Travel Diary Bali Part 2 - UBUD | Vanillacrunnch

Hello Travelers and Foodies

You might have already come across my Bali Travel Diary Part 1, where I talk about Seminyak and Nusa Dua. This is now Part 2 about Ubud, the magical place, where Julia Roberts found herself in the movie Eat Pray Love.

I actually have been to the place where Julia Roberts was in the movie but to be honest it is not that worth seeing. I was more impressed by the rice fields, the people living in Ubud and of course the food. That is what you can expect during the next few lines.

Rice Field Trekking, healthy food and the most beautiful sunset

From busy Seminyak, we made it to the other side of the spectrum, calm, green and easy going Ubud. we decided to stay in the Wapa di Ume hotel. We had to pass a rice field and beautiful bridge when walking to our room. The weather was amazing (we were very spoiled, considered that we were traveling during rain season!) Before we left for our rice field trekking tour, we had a filling dinner and I can really recommend to try a dish called the Tipat Cantok (the peanut butter sauce is heaven!) and the Nasi Sela (steamed rice and sweet potato) as a side dish.

Armed with our cameras we learned about Balinese rice culture, nature and rituals. I could tell you 1000 amazing things but I don’t want to bore you so I am just telling you something that really impressed me. I am speaking about the offerings in Bali. You can see them pretty much everywhere on the floor or on shrines. During our tour we learned how to fold and decorate Balinese offerings for the gods. Every part of the sharing has its specific meaning and it is crucial that the offering is colorful with many different flowers. The offerings, which you can see on the floor are meant to ban the demons and to protect the families living in the respective houses. The offerings on the shrines are for the gods.

After 3 hours of walking we were happy to have a “little snack” 😉

We spent the rest of the day in the town of Ubud, that was more touristic than I expected it. I loved to sneak into this little side alleys to discover little special shops. With the help of Google maps we also found the Earth Cafe, A place I felt like home. The restaurant is upstairs where you can escape the tourists and there is a little organic shop on the ground floor. ( we came back to that place several times!) I tasted my way through protein chocolate balls, carob brownies, and peanut butter chocolate truffles. Everything I tried was absolutely mind blowing and flavor intense so that I thought for one second to move to Bali and work there making chocolates all day long. When we arrived back at the hotel we were well received by this view.

The next day we changed hotel and moved to KupuKupu Barong. In Balinese language, this means “big butterfly”.

Enchanted by the sound of nature, I decided to kick off the day with some fruits in the private villa pool. Could have been worse 😉 Kupu Kupu Barong is located at the most beautiful place in Bali and the villas are literally located in the middle of the “jungle” surrounded by lush tropical greenery. This day we experienced our first rain and it was actually magical.

Due to the rain,we decided to stay at the hotel and have a 1 hour Spa-treatment at the hotel. So relaxing especially if you choose to go with the special muscle relaxation massage!

After the massage, I was craving a smoothie bowl and I absolutely wanted to check out this place called Sayuri healing food. Make sure you are hungry because you have to try the:

Waffles with coconut whipped cream and Icecream
Green spinach, spirulina, healing smoothie bowl
Vegan chocolate Shake

This is my last image of this blogpost, where we were standing in the middle of the rice field with a view to our villa. I will never forget this moment!