My First Trip To Bali In Indonesia
After my first week in Indonesia where I was in Komodo to see the Komodo dragons and scuba dive, my next stop was Bali which is the most visited destination in Indonesia. This was actually my first time there and as soon as I arrived, I headed out to the port town of Sanur to catch a 45 minute ferry to the smaller island Nusa Penida. My intention was to stay on Nusa Penida to dive more as it was the season to see mola mola, a very big but elusive fish I’ve seen only once before in the Galapagos.
Most Beautiful Natural Scenery In Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida is a very quiet and peaceful island and I chose to stay further inland from the main road where most of the accommodations are in order to be closer to a specific dive operator. It was truly out in the middle of nowhere with no crowds but lots of chicken and other animal sounds. I even alarmed an old man’s chickens when I was walking past his cabin (shown in video).
After diving, I took a private tour to see the main three scenic sights on the west part of the island; Kelingking Beach, Broken Beach and Angel’s Billabong. Although getting to these sights along with getting around Nusa Penida was kind of terrible due to the narrow roads that were not in great condition, the reward is seeing the most beautiful natural scenery in not just Nusa Penida but perhaps all of the Bali area too. I noticed lots of tourists from Bali took day trips over here just to see these. I shot some great video footage of this beautiful natural scenery as well as the ridiculously narrow roads in the video below.
Cultural Center of Bali – Ubud
After taking the ferry back to the Bali island from Nusa Penida, I stayed in Sanur to take in one more scuba diving day but this time with a dive operator in this port town as my homestay accommodation was just next door to it. Right after diving, I took a Grab and went straight up to Ubud which is considered the cultural center of Bali.
Much to my surprise, the main streets of Ubud were very busy with tourists. I didn’t expect Ubud to be somewhat of a tourist trap with probably overpriced touristy shops and restaurants along these main streets. Personally, this is not my type of scene but fortunately I did find a few attractions that I did enjoy which are covered in the following videos starting with the Tegalallang Rice Terraces.
I was prepared to see these rice terraces while minimizing the tourist crowds so first thing in the morning I took a Grab motorcycle which took my up to Tegalallang which is a bit north of Ubud town. I got there before it was really crowded and ventured deeper into the trails resulting in enjoying much of the rice terraces all to myself which shows in the video below.
I thought these rice terraces were so beautiful that I could consider them to be the second most scenic location in Bali (with the first being back in Nusa Penida). But since it is considered the top tourist attraction in Ubud, I strongly recommend getting there before 9 am to not only avoid most of the tourist crowds but also take it in before the main heat comes along. Taking the Grab motorbike was also quite refreshing in the morning too even though it takes some time to get use to sitting on the back while holding on for dear life! But at least going through streets of Bali is much less nerve wracking as the Grab rides I’ll do later on in Jakarta.
Ubud Art Market
Back in Ubud, I checked out the art market which comprises of a long alleyway plus a few smaller alleyways in the same vicinity. Also about a block away near the Ubud Palace is a two story building that is also considered part of the overall Ubud Art Market. Not surprisingly the stalls in the building quoted me the highest prices while the small alleyways had the lowest. Bargaining is expected here and I ended up with a striking hand carved wooden mask I bought from a vendor quite close to my homestay accommodation.
Ubud Palace & Ubud Water Palace
Other popular tourist attractions in Ubud include the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary and Campuhan Ridge Walk. I don’t really like monkeys and I’ve seen enough of them in Africa, Malaysia and Cambodia already. I did walk over to the Campuhan Ridge Walk early next morning but it turned out to be very underwhelming. Promotional photos show it as a place to get great views but I did most of the walk and the trees that often lined both sides blocked any type of views. So this turned out to be an early morning fitness walk for me which others were doing too while I was there.
The two other main tourist attractions in Ubud that I did like were Ubud Palace and Ubud Water Palace, both within very close walking distance of each other as well as where I was staying. The Ubud Palace is a Balinese Hindu temple and it’s free admission during the daytime hours. Although many tourists visit, they do tend to go through it fairly quickly since it isn’t a huge temple.
The Ubud Water Palace on the other hand is a place you might want to stay longer since it’s very peaceful and serene which is even more amazing that it’s actually right in the middle of town next to the long alleyway of the Ubud Art Market. There is a modest admission fee and you have to wear their coverings which are provided to you for free with your paid admission. There are two nice walkways that go through the water lillies here which I captured video footage.
Much like with Tegalallang Rice Terraces, it’s best to come early in the morning to avoid most of the tourist crowds. They open at 8 am so definitely come before 9 am. I visited the Ubud Water Palace on my departure day right after breakfast and was done before I had to check out of my accommodations.
Balinese Cultural Dance Show
If staying overnight in Ubud, I would recommend taking in a Balinese cultural dance show at the Ubud Palace when they turn the temple into a performance facility. Shows are 100,000 Indonesia which is less than $8 Canadian. These dances are weird, wonderful and totally captivating and performances start at 7:30 pm nightly. Seating is general admission so I would suggest going early at about 7 pm to get good seats.
I will say that these cultural dance shows a bit long at 1.5 hours as the music and dances might seem repetitive after awhile and I did see some audience tourists leave by midpoint. Like the majority of the audience, I decided to stay until the end since I figure there wasn’t much else to do in Ubud at night other than fight the tourist crowds on the main streets. You will rarely see any show similar to this anywhere else in the world.
I went back to Sanur for one more night and basically I found this port town to be a good place to chill more than anything else. Sanur is not as much a tourist trip as other locations in Bali but it also doesn’t have much in terms of tourist attractions. It does have a really nice boardwalk along the beach which is what I took in the when I got back there before flying out to Jakarta the next morning.
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