Ubud

On November 12 we headed to Ubud, just north of Denpasar and into the mountains. It's only about 60kms away from Legian, but very, very different. We'd travelled through here often but never bother to stay more than a few hours.

In what way is it different? Ubud is more sophisticated and even the shopping reflects this. Gifts shops with quality stock compared to cheap shirts, imitation watches, penis-shaped bottle openers and 'Russell is gay' stickers. They do exist in Ubud but to a lesser extent.

So each place attracts a different crowd.

We had very nice accommodation at a hotel called Bumi Muwa. It's on Monkey Forest Road which is one of the main shopping drags so Heather was very happy. A number of the restaurants have views of rice fields at the rear.

Monkeys visited on two of the four mornings we stayed. They appear to be regarded as pests as staff came from everywhere to chase them away. They certainly ripped the garden apart.

Our main adventure at Ubud was white water rafting with Bali Adventure Rafting. We had a great time and enjoyed the views of the Ajung River valley. More than 600 steps down to the river and 400 steps up at the finish saw us with jelly legs for the following couple of days.