Day 11: SURABAYA - BALI (UBUD)
Monday, June 20, 2011
We are again with the early risers! It's 3 in the morning and the alarm sounds in SurabayaThat means we have something important and today is a flight from Surabaya to Bali, which in a few hours will take us to this new island and in which the first thing we will have to do is the transfer from Denpasar airport to Ubud, which will be our base these days.
But if we are on vacation! Roger does nothing but complain about the schedules I have taken for this flights trip to Indonesia. I end up not paying much attention and going straight to the bathroom, although it is normal, we have the flight at 6 in the morning. Who has thought to catch it at this time?
And with these questions and without wanting to give any answer, we set off, after breakfast, to the airport.
Yesterday we asked at the reception of the Hotel Surabaya Plaza Hotel the prices of the airport service to catch the flight from Surabaya to Bali, since being so early, I didn't want to risk waiting for a taxi.
We were lucky and the boy told us that they charged much more expensive and that at the door of the hotel, we had taxi service 24 hours a day.
So after breakfast we go in search of a taxi, right in front of the hotel door of Surabaya.
We are lucky and we do not find a caravan, so in 30 minutes we planted in the terminal.
We pass the controls (in this airport of Surabaya there are more than those that we have been going through during these days) and in the last one they make me open the handbag, to take off a nail clipper that I have worn throughout the trip.
What are we going to do to him… although we have seen the occasional bribe at the airport, it is too early to test us. We are not going to risk a nail clipper either! Hahaha
We leave on time and after 50 minutes of flight, which we do practically sleeping, we arrive at Denpasar airport in Bali.
At the time of arrival, we change the time to not forget later and we go straight to find the driver that Begoña has sent us to the transfer from Denpasar airport to Ubud.
She has advised us enough for this trip and in a few hours we will go to meet her.
She is the coordinator of a center for the disabled in Ubud in Bali… The NGO Kupu Kupu.
As soon as we left, we met the driver, who is also an NGO worker. We introduce ourselves and get in the car that will take us to what will be our accommodation during the next few days.
It took us more than 45 minutes to arrive at the hotel, since at this time we found a lot of traffic.
The landscape has changed completely, there is still a lot of vegetation, but it is totally different. It seems incredible that there can be so many changes in the same country.
Here we begin to see many tourists and the waruns disappear, to give way to conventional restaurants.
We see all this from the car, but we see that Bali is in the "tourist wave", we have no doubt about that, at least for now ...
And “watching life go by”, almost without realizing it, we arrived at the Bebek Tepi Sawah Restaurant & Villas. We pay our transfer, 25000 rupees and we tell you that as soon as we can we will go to the NGO with the free transfer offered by the hotel.
We go straight to the reception and they tell us that until 1 or 1.30 they will not have the free room, so we look at the clock and it is still 9.30 in the morning.
We thought for a moment what to do and we decided quickly, as in the hotel they give us transfer service to Ubud Free, we ask for one for the NGO.
And there we go ... It doesn't give us time to place ourselves too much in the place we are.
We try to keep many things and that sometimes is not good and here in Ubud less. There are many things to see and it is impossible to admire them all at once.
We arrived in 10 minutes and there we stayed until noon ...
From this morning there, I can only say that it has been totally enriching and as we have seen on many occasions, the looks and smiles are worth more than words.
Our first morning in Bali after the transfer from Denpasar airport to Ubud
Enjoying. Bali
After this we go to an exchange office, because we have become “stiff” in Java and we need money for these days that we have left in Bali.
A good option to know the history and curiosities of the city is to book this visit with a guide in Spanish.
After changing into an office where we see that the change is quite good (although lower than the airport of the first day in Jakarta), we go to the store that has the NGO, to leave the amount of money that our ticket will cost us to Lombok. They will take us out through the NGO and thus they earn a small commission.
The stomach starts to sound, so we decided to go to the Lotus Restaurant, which is in the center of Ubud And we have highly recommended it.
When we arrive we are already very surprised, both by the environment, and by the number of tourists, by Ubud itself ... It is completely plagued with Bali tourists, but despite that, it has a very special atmosphere. We like ... and much!
We are still a bit "saturated" with everything we are seeing and for the moment we have not digested it yet.
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish from Bali by travelers:
- Guided tour of Ubud
- Excursion to the Gili Islands
- Lakes and temples of Bedugul and Tanah Lot
- East of Bali and Mother Temple of Besakih
- South Bali, Uluwatu Temple and Jimbaran- More excursions and tours here
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish from Bali by travelers:But seeing us with this show in front of us and the opportunity to eat overlooking the temple, we don't want to think much more and just think about enjoying the moment.
We eat in fear and the best, surrounded by a lotus pond. The account goes up about 20 euros to change both.
Here we already know that the average price will rise, but still, we are delighted to be here! LOL
Views from the Café Lotus in Ubud
After resting for a while having an espresso coffee, we think we don't feel like going to the hotel, what we really want is to discover Ubud our first visit to the island of Bali in the trip to indonesia.
Although we are a little tired of the early morning and have not yet been able to enter our room, we decided to do what we feel like right now.
So we are going to walk streets of Ubud, without fixed destination. Because the truth is that we look at the map only once and at the beginning of the tour! We do not stop taking pictures of homes, the environment ... everything we are finding.
Entrance of a house in Ubud
Ubud Street
Ubud Market
After a few hours walking aimlessly through the most central streets of Ubud, we look at the clock and we have an hour left until it begins to get dark, so we decided that it is time to visit Monkey Forest, which is at the end of the street where we are now.
We arrive at one of the entrance doors and pay the 30000 rupees that the entrance of the two costs.
Upon entering we see the monkeys. We will not deny it, after seeing so many, the macaques no longer make us very funny, if not the other way around, we have a little respect, so the visit to the forest is not very pleasant.
It must be said that the site is spectacular, with incredible vegetation and incredible corners are seen, but it is to be attentive to the macaques at all times, it has subtracted emotion from the ride.
Corner of Monkey Forest
Temple in Monkey Forest
It's 6 in the afternoon and we're exhausted, so we set off for somewhere to have a drink before dinner.
We go up the famous Monkey Forest street and we find images that leave us speechless.
Showcase mixes of modern stores, mixed with traditional houses ...
Monkey Forest Road detail
We pass in front of the soccer field and see a lot of children playing.
It begins to get dark and we accelerate the pace.
Soccer field in Ubud
When we reach the end of Monkey Forest Street, we turn left in search of somewhere we like and suddenly we find Casa Luna in front and as soon as we enter we decide that it is the right place to have a drink.
The place is extremely careful and with a very special atmosphere. We sit at one of the last tables, where we have views of the surrounding vegetation.
Luna House
There we had a natural pineapple juice and a mango juice. About 3 euros to change both.
Natural juices
Here the truth is that we are putting on the boots with the natural juices, we had never taken so many or so many varieties !!!
We rest for a while and seeing that it is not yet completely night and to make a little hole in the stomach before dinner, we go to the tourist office and go to ask for another map. Let's see if with this we are oriented a little better than with the guide.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Bali
- Guide to prepare a trip to Bali for free
- 50 things to see and do in Bali
- 10 essential places to visit in Bali
- Rent villa in Bali with Airbnb
- The 15 essential temples of Bali
- 10 essential places to visit in Indonesia
- The best tips for traveling to Bali
- The 5 best rice paddies in Bali
- The 5 best beaches in Bali
- The 5 best waterfalls in Bali
- The best things to do in Ubud
- The best places to eat in Ubud
- The best coffee shops in Ubud
- Where to stay in Ubud
- 10 essential places to visit in Indonesia
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Indonesia
Now we are walking the streets of Ubud Without almost any sense, we are looking at shop windows, hoping to find that special, which we always bring from our trips and is something that always accompanies us in our daily lives.
And after a while lost in our things, we looked at the clock and ...:
It's 8 in the afternoon. Ringggg ... play dinner !!!
We decided that today we will have dinner at Café Wayan. They have recommended it to us, so these days in Ubud, we will heed the recommendations.
Already after dinner, we can say out loud:
Mmmm ... we had a wonderful dinner !! Tonight we have chosen for dinner a table without chairs, to be sitting on the floor.
Roger chooses a pasta dish and I a Mie Goreng and for dessert a Banana Split that does not fit on the table !!
The atmosphere of the restaurant is also very special.
Having dinner at Café Wayan
At the moment the few restaurants we have seen are spectacular. They have a very special atmosphere and the service is very good.
Here we also pay an average of 20 euros for the full dinner.
It's more than 9 at night and we have been resting for many hours, apart from tomorrow is our first day of “visits”, Wayan, a guide who speaks Spanish and who has recommended us, comes to find us, we have stayed with him at 8 in the morning!!!
We are not to take a guide, but here, we have considered that it is a good idea and we will do it a couple of days out of the 4 that we have planned “shooting”.
After our experience touring the island in this case with Tomi and in 2017 with him, we have to say that we have found in Wayan, in addition to a great professional, a great person and a great friend.
If you want to contact him you can do it directly through his email [email protected] or through WhatsApp in the number +62 813-3778-9865
From the restaurant they call our hotel to come find us (this service is also free and they do it in most restaurants in Ubud). In less than 15 minutes they are at the door and it takes about 10 minutes to arrive.
Now we will finally meet the Bebek Tepi Sawah Restaurant & Villas !!
They tell us that our backpacks are already in the room and accompany us to show us.
The truth is that we found it very well and we see that we have put the mosquito net and mosquitoes on the terrace.
Our bed in the next 6 days
Now we only have one shower left and to bed to rest !! We can't even see the views from our balcony. It is completely night!
Tomorrow begins our first day "knowing" Bali… See you tomorrow!!!
Day 12BALI - UBUD: TEGALLALANG, GUNUNG KAWI, TIRTA EMPUL, KINTAMANI - LAKE BATUR, PURA PUNCAK PENULISAN, PURA BESAKIH (MOTHER TEMPLE), PURA KEHEN, PENGLIPURAN ...
