Surprisingly, on day two of the trip we were able to pull ourselves away from our beautiful villa and go into town to explore.

There is one temple that I consistently saw everyone recommend to visit; the Lotus Temple.  Just looking at how beautiful it was though pictures, I knew we had to add it to our list of thing as to see while in Ubud.  The Lotus Temple is right in of the main road that goes through Ubud, but it’s hidden, and funny enough, it’s tucked behind the Starbucks!!  We would have almost missed it if we hadn’t stopped by Starbucks for a quick drink.
This was my first visit to a temple anywhere in Indonesia, and as soon as I walked in to see the beautiful lotus pond flanking each side of a walkway that led to gorgeous gold colored temple doors….well my jaw dropped.  I was also really surprised to see that  there weren’t actually many tourists visiting the temple when we arrived.  I suppose we were lucky, and I am glad to have enjoyed the temple and its gardens with virtually no people aroumd.  I was also lucky enough to be able to get a shot of just myself!

The temple was calming, beautiful, and lush. The grounds of the temple are not vast, and so it didnt take us much time to explore it.

Tip: You should allow yourself around 30 to 45 minutes to really visit and explore the Lotus Temple.

The next stop on the list was to go to the Ubud Monkey Forest. I’m going to forewarn everyone now, but this was probably the most terrifying half-hour experience my entire life. Who knew monkeys running around would be such a scary thing!!!!  Oh but it was, and to be in their environment really puts everything into perspective when you’re there. We could have been there longer for more than 30 minutes but I was reall was terrified. I just couldn’t keep calm, and the fact that we saw a monkey fight break out, a monkey snarl at a tourist, a monkey steal someones wallet, and a monkey bite a guy for not giving up his bannana did not put me at ease at all.  I will say though, The monkeys are used to tourists, but that does not guarantee that they’re going to be tame in the way they treat you. They can be quite cheeky, and will try to take anything from you so they can exchange it for a bannana.  Definitely an experience to remember and I reccomend you go, but just beware and on alert!

Tip: Seriously listen to the signs you see before you enter: Do not have anything loose in your pockets, sunglasses, cellphones, anything! Monkeys will grab it!!

After leaving the monkey Forest, terrified and hungry, we decided to stop by one of the warungs we saw along the way. The food was really delicious and fresh. We ended up ordering the traditional Nasi Goreng and some beef skewers as well.  We also had an amazingly fresh juice smoothie, and this seemed to be a precursor to every other smoothie we ended up having while on our trip.  Ubud seemed to have the most delicious and refreshing juices and smoothies I’ve ever had.

Tip: I would recommend just walking around the town and seeing what catches your eye. There are so many restaurants and so many delicious options in Ubud that you really can’t go wrong.

After a short walk from our lunch, we decided to visit another temple right off of the main road in Ubud. There are so many temples that’s it’s unbelievable. Ubud really is a place of art, culture, and religion.  There are temples on pretty much every corner or within a few minutes walk of each other. Each temple we saw though had its own kind of beauty and it’s own characteristics that set it apart from the others.

After almost a full day of walking around in the heat and the humidity we decided to take a breather and nice cold drink sounded too good to pass up. We booked tickets to see the only all-female traditional fire show in Bali, which wasnt starting for another hour or so, and with time to kill we decided to pop into a bar.  The drinks were decidedly refreshingand needed after a long day.  And like most restaurants in Ubud, we had a nice front row view of the streets and people passing by.

There are a few cultural and traditional dance shows in Ubud, but the reason I chose this one was because all the locals reccomended it.  The fact that it was also the only all female show sealed the deal for me.  The show told the story of the money king through traditional song and dance.  It was really mesmerizing when you hear the chants, see the dancing, and experience the traditional costumes in person.  And the fire show they displayed at the end just topped it all off.  I highly recommend this show because it has so many more exciting elements to it.

Tip: You can buy your tickets to almost any show that same day.  They have vendors for each show selling tickets around the main temples in town.  I do recommend to actually get to the show 20 minutes or so early though so that you can get a good seat.  

Well that wraps up day 2 in Ubud, so I’ll see you in the next post!