Backpacking Bali(Ubud)

FLIGHT FROM CHENNAI - KULA LUMPUR - BALI:

I booked my flights from Chennai as the rates are much cheaper from Chennai. I took my flight from Chennai to Kula Lumpur. And a 2 hrs layover (which ideally went in running for the connecting flight as the Chennai flight got delayed by an hour).

ALL ABOUT THE FIRST DAY AT BALI:

Reached Bali around 7 pm. Luckily, i had a friend of mine who had recently travelled Bali and he knew a guy who runs a rental scooty at Bali(Denpasar) Airport. I had contacted him before leaving for bali and booked the scooty for 3 days. One piece of advice, scooty is the best option as the cost of traveling in bali reduces drastically, all because of the cost of petrol ( roughly about 40 INR/litre).

After reaching Bali airport, you need to get into a long queue for immigration, which took around an hour. Once I got out, the first thing was to get a sim. There are quite a few vendors and you can get it for 300 to 400 INR (based on the plan you choose). Then, got the IDR currency from the airport (you can withdraw using forex/ credit card). But one thing important to note here is INR currency conversion is not possible. So make sure either you have the right card or USD.

After getting the sim card and IDR currency, contacted the scooty rental guy and got the scooty. The time was already 10 pm and my hostel was around 42 km from airport in Ubud. So, first thing to-do was hop onto the scooty and make a move as i was already tired. I checked in at 11:45 and the hostel, hostel management was good(First hostel : In Da lodge)

Okay, so the hostel that i had booked was in the middle of Ubud market so all the place were easily accessible. While coming from airport I noticed that there were quite a few resto-bar. I went to one of them(resto-bar: C.P. lounge) which was around 500 m from my hostel. The place was lit AF. Seriously, it was already 1 am and it did not feel that i was that late. There was a dance floor, then some salsa was going on. And i finally had my dinner and a beer( the first best thing after traveling since morning )

Got up at 8 in the morning. After getting ready, went to have breakfast( a bowl of smoothie and lemon tea) in hostel. I started from my hostel to a place know as "Aling-Aling waterfall"

Now aling-aling waterfall is around 70 km from Ubud. Okay, so first thing that comes in mind why choose a place that is 70km away from the main city. Because, it is less crowded guys. Yes, not every tourist have this waterfall on their itinerary.

It took me around 1 and an half hour to reach the waterfall on the scooty. The roads are very good and traffic was not that bad.

I reached at the place, parked my scooty ( charges : 25k IDR). In order to visit the waterfall you will need to take a guide and it costs around 125k IDR.

The guide then takes you through a small trek ( roughly 800m). Then, the most thrilling part is about to start:

The first cliff jump that is around 8ft drop. You will get a locker to put all your necessary stuff in that and if you are not confident then better have a life-jacket. I am good at swimming, but in order to be safe i opted for life jacket. Now, you can gather all the courage to take a leap of faith (In the second attempt i went in without life jacket)

The ambience was good and grabbed food and had some drinks here. The cost of food and drinks is quite affordable (somewhere around 300 to 400 INR). After, this I went to the same place which I went on the first day.

There were people doing salsa. I did learn salsa that night. People were really friendly. After 12:30 am I went to the dance floor and went on drinking and dancing till 4 in morning.

On third day, I had booked another hostel (Ubud Tropical) which was 600 INR per night. The hostel was really good and it had a really good infinity pool surrounded with dense forest.

GATES OF HEAVEN:

There is a parking for two and four wheeler right outside the temple. At the temple I had to pay some donation to the temple (paid 10k IDR) and paid 15K IDR for the saron (which is necessary for getting into any temple in Bali). I reached the temple and the temple authorities were handing out a token. The token is the queue number for taking the photograph. In order to get the photograph, the wait time is around 1 and half hour. It is one of the most familiar temple for photographic scene.

After doing two continuous days road trips, I had planned the fourth day to be a bit laid back. I covered rice terrace in Ubud and went for some city shopping

TEGALLALANG RICE TERRACE:

The Ubud rice terrace is mainly famous for the giant swings. I took one of the swings and it was good (but no major adrenaline rush after the cliff jump). After completing the swing, I took a stroll around the rice terrace clicking some pictures and taking videos.