastic restaurants that are very close and I’m within walking distance of everything in town. Now that I have boots on the ground, it’s become painfully obvious that I need to stay put. This exact turn of events is one of the beautiful consequences of planning a trip only a few days at a time.
Given my limited travels in Thailand and Indonesia, I’m noticing that the $30-a-night accommodation is right in my wheelhouse. I’ve stayed at $15-a-night places too and I’ve realized that $30 a night is more than twice as good as $15 a night; it’s more like five to ten times as good, though I will readily admit that it’s difficult to quantify such things. For me at least, anything past $30 a night will lead to diminishing returns.
Completely separate from all of this, there’s been another interesting development. After visiting the Ubud Clinic for a couple days to get my dressing changed and my fifth and final rabies vaccine shot (I’m immune now!), the doctor was insistent that she teach a man to fish, so to speak. After remarking that the wound is looking clean, she suggested I take all the necessary medical supplies with me and just clean it myself. I found this a bit surprising and I was hesitant at first, but given that I probably won’t be getting stitches and the cleaning takes all of five minutes, it sort of makes sense. After all, I’ve been watching nurses clean the wound for a month now, so I feel like I’m qualified to do it myself. I’ve got enough iodine solution, saline solution, antiseptic cream, gauze, bandages, and tape to last a little while, so here’s hoping I don’t make things worse.
One last observation that I’ll put here is that it’s funny that seemingly simple tasks can be so involved and complicated here. As a concrete example, I spent most of today trying to ship some documents back home (hospital bills for my insurance claim).
Initially, I tried to send them via FedEx, which required finding the FedEx location in Ubud, which isn’t as easy as you’d think. Looking up the address on Google Maps (or even Bing Maps) turns up nothing. I had to ask around until I found someone who knew where it was, at which point I received directions that involved “turning left at the statue” and “going past the supermarket”. That’s just how things work here: addresses are somewhat meaningless and directions are always relative to other buildings or landmarks.
I set out this morning along the correct road (after dutifully turning left at the statue) and noted the addresses written on the signs of the shops I was walking past. Some addresses had numbers, others had just the street. And the numbers aren’t always useful, because they don’t follow the even-odd convention, they aren’t sequential, and they aren’t always strictly increasing or decreasing. As I walked north along Jalan Raya Andong looking for #30, I passed #10, then a little while later #18, then a little while later #14. I ended up walking way too far and found myself passing shops with address numbers in the 90s, including one whose address number was actually “9X”. I just love the attitude behind that decision.
“Yeah, our address is Jalan Raya Andong, number, um, ninety… something. Yeah, it’s between ninety and a hundred. Whatever, numbers here don’t mean anything anyway. Who cares? Just put 9X on the sign.”
Again, I had to ask around until I found someone who knew what I was talking about and she pointed me in the right direction. I backtracked a bit until I came across a FedEx sign in front of a shuttered building with an empty lot. Taped to the large metal door, there was a paper sign with text in Indonesian only, so I took a photo of it and walked home. Once I was back in the glorious land of WiFi, I manually typed the text into Google Translate to discover that this FedEx location was “temporarily closed”. I called the number that was posted, which connected me to the FedEx office in Denpasar (where the airport is). The agent on the phone explained that the Ubud location had been closed due to “not enough customers”.
And so I started the whole process again with DHL. Once again, Google Maps was worthless. A general Google search turned up a Google Books result that said the DHL office was across the street from Ganesha Bookshop, which I had actually passed an hour prior as I returned home with my tail between my legs from the failed FedEx trip. I set out again and on my way to Ganesha, I sensed a lot of yellow in my peripheral vision; when I glanced over, I was greeted warmly by the bright yellow facade of a small DHL service center. Was it across the street from Ganesha? Nope, it was actually a few doors down, but you have to take these small victories when they present themselves.
One other aspect of Ubud that makes it difficult to find anything are the sidewalks. I would describe the sidewalks in Ubud as “quaintly crumbling”: they’re in gross disrepair, but in a really adorable, almost historical way. You spend so much time looking down at where you’re stepping, trying not to trip and fall, that you end up missing signs or storefronts. I’ve already walked past destinations several times because I was too busy trying to not die. Once you find where you want to go, you won’t forget where it is, but trying to find it that first time can be a bit of an adventure. Such is life, I suppose.
More to come soon as I start doing things that are actually worthy of photos.
]]>As I predicted in my last post, the rest of my time in Thailand was a pleasant continuation of the previous few weeks: lots of eating, motorbiking, massages, lounging around, reading, and Skyping with friends and family.
The one exception to this life of leisure was a hike from Chaloklum (a fishing village on the north coast of the island) to Bottle Beach, a secluded stretch of sand accessible only by boat or a trail through the jungle. The blurb about the hike on my Koh Phangan map simply said the trek took “about an hour” and had “great views”. What the map failed to mention is that the trek is actually a 90-minute, P90X-esque death march through the jungle over a small mountain. Fortunately, the trail is easy to follow; you just have to keep an eye out for the plastic water bottles carefully placed on tree branches and bushes (presumably by previous hikers). Follow the litter, basically. I’m not sure if this is why Bottle Beach is named as such, but it seems like a good enough reason to me.
What made the hike so strenuous is that the elevation was constantly changing (in either direction). Trees and vines were my life-saving friends that I grabbed with conviction and fear as I descended the precarious slopes. On the other hand, when I was ascending some of the steeper slopes, I found myself on hands and knees, almost rock climbing. One wrong step or one slip-up (which is more likely than usual given how exhausting the trek is) would have left me at the bottom of a ravine or mangled on the rocks below. About a third of the way through, I realized that going by myself was not the smartest decision I’ve ever made.
Nevertheless, an hour and a half after I started, I emerged triumphantly from the jungle. I was sweaty, shirtless, water-less, and covered in dirt and scratches, a stark contrast to the bronzed European sunbathers who were lounging on the beautiful beach in front of me. As I made my way to the closest resort for a massive bottle of water and a coffee shake, I came across a water taxi driver who asked if I wanted a ride back to Chaloklum. I agreed emphatically.
A couple days before I was leaving the island, I discovered that there was a gym/bar/restaurant (Haad Yao Fitness) just a minute’s drive up the road from me, so I decided to check it out the following afternoon. There were no other guests at the time, leaving me with sole use of the entire gym. I had a quite decent workout, which felt great after several weeks of muscle atrophy. Afterwards, as I sat at the bar with my strawberry protein shake, I started chatting with the owner, Peter, an expat from Holland, and his Thai wife, Nang. We talked about the island and business and Americans and San Francisco. I really enjoyed the vibe of the place and the friendliness of the owners, so I went back later that night for dinner, since the restaurant (not the gym) is actually how I initially found the place on TripAdvisor. Low season is starting now, so from 8:00 on, I was the only guest in the restaurant. Peter and Nang invited me to sit with them, their waiter, and their friends as people played pool, watched TV, and smoked cigarettes and weed. I sat on the couch and devoured some massaman curry (awesome) and fried cashews (even more awesome) as everyone relaxed. Nang and I chatted for a while and she told me about how she learned to cook from her mother and everything she makes, including the curry I was eating, is from a recipe from either her mother or her grandfather. Between the food and the TV and the conversation and the friends that came and went, I felt like I was sitting in a family’s living room for dinner. The evening was seemingly minor compared to all the adventures one could have in Southeast Asia, but it was exactly what I needed at the time. Thanks, universe!
As luck would have it, my last night on the island was also a big night for a local, multi-day festival in Thongsala, the unofficial capital of the island. The festival had a carnival feel to it, with rides for kids, carnival games with stuffed animal prizes, a small ferris wheel, vendors hawking clothes and accessories and toys, a large concert venue with a Thai rock band, and, of course, dozens and dozens of food carts. The best part is that the crowd was almost entirely locals. Seizing the opportunity of a plethora of cheap food, I gorged myself (spring roll on a stick, some of the best pad thai I’ve ever had, chocolate cake, and two fruit shakes) for less than $4.
The next morning, as I packed up my things and prepared for two days of travel, I actually felt an emotion I wasn’t expecting: a little bit of sadness. I had gotten so used to the island and its roads and its towns and its beaches and its parties and its seedy underbelly. I had found my favorite places for almost every want or need. I had met expats and locals and seen them enough that they knew who I was. In town, I saw one of the guys from Shiralea; at the festival, I ran into the nurse from the clinic who cleaned my wounds every day; at a Saturday night party at Pirates Bar, I ran into Peter and one of his friends. In a relatively short amount of time, I felt like I had worked myself just a little bit into the fabric of the island’s culture, but now it was time to go.
The first day of travel was just for the ferry ride back to the mainland and the bus ride from Don Sak to Surat Thani, a reversal of the voyage I had taken a few weeks prior. Surat Thani is not a tourist destination, but rather a stopover for travelers either going to or returning from the islands. As I attempted to find some dinner downtown, I realized that nothing was in English and I couldn’t be sure of the vegetarian status of anything I saw, either from the street vendors or in the restaurants. I eventually gave up and went to an Italian chain restaurant; even though my meal was actually quite good (and spicy!), I realized that I had been spoiled thus far by visiting only very touristy parts of the country. Once I left that bubble, I was having trouble just finding food, which is a sobering experience.
The next morning, I hopped on a one-way flight to Kuala Lumpur care of my new BFF, AirAsia, a low-cost airline serving Southeast Asia and some surrounding countries. (Based solely on the prices of my tickets, I’ve concluded that you can fly anywhere in the area for about $35 an hour, even if you buy your tickets at the last minute. Sure, they nickel-and-dime you on all the other expenses, but my seat upgrade cost only $8!) Truth be told, before I could hop on said flight, I was held by immigration and forced to pay a 500 baht (about $16) fine because I had overstayed my 30-day visa by one day. I briefly considered using a calendar to explain to the immigration officer that I was, in fact, leaving on Day 30 exactly, but decided to shut my mouth instead and pay the extortion money fine.
Since my flight to KL was one-way and separate from my round-trip flight to Bali, I had the humorous experience of walking out of the airport (from the customs area) and walking immediately back in (to check in for my next flight). There was enough time between my flights to stop in to one of the airport’s clinics for my daily medical care, where I learned that the clinic was not much cleaner than the rest of the airport, whose hygiene leaves much to be desired. As I walked around the terminal and got some food, I became convinced that janitors, trash cans, and even napkins are considered passé in Malaysia.
Ubud
After landing in Bali, I was met by Gusti, the brother of the woman who runs Dewa Bungalows, my new home. During the 45-minute drive from Denpasar to Ubud, we talked a lot and he was very grateful for the opportunity to practice his English. As he drove in a style that I would describe as lane-markings-are-just-suggestions, I looked around wide-eyed as this new world enveloped me. I was overcome, yet again, by that familiar combination of excitement and nervousness that materializes in me whenever I find myself in a new place in the world.
Fast forward forty-eight hours. I’m sitting on a perfect little patio in the dark, pecking away on my laptop, smelling the incense burning next to me, listening to bugs buzzing and dogs barking and cats prowling over thatch roofs. This place (both the city and my lodging) already feels very comfortable to me and I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll be extending my reservation to the end of my time in Indonesia. I already have some thoughts on Ubud, but I’ll save those for another day and another post. In the meantime, I will leave you with one of the reasons why I will be staying at Dewa for a while: the view from my patio (in a city where residences over one story tall are a rarity).
Finally, as is possibly becoming a custom, here is my current reading list:
- Bali & Lombok by Lonely Planet
- The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes by Carl Hoffman
- Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov