Culinary Excurion in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Delicious hand-made Balinese food!

When you first mention Bali, Indonesia, most people immediately think of beautiful beaches, lounging in the sun along the ocean by day and enjoying the club scene by night.  In fact, it is exactly because of this impression that Jenny and I have stayed away from Bali for so long- but boy, were we wrong!  Bali has so much more to offer these days than just beaches and clubs, and to share a little secret, we actually never really made it to the beach at all, and our brief passing experience didn't hold a candle to our time in Ubud.

It's an hour drive from the Airport to Ubud

The beginning of our journey was a bit shaky- we forgot to change money before leaving Taiwan, so when we arrived at the airport, we realized, much to our horror, that none of the money changers would exchange Taiwan Dollars.  After wasting quite a bit of time trying to find someone to change our money, we gave up and headed to the taxi stand, which is on the ground floor and to the left as you exit the main building.  Our only choice was to have a taxi take us to a Kuta money changer to exchange our cash, which meant spending more money on a taxi, but ultimately it was better than being stuck without cash since we weren't sure if Ubud would be able to change NTD.

Once in Ubud, we stayed at a very nice hotel called Jiwaklusa Luxury Villa Ubud.  Unfortunately, it was a little difficult for our taxi driver to find, but once we got there, we were met with a fresh lemon grass tea which was delicious and refreshing.  The small villas of the hotel were equally fantastic and done up to a very high level, but we discovered that looks could be deceiving.  

Although the aesthetic was beautiful, there were some pretty glaring issues with the design of the villa, namely the sliding doors to the villa which did not close or seal.  This meant that noise from the surrounding areas traveled freely into our room at night, along with the smoke that accompanied a local custom of burning trash every morning.  Making things worse was that the gap between the sliding door at wall was in fact, so large, that shrews were able to easily stroll in and out (and I mean literally stroll, no squeezing necessary- the gap was about an inch wide).

 After speaking to management about the issues, we were upgraded to an even more stunning villa further up the hill with a private pool.  This move took care of the noise and most of the smoke, but the design flaw in the sliding door was the same, which meant we continued to get visits from the neighborhood shrews.  For us, this was not a deal breaker- we have always believed that we are part of nature and because we displace others, we have to live with the consequences, so we weren't too worried, although they did help themselves to a welcome cookie we forgot to put away.

One great service the hotel provides is a cooking class.  Both Jenny and I are vegetarian, so we decided to opt for their cooking class over one of the many in Ubud so we could have more control over what we cook.  When compared to the cooking classes offered in town, the one at our hotel cost about the same and the results were amazing.  We started with a trip to the local morning market where we bought fresh produce for our meal plus some fresh fruit for ourselves, and ended up cooking 3 courses and then some- all vegetarian, all delicious, and unfortunately it was so bountiful, we couldn't even finish it!

In Ubud proper, there are tons of classes visitors can take, cooking, batik and other textile appreciation courses, sculpture and woodwork, jewelry, massage, music... you name it, if it relates to art or culture appreciation, chances are you'll be able to find a course in Ubud.  Knowing that now, I would definitely recommend people planning and booking their classes before they show up if they want to take a longer class (they run up to 3 weeks long and they're totally amazing!).  That said, I hope we get a chance to go back and actually take advantage of more of the classes they offer in Ubud, because I feel like cooking wasn't enough!  A word to the wise- stop by the visitor's center in the center of town to pick up a list by date of all of the festivals, concerts, and performances happening around Ubud!