After spending 3 days in West Bali, we moved our base to Ubud for the next part of our tour. Ubud is the cultural centre for Bali with lots of art shops related to gold and silver work, wood carving, stone carving and batik as well as a number of museums.
We stayed at the Agung Raka Bungalows. The review for the resort can be viewed here. We had our lunch at the Indian Delights restaurant. Food was OK. Malai Kulfi was outstanding. :)
Day 4 of our tour started with the Bali Bird Walk. Lonely Planet has mentioned Bali Bird Walks as one of the top 10 experiences in Bali. Hence we decided to try it out. We just loved it!! We are no birders, mind you. But we thoroughly enjoyed it. Check out their website at http://www.balibirdwalk.com/.
Su, who manages these walks has lots of knowledge about the birds and is good at spotting them. Additional bonus is the information that she shares with you regarding the Balinese way of life, the crops, spiders, flowers, etc. If you love nature, you will love the walk as it takes you through lush green paddy fields of Ubud. Su carried with her some extra binoculars which helped as we had not come prepared for birding. It is a 3-4 hour. Tour cost is 37$ which included lunch at the end of the walk.
In the afternoon we started a short tour to see places around Ubud. We started with the Tegenungan Waterfall which is around 10 min from Ubud. Though the height of the fall is not much the waterflow is very high.
Next stop was Goa Gajah, which in Balinese means Elephant Cave. This 9th century cave has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage sites Tentative list. The entrance of the cave is very ornately carved. Inside one can see the statue of Ganesha and a Shivalinga. Do take a guide here as there are no information boards here. The guide told us that Agastya Rishi built a temple here in honour of river Ganga. There are 7 statues of goddesses from which water flows into a bathing pool. One can see some relics of old Buddhist temple as well.
Next in the itinerary were the famed rice rields of Ubud. The lush green rice terraces are a site to watch and a good place to stop and spend some time. They rank high on the list of experiences on TripAdvisor and Lonely Plant. Bali Pulani Agro Tourism Farm is near by. You can see various spices been planted here. They offer free coffee tasting session where you get to taste various coffee flavors including the Luwak Coffee which is their specialty.
The Luwak coffee is made from beans of coffee berries eaten and excreted by a furry animal called Asian Palm Civet. There is a Civet on premises whom you feed the berries and make your contribution towards preparation of this world famous coffee :)
Next stop was Goa Gajah, which in Balinese means Elephant Cave. This 9th century cave has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage sites Tentative list. The entrance of the cave is very ornately carved. Inside one can see the statue of Ganesha and a Shivalinga. Do take a guide here as there are no information boards here. The guide told us that Agastya Rishi built a temple here in honour of river Ganga. There are 7 statues of goddesses from which water flows into a bathing pool. One can see some relics of old Buddhist temple as well.
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Next in the itinerary were the famed rice rields of Ubud. The lush green rice terraces are a site to watch and a good place to stop and spend some time. They rank high on the list of experiences on TripAdvisor and Lonely Plant. Bali Pulani Agro Tourism Farm is near by. You can see various spices been planted here. They offer free coffee tasting session where you get to taste various coffee flavors including the Luwak Coffee which is their specialty.
The Luwak coffee is made from beans of coffee berries eaten and excreted by a furry animal called Asian Palm Civet. There is a Civet on premises whom you feed the berries and make your contribution towards preparation of this world famous coffee :)
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