The Magic of Bali Part II: Ubud
One of the best days I had while visiting Bali was my trip to Ubud. This is a different midland area of the island that’s known for a lot of really great attractions. We wanted to do our best to knock out most of the must see sites so we organized a private tour through our hotel, (The Elysian) which was awesome in helping us plan! We got up early to meet our driver and make the scenic drive into Ubud. I couldn’t wait to see all of the attractions I’d been swooning over leading up to the trip. Time to light up the gram!
Our first stop was for the famous Heavenly swings of Bali! Sitting up top a steep cliff overlooking a rainforest, Swing Heaven has views like none other. We of course posed for all the obligatory Instagram moments, but the best part for me was swinging out over the treetops which literally felt like flying; what a rush! We were off to a great start.
The next stop on our tour was the Monkey Forrest! Home of Sun Wukong the great Monkey King! Just kidding, but I really liked that story growing up so this is what I imagined while walking into the park with its giant monkey statues guarding the entrance. This park wasn’t your average zoo like atmosphere though. This was an actual monkey sanctuary, meaning the little ones roamed freely around the grounds which was nice to see. Just watch your valuables around these sneaky little ones because they won’t think twice about helping themselves to what’s yours! Lol all jokes aside, the monkeys were fascinating to watch. They’re so smart and entertaining. This was a really fun, nature filled, often comedic moment that I really enjoyed!
After fun with the monkeys it was time to visit another special animal that’s really popular in Bali and around the world. Mostly for its contribution to the making of the most expensive coffee there is! Yep you guessed it.. We went to a plantation that makes the world famous “Cat Poo-Chino”! They walked us through the process where a cute little cat like animal called a Luwak selects only the sweetest, ripest coffee cherry’s to eat which causes them to produce the golden poop that gives us these rare and special coffee beans! Yes, you heard right; the beans are collected from their poo, then cleaned and harvested to make this coffee which once processed and distributed can go for up to $80 a cup in cities like LA! That was pretty wild to see and of course taste. Can’t wait to break these beans out at my next tea party! “Who wants a taste of the best shit on earth?!” LOL
Fully un-pooped from our poo coffee pit stop, we headed to the next destination which was another super Instagram worthy moment. We hiked to a beautiful sun drenched waterfall where we took a dip and bonded with tourists from all over the world. Definitely another highlight of the tour, though I could have probably done without the DJ spinning at the touristy restaurant above the waterfall. Lol that slightly diluted the nature experience for me but I still had a great time!
Our last but definitely not least of stops was at a local temple where we unfortunately could not enter because it was a holy prayer day, but it was also very special to see the locals dressed up to bring offerings in for prayer. This was the perfect zen end to an awesome day of exploration.
Next time I head to Bali I’ll allot for a bit more time in Ubud and definitely also make it a point to see some of the other beautiful islands close by. However as far as excursions go, this one got top marks from me! I’ll definitely be back to do it all again. Thank you, Ubud!