A Whirlwind Stay At The Ubud Village Resort, Bali

A Whirlwind Stay At The Ubud Village Resort, Bali

Thursday, 1 March 2018

When we checked into our villa in Bali after a five hour flight from Hong Kong, we thought we'd arrived in paradise; the memory of arriving at that hotel is one that I'll remember for a long time. We walked up candle lit stairs to reception; no walls, just a roof which was pretty amazing considering the hotel is built in the middle of an Indonesian forest. Once we had established that we were not here on a honeymoon, just on holiday, Andrew got on with filling in the forms. I was still a little bit overwhelmed and just needed some time to take everything in; the smell of incense, the Balinese music playing in the background and the sun setting over the treetops. And then the excitement hit me, if this was only the reception, what on earth was our room going to look like?!

We weren’t actually staying in a room, we had booked a garden villa and neither of us knew what to expect, we've always stayed in hotels before. With dinner reservations to get to we quickly hopped on the back of a golf buggy and were driven through along the little forest paths, twisting and turning around corners through the forest until we arrived outside a wooden door, shut with a padlock.


We dropped off our bags and went straight back out so fast forward to the next morning, we woke up in our four poster bed to the sounds of the forest and muted sunlight behind the curtains. I was so excited to finally get a proper look at the place, I jumped straight out of bed and pulled back the curtains to reveal the sun shining down into our little garden...

and reflecting off of the pool; Our own private pool, all to ourselves. Complete with two sun loungers, a day bed and a table and chairs.

 We were only in Ubud for one full day and we had planned a tour of the town and its temples but after a glimpse of what we had, we agreed to keep our tour as short as possible to give us time to enjoy the villa too. So off we wandered along the forest path in search of breakfast which is served in the hotels restaurant; just through the trees.

Eight thirty and it was already boiling hot so we decided to sit upstairs which had a lovely view over the resort and the women working in the rice paddies next door.  There are only 30 villas at the resort so we hardly saw anyone around apart from then where we were one of three couples at breakfast.

I started my day with a plate of fresh fruit, followed by an open breakfast burrito; my first taste of avocado in weeks and it was delicious!

After breakfast we met our guide ready for a day of adventure in Ubud but more on that in another post.

We were very excited to arrive back at our villa by 2pm giving us loads of time to enjoy it! Being able to spend the afternoon by our private pool was such a luxury; I could mess around with the selfie stick as much as I liked, go back inside if we wanted something and there was even a plug by the daybed so I could charge my phone. Apart from the normal things, for someone with OCD, I loved not having to check where all my stuff was constantly - it didn’t matter where I left my phone or my raybans because Andrew was the only person there and I didn’t have to worry about him stealing them. It meant that I could close my eyes, and fully relax.

After a splash around, and realising that it was our last evening, we decided to have a little explore around the resort; but first we needed to wash off and that meant time for a dip in our huge stone bath in garden at the back of the villa.

By about 5:30 we were ready for a snack and stopped off at little poolside bar for a spot of afternoon tea. We drank red rice tea and ate spring rolls with fried banana fritters for sweets which was just enough to keep us going until dinner. We found the communal pool lined with palm trees and lots of hidden huts dotted around the resort and made our way back to the room to get ready for dinner just as the sun was setting. 

After dinner it was time to go back to our villa for one last time, walking through the forest path to our packlocked gate. The resort had such a relaxed vibe, we fell asleep in the four poster bed to the sound of the birds chirping outside before our next adventure in the morning.. 

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How To See Ubud In A Day

How To See Ubud In A Day

Monday, 17 October 2016

I’m really not sure why but we only booked one full day in Ubud but I fell in love with the place as soon as we arrived so I needed to be sure to pack as much into our one day there as possible. With a little bit of research and some good planning we managed it just fine.

Getting Around: Hire A Taxi Driver

I highly recommend finding a taxi driver that you like and booking in a day tour with them. We were lucky to have an evening to find someone but there are taxi drivers sitting on the streets so you should be able to find someone and go straight from there. Our driver was friendly, knowledgeable and spoke good English so we agreed a price (400,000, about £25) and arranged for him to pick us up from our hotel the next morning. Top Tip: Don't be scared to barter with them; we very easily got to that price from the 700,000 he asked for originally.

He drove us wherever we wanted and each time, he parked up and came along with us as a tour guide would. We were able to spend as much time in each place as we wanted and we also learnt a lot from him, chatting about Balinese culture, his knowledge of the temples and religious beliefs and hearing about his family and their life here. He also turned out to be a pretty good photographer!

Visit the Sacred Monkey Forest

The forest is home to hundreds of Balinese long tail monkeys and they are able to run around freely and do exactly what they want; that's what makes it such an amazing experience. It's a pound or two entrance fee and whilst they get fed by the staff, if you are brave, you can buy your own bananas to feed the monkeys although beware and try to avoid eye contact with them. Also keep an eye on things like glasses and cameras, as they often grab anything they can get their hands on. Our driver told us there are different monkey 'gangs' and they can be very territorial with each other so we saw a lot of fighting but we also saw lots of playing, sharing food and looking after one another too.

Buy a Sarong at The Art Market

I'm not sure why it's called the art market because we didn't see any art. The market is five minutes from the monkey forest and whilst it's small, it's buzzing with people and full of vibrant colours. We stopped off to buy a sarong as many temples in Bali require you to wear one but stayed to look around after; I love a good market. It's not essential to buy your own sarong as most temples provide them but for just under £5 for two (and those were the expensive, quality ones), they made for a great souvenir as well as being useful! Top Tip: Although its not worth a trip of its own, if you visit the market, you may as well pop into the Ubud Royal Palace as it is located just across the road.

Have Lunch at Cafe Wayan

We stopped off at Café Wayan for lunch as it looked pretty from the outside and had a good, varied menu of both Indonesian and a good selection of western food. I decided on nasi goring and each component was delicious, I especially loved the sweetcorn fritter; just the right amount for lunch after an active morning. There were many parts to this place, it made me want to get up and explore. All of it is very open with no walls again, just a roof over the top. For two mains, a milkshake, a beer and a bottle of water we paid around £15

Purification at Tirta Empul

This one is a little further out and about half an hour in a car from the monkey forest but it was definitely worth it as this temple was our favourite stop of the day. Tirta Empul means ‘holy spring water’ and people flock here for its purification baths as they believe that the holy water is able to cleanse the mind as well as the body. This is where the sarongs got their first use as you are forbidden to enter without one. The main attraction inside is the large pool with 13 spouts of water flowing into it. People queue to get a chance to pray under the springs and wash away their problems. It's mainly local people who seek purification at the springs although tourists sometimes get involved too. Obviously the place has a certain vibe to it and although we didnt get in the pools, we both still left feeling very spiritual. Top Tip: Think about bringing spare clothing if you want to get wet.

Have a Romantic Dinner at Mozaic

When I researched Ubud, this restaurant came up over and over again. Mozaic is Ubud's awnser to fine dining and a pretty amazing foodie experience. There are four menus to choose from: a six course, an eight course, a surprise or vegetarian. We opted for the 8 course grand menu which cost 1,000,000 IDR (about £60 each) and also included canapés, amuse boushe and petition fours to finish. Think a gastronomic feast outside with tea lights lining the path to your table, lights hanging down from the trees and looking up to the treetops and starry sky above. Top Tip - Book in advance and book it early, we were there for over three hours.

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