Day 3 (October 21, 2018) Ubud

Antes   

       This day should be dedicated to Ubud and, may be, some visit nearby. This is the day for shopping and, probably, trying one of the local specialties: massages.

Map of Ubud

      The spots marked at map are:

 0- Hotel The Umari
 1- Ubud Palace
 2- Campuhan Ridge Walk
 3- Ubud Market
 4- Monkey Forest

Después

   Breakfast is brought at 8 AM, as requested yesterday. 30 minutes later we’re leaving the hotel for a walk to Ubud city center. We pass by the palace which we’ll visit later today, as it is closed now. The city is full of charming corners, with small temples and offerings in the floor constantly appearing as we go.
Ubud streetsUbud streets
  We can see around people in their worship at this time of the morning, putting new offerings and praying. Traffic in main street is feeding the constant sound of the swarm of motorbikes here. Our first visit is to the River Temple, which we couldn’t know the exact location before coming, but could easily find it, as it is by this main road (Raya Ubud Street). It’s shocking the change in the environment just by leaving the street for a few meters.
River Temple in UbudRiver Temple in Ubud
   We keep walking this street until reaching the start of Campuhan Ridge Walk. Our plan here is just to do part of the walk and come back. This part is already fantastic. The landscape after the temple is jungle, with rice plantations here and there.

Campuhan Ridge WalkCampuhan Ridge WalkCampuhan Ridge WalkCampuhan Ridge Walk
   Once back in the main road, we’re tired and thinking about taking a taxi to the Monkey Forest, but as we cannot find one at this point we keep walking back in direction to the palace. Before reaching it, we visit the temple besides Lotus Café, where the lake is so full of lotus plants that you can barely see the water.
Lotus Temple in UbudLotus Temple in Ubud
   Then we get into Ubud Palace where, aside of exploring its courtyards, as interior is not opened to public, we get our tickets for tonight’s Balinese Dances show by 100,000 rupees each.
Ubud PalaceUbud Palace
   We make some time before lunch by going to the Central Market, which is just in front of the Palace, across the road. We walk through stands with handcrafts, gifts, clothes… until reaching the other side, where we take a place in the Bamboo Guest House’s terrace for lunching. We pay 214000 rupees for two courses of rice with seafood, a Greek salad and a shared dessert made of pieces of fruit with yogurt and honey.
Ubud Central Market
   We take Monkey Forest Street from there, which is full of modern stores until reaching the forest giving name to the street. We could see before the monkey than the forest.
Monkey Forest StreetMonkey Forest Street
   Admission tickets for Monkey Forest are 50000 rupees each. Once inside, we can see big groups of monkeys soon, as they’re around the feeding platforms, where they can get as many sweet potatoes as they want.
Monkey ForestMonkey Forest
   We follow the route through this piece of jungle, which is full of beautiful places for amazing pictures. As we advance, monkeys go from protagonists to extras.

Monkey ForestMonkey ForestMonkey ForestMonkey Forest
   In the exit, we find out there is a free bus for customers connecting the forest with Ubud city center, so we take it and leave in the stop it has in front of the palace. We walk back to the hotel from there for a rest and some relaxing time in the swimming pool.
Monkey Forest Visitor CenterMonkey Forest free bus
   It's around 6 PM when we leave the hotel and get some dinner by the main road in our way to the palace: penne agliolio, grilled chicken and brownie by 124000 rupees. We reach the palace by 7:15 PM. The show starts at 7:30 PM but it is already full inside and is hard to find a free seat.

   The performance takes 1.5 hours and I’m surprised by the importance eyes have on these dances: they move following the music and dancers avoid to blink until they change their position. There are lots of musicians playing traditional instruments and performers change their colorful costumes for every dance.
Balinese dances in Ubud PalaceBalinese dances in Ubud Palace
   Today has been the first day dedicated full day to our touring and this is what we’re thinking as we go to the hotel, where we’re crazy about getting the bed.