DAY THREE
We started our adventure to Ubud with a typical Balinese trek, full of curvy roads,
hundreds of scooters, and beautiful temples. Our first stop was at the Taman Ayun temple, a stunning site built in 1634 to serve as the Royal family temple of the Mengwi dynasty.
Following this visit, we continued our trek to the beautiful rice terraces of Jatiluwih where we learned about the incredible irrigation systems that allow the locals to harvest rice. Their relatively primitive methods (compared to how I would imagine American farmers grow and harvest rice) created a beautiful set of cascading landscapes and elegant hillsides.
After spending ~1 hour exploring the rice fields (pausing for Alex to take photos of the local cows…), we continued our drive to enjoy a private lunch at Bamboo Forest Restaurant located in the middle of a tranquil rainforest, totally isolated from the noise and chaos of the villages. The ambiance was truly spectacular and the food did not disappoint, however the most memorable moment of our time in the bamboo forest occurred as Alex and I stood up for seconds. Approaching the buffet line, Alex and I noticed all of local chefs and waitresses rushing off the bamboo platform on which the restaurant sat, shouting some word we did not recognize in Balinese. Moments later, we felt the ground (or bamboo frame on the side of a mountain) begin to shake as our tour guide shouted “Earthquake!” Rushing off the bamboo platform, we waited for the shaking to end, which took ~5 seconds, about the amount of time it took from us to get off the last place in the world you want to be when an earthquake happens (bamboo structure constructed on the side of a mountain) and onto solid ground. Shaken, not stirred, we resumed our lunch and eventually made our way to our hotel during our stay in Ubud: Komenka Bisma.
Upon walking into the hotel lobby, you could immediately tell how Ubud differs from Samaya. Overlooking a gorgeous, lush ravine with a babbling river and sounds of jungle life, Komaneka truly was serene. We got to our hotel room and had a bottle of champagne waiting for us and figured this was a room service kind of night, especially with a beautiful outdoor dining area overlooking the jungle. Well, the food arrived shortly thereafter, and Matthew noticed something moving in
the corner of the covering. Alex only noticed Matthew looking distracted and asked “What’s up?”. Matthew, trying not to frighten his new bride played it off as if nothing was the matter. Five seconds later, a local Balinese bat decided that Alex’s face was in his flight path, and Matthew quickly realized this was karma for lying to his wife. Freaked out by a disgusting animal, we finished our room service from the comfort of our air-conditioned villa. End of day one in Ubud.
DAY FOUR
Day two in Ubud was filled with culture, culinary skills, and monkeys. The morning started with a tour of the local village, where the Balinese people gather, often traveling from villages far away to sell their produce and crafts. It does not take long in the market to recognize the sharp disparity between the haves and have-nots in Bali. Flies, dogs, and chickens litter the market where locals fight to live off a few dollars a day, and locals buy foods that I am sure contribute to the infamous “Bali Belly” (more on this later, unfortunately).
After touring the market, we were transported to a local woman’s home,
which she has converted into a commercial/training kitchen to teach tourists about the culinary crafts of Bali. During this time, we met up with ~20 other tourists, many from the Netherlands and France, to cook, in true Balinese style, sate lilit (chicken skewers), gado- gado (a Balinese medley), and other items custom to the kitchens of Bali. We started the meals from scratch, hand mashing peanuts in an effort to make peanut sauce (or “saw-ooce” as our chef pronounced it) for the various entrees and sides. All in all, the food was a solid 6 but the experience was a 9.
We left our culinary class and headed to the Sacred Monkey Forest, where Matthew made some lifelong friends. Walking through paved trails in a beautiful forest, hundreds of fearless monkeys were scattered throughout the forest, waiting for tourists to feed them and snap a selfie. Although there are plenty of signs throughout the forest informing tourists to not feed the animals, this did not stop several rebels to pull out a bag of chips to lure an innocent monkey. Spoiler alert: it works and there was constant screaming from tourists as monkeys crawled on their back in search for food.
We ended the day with a nice walk back from the Monkey Forest to our hotel, stopping for popsicles (of course) and a quick pizza dinner at a local spot (since we were over eating chicken and chicken and more chicken). However, this decision could have proven to be fatal, which takes me to the end of day 2 in Ubud.
DAY FIVE
Day 3 in Ubud kicked off crazy early. 2:30am kind of early. We woke up to the heavy pitter-patter of a rainstorm in the jungle that would have been an incredibly way to wake up, if we weren’t scheduled to do a sunrise hike of Mount Batur that morning. In addition to the rain, Alex had started to come down with some type of sickness that gave her a fever and other things that start d and rhymes with miarrhea… So, needless to say our motivation was incredibly low and we were tempted to throw in the towel. In fact, I thought we had until we mutually decided that we’d meet with our tour guide, but if it was raining at the base of Mount Batur (~45 mins away) we were pulling the plug. We got to the hotel lobby, met with Rupa, and reluctantly committed to traveling to the volcano.
Upon arrival, we were met by a separate tour guide and provided with two flashlights in order to trek for ~2 hours in absolute darkness. The darkness was admittedly the best-case scenario as I had a wife who was feeling about 5% and, had she seen the steepness of the volcano, would have probably thrown in the towel then and there. But we trekked on, pointing the flashlights at our feet and being passed by tourists who hired locals on dirt bikes to take them up the steep cliff.
After roughly two hours, and a few light headed conversations with my sick bride, we reached the top where a few men were waiting for us with breakfast, coffee, and two chairs set up to view the sunrise that would occur in ~40 minutes. Alex, who was on the verge of passing out, could not stomach anything and refused the warm croissants and hot chocolate. Matthew, who was just tired from a steep two-hour hike, did not refuse anything and proceeded to indulge himself in all the carbs. We waited as the silhouette of a volcano began to be made apparent. Next the outline of a nearby lake in the foreground became more and more clear as light began to peak its head out on the horizon. Words cannot express the majestic nature of the sunrise, but it truly made any doubts I had about waking up at 2:30am, climbing up a steep cliff for 2 hours, and risking the longevity of my marriage with a deadly sick wife totally worth it.
We descended down the same path we traversed only hours prior, this time actually able to take in the gorgeous scenery and views. At the bottom of the mountain, we were met by Rupa who whisked us away to a nearby natural hotspot park where Alex and I were able to soak and soothe tired muscles from the recent hike.
Before we made our way back to hotel, we had one more stop - to try the infamous Kopi Luwak coffee, otherwise known as a Catpoopchino, or just plain Cat poop coffee. The Luwak is an animal that eats the coffee beans, poops them and then they process the poop as normal coffee. We did try this coffee and were not fans. However, at the same farm we were able to try Lemongrass Tea, Rosella Tea, Ginger and Tumeric tea that were all divine. We came back with bags of tea and couldn't recommend this tea experience more. Also, if you care to ask Alex what happened here please do - her face may turn purple as her stomach was at the height of explosion.
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We then made our way back to the hotel, where we spent the remainder of the afternoon napping, and trying to get Alex over this terrible illness that she had come down with. Bedtime was about 6pm for Alex who made enough visits to the bathroom to cause significant concern. But she’s a champ as we all now, climbing a volcano with a disease that would have debilitated the average human being, and so we fought on and prayed that this virus was just a 24-hour deal that would be gone in the morning. The end of day 3 in Ubud.
DAY SIX
Day 4 began with prayers being answered, as Alex’s stomach and fever issues had seemingly been resolved, or at least lessened. We took off around 9:30am to begin our white water rafting adventure. We were joined by two ~college aged kids from Korea who took the back of the raft, leaving Alex and I to take in the scenery (and waves) from the front. The rapids were perfect for what we were trying to accomplish, engaging and challenging but never threatening our lives or to throw us into the water. The scenery, lush hillsides and majestic waterfalls, was truly he highlight of the activity and we continued to be stunned by the natural beauty of this country.
The rapids ended and we made our way to lunch at “The Bridges Restaurant” closer to our hotel. The restaurant felt like it had been taken directly from a James Bond movie: a bunch of 40 – 70 year old white men and women sipping on scotch, watching a Dutch woman in a leopard print outfit sing classy jazz tunes in a restaurant that overlooked the local river. All that being said, it made for an incredibly romantic venue as we were wined and dined over lunch.
We left “Bridges” and headed to a nearby chocolate farm. En route to the farm, Matthew began to feel some rumblings in the stomach, which he just assumed was some disagreements with the meal he had just eaten. By the time we had arrived at the farm, the civil disagreements had turned into a full on
war in his stomach, but I powered through as we walked past locals riding elephants and monkeys eating the cocoa beans from the local vegetation. We began our chocolate tour by making our own snack, choosing various ingredients to be added to our milk chocolate to be enjoyed at the end of the tour. We then moved on to view the actual cocoa plants, and my stomach decided it had other plans. I had to dismiss myself from the tour and let Alex resume alone. I returned after a partially successful outing to find Alex a the part of the tour where you are able to sample the different dark, light, and white chocolates. Upon entering the building, I took a big whiff of dark chocolate powder that sent my stomach into overdrive. I rushed back to the restroom I had just departed and within 30 seconds had vomited 7 times, with mediocre accuracy. I don’t need to spend too much time detailing the next thirty minutes of our honeymoon, but just trust me when I say it felt like I was funneling an erupting volcano through a coffee stirrer, and it was not something that I would wish upon my worst enemy.
To no one’s surprise, I requested that we skip the culinary crawl we had scheduled for the evening, and instead I spent the night in the fetal position with Alex being a true all-star. Thus ends day 4 in Ubud.
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Curious what we were encountering? It is called Bali Belly and a quick google search will show you it is something the locals encounter once every month due to lack of sanitation of their food.
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DAY SEVEN
Day 5 began with Matthew feeling about 5%, but trying to power through because this was his honeymoon and, hey, Alex got over her sickness so Matthew should be able to do it in half the time. Well, Alex is stronger than me and I felt absolutely terrible. We skipped our morning “blessing” from the village priest, and instead went straight to our 90-minute
couples massage along the Ayung River. The sound of rushing water, coupled with the beautiful canopy and setting made this 90 minutes absolutely heavenly. Following the massage, lunch was brought to us as we enjoyed an incredibly romantic along the water on a stone table built into the shore (#goodjobme). The calming river and relaxing lunch is exactly what the doctor order and Matthew’s stomach began to heal, as our time in Ubud sadly came to an end.