Round 2, Commence!
Ah, Bali. Land of sunburn, scooters, and misleading Instagram influencers… Our return was inevitable! Mainly because Denpasar is a handy travel hub for bouncing around the rest of Indonesia, and honestly, we’d barely scratched the surface the first time. Plus, we needed somewhere to recover from our kinda traumatising Raja Ampat experience before heading to Lombok.
So, with our second attempt, we decided to explore two new spots: Ubud, where the dress code is tight yoga shorts, and Amed, a beach town we knew almost nothing about (apart from the enthusiastic recommendation of a Frenchman in Gorontalo).
Ubud: Where Everyone Tells You to Go
Getting There: More Expensive Than Expected
People spoke of Ubud so casually that we assumed it’d be a quick taxi ride from the airport, just like Seminyak. But no, it wasn’t. Ubud is nearly two hours away by car – blame the Bali traffic. So, the taxi ride cost a small fortune; consider yourself warned.
Our digs: A (really) Hidden Paradise
We stayed at Abian Ubud View, a great spot once you actually locate it. Our driver spent 10 minutes driving in circles down broken lanes before finally asking a local for directions. But once we got there, we were greeted with lush greenery, bamboo galore, a lovely restaurant, and even a surprisingly affordable massage service! Although, the advertised “rice paddy view” was pretty underwhelming… However, the food was fantastic, the massages only £10–15 per hour, and we got a great ‘Genius’ discount on booking.com!
Day 1: Sweaty Walks and a Massage
Determined to avoid more taxis after the previous day’s difficulties, we walked 30-minutes into the centre of Ubud; a sweltering, but very scenic trek. The town enticed us immediately with its old ruined temples and streets decorated for a religious festival. It had amazing bamboo pole-things, colourful bunting and an unexpected holy buffalo hide on display!
The main event for the day was the ‘Campuhan Ridge Walk’, a straightforward trail just outside the centre of town. It was a lovely walk, but while we’d hoped for sweeping rice paddy vistas, it mostly delivered shrubs, over grown farmland and hotel rooftops. Still, a nice break from the crowds… Of which there are many!
An Unfortunate Incident
We’ve all got that one pair of boxers or knickers on their last legs, haven’t we? The ones that should have been retired ages ago but somehow still make it back into the underwear drawer. Well… I definitely do! When packing for this trip, my logic was simple: take the worn-out boxers, they’re bound to get wrecked anyway. Sensible, right?
Among my collection tired undies, there’s a few with buttoned easy-access slots at the front. But, over time, ‘easy access’ has basically morphed into ‘permanent access’ because the buttonholes have stretched beyond the diameter of the buttons they retain… No matter how many times I fasten them, they undo themselves, which is rather uncomfortable when you’re hiking, I can tell you.
Now, I don’t keep track of my boxer selection on a day-to-day basis. So, when we decided to round off our day with a relaxing massage, I didn’t give my undercarriage a second thought. The time came, and the little old masseuse instructed me to remove my trousers and shirt. Sadly, though, those meddlesome buttons were up to their usual games and allowed a certain tally-whacker to emerge for all to see.
Mild embarrassment ensued. But thankfully, the masseuse remained professional, quietly slipping behind the mosquito net while I hastily wrangled things back into order and collapsed face down on the bed – no eye contact required. Phew!
Those boxers are in the bin now.
Day 2: Instagram Hell and Some Sacred Monkeys
As usual, we rented a moped from our hotel (Abian), and headed to our first stop, the ‘Tegalalang Rice Terraces’. Little did we know that they are the absolute epicentre of the infamous “Bali Swings“… They even have racks of flowy-dresses ready for those who dream of looking like a Disney princess mid-swing. Picture this: fully grown women rummaging through a rail of slightly tattered, technicolour satin ballgowns with absurdly long trains, then awkwardly squeezing into them behind a wobbly divider, before posing for umpteen pictures on their chosen swing… The whole thing felt oddly reminiscent of one of those National Trust sites with the room for kids to play dress-up in medieval garb!
But, I digress.
To properly appreciate the rice terraces, you need to escape the toe-curling Instagram hub at the entrance! Follow the signs for “trekking,” and keep going beyond the point where most people give up when they realise there are no more swings. Push on, and you’ll find yourself almost alone in green, serene rice paddies, far away from the chaos!
Just remember to bring water and a hat (especially if follicly challenged) – it’s blazing when the sun’s out, and there’s no shortage of steps to climb in between terraces!
Next, we swung by the Sacred Monkey Forest. It was fine, but once you’ve seen one monkey snatch a tourist’s snack, you’ve seen them all. It’s a convenient stop with some interesting tidbits and some great trees!
Grand Theft Auto: Ubud Edition
Google Maps works okay in Indonesia, it’s not perfect, but frankly, it’s not much better in the Cotswolds! So, when we saw ’13-minutes’ to our hotel, we didn’t think to check the route…
Of course, it took us straight through the heart of town, where a massive ceremony was happening. Not the only ones to make this blunder, we were soon stuck in a sea of mopeds, completely boxed in, the air thick with petrol fumes and engine noise. Turns out, the ceremony had begun a procession, and we were now all crawling along at the pace of a marching Buddhist (which is painfully slow, if you didn’t know).
Suddenly, one impatient rider had enough and darted into a side alley… That was all it took -literally everyone followed in a chaotic roar of 100cc power! Obviously, I couldn’t resist joining the pandemonium – I told Mary-Ann to hold on tight and steered us right into the madness!
Zipping through the alleys, dodging walls, obstacles, and loads of other mopeds, felt being a part of the getaway from a bank heist. It was utter insanity, and absolutely brilliant!
Day 3: Sunrise on Mt. Batur (and a Plan Gone Wrong)
We couldn’t leave Ubud without trekking up Mt. Batur for sunrise, and we’d even hatched a genius plan to use the trek as a shuttle to get to Amed afterward. I’d read about someone doing it online somewhere, so when our tour guide seemed to agree to it, we assumed it was a normal thing to do. Unfortunately, this must have been a miscommunication and after the hike, they tried to send us back to Ubud! After much confusing negotiation, we cobbled together a compromised solution that involved an extra hour in a taxi and, of course, extra cash. My advise – don’t attempt this ‘genius’ plan yourself and accept that Amed is just a long drive away… Save money some other way, or just use public transport!
The hike itself was a mixed bag. The views were incredible, but the crowds turned the trail into an extremely steep, uphill, human traffic jam. Some participants looked like they’d never seen a hill before, let alone climbed one!
Amed: We’d Never Heard of it Either!
Always do your research!
We arrived in Amed – a sleepy coastal town that wasn’t even on our radar until the Frenchman said we should go. We’d also read that you could get a boat from there to Lombok (our next destination), but as we later found out, we could not… Doh!
Our Digs: This One Even had a Pool!
Interestingly, Ocean Prana, our hotel, doubled as a free-diving school. While I’m no pro, I do love me a bit of free-diving, so the idea intrigued me even if I didn’t fork out for an actual course! The place itself was fantastic though, with a great pool, tasty food, and well located. Plus our must-have scooter rentals, made exploring easy.
Day 1: Groggy Post-Mountain Activities
We arrived in Amed just before lunch, thoroughly wiped after our early-morning mountain trek. After grabbing lunch at the hotel and flicking through some free-diving leaflets, we wandered across the road for a quick snorkel – a perk of staying so close to the fun wet stuff.
The much-hyped ‘Underwater Temple’ was our target! But truthfully, calling it a ‘temple” is a bit generous. It’s more like a large garden ornament plopped on the seabed. But don’t let that deter you! The best bit about it is its relative peace and quiet. Unlike other parts of Bali, you share the waters with tens of other snorkelers, not hundreds. The coral is surprisingly decent, teeming with fish, and the best part? It’s free.
Pro tip: Skip the paid tours – you can easily access the underwater temple and other snorkel spots on your own!
Day 2: Temples and Terrifying Roads
Renting a scooter is always a good call, and we made the most of ours on day two, heading inland to the ‘Gateway to Heaven’ (Lempuyang Temple) with a coffee stop at a rice terrace along the way. The ride was smooth and scenic, though winding roads and black-smoke-belching diesel trucks did their best to asphyxiate us. Without the trucks and the coffee detour, it would have been a 45-minute ride, it actually took us nearer 2 hours.
Entry to the temple costs £5, plus a mandatory £2.50 shuttle bus – a blessing in disguise, since the climb would be very steep. Even the final stretch to the entrance had me sweating buckets. Inside, things got a bit strange… Everyone knows what it is like to be waiting at a blood test clinic with a little numbered paper ticket, right? Well, it’s the same system, but instead of a phlebotomist calling your number, it’s a guy with a megaphone and a small handheld mirror. “What is the mirror for?”, I hear you ask! Well, pure Instagram trickery, that’s what! When positioned cleverly, it makes the ground look like water… But I assure you, there’s no glassy infinite pool there, just concrete and stone. It didn’t matter anyhow, because after an hour we gave up waiting. They’d called out 177 minutes after we’d arrived and were on 186 when we gave up… Our number was 196!
But who needs a temple picture anyway? The drive back stole the show…
The Scenic Route
We went for a more ‘scenic’ route to dodge the diesel trucks, but we soon we found ourselves on an absurdly steep mountain pass. Our moped struggled a lot, even grinding to a total standstill on one occasion, despite us rocking back and forth to keep it moving. As we all know, what goes up, must come down… Then came the descent…
It’s pretty normal for a Bali-moped to have one dodgy brake, and ours was no different. But, when the functioning one stopped working too, things got a bit tense… What followed was a painstaking crawl downhill, using my feet and the engine to control our speed, stopping at every opportunity to cool what was left of the brakes and my flip-flops… It took forever to reach sea level.
Once back down, perhaps unwisely, we pressed on to the Japanese shipwreck, a WW2 relic just offshore. About 10m deep and covered in coral, it’s free to snorkel and well worth it – the fish life is fantastic.
Day 3: Another Shipwreck
After swapping our moped for one that did stopping as well as going, we headed the other way along the coast to check out another WW2 shipwreck – this one American and much larger. It’s not as ideal for snorkelling as the Japanese one though, due to choppier waters, stronger currents, and lower visibility. Still, if you do snorkel here, like I did, you’ll get the fun experience of swimming among scuba divers. There’s something surreal about weaving through walls of bubbles they leave behind.
Parking costs a pound or two, but don’t expect a proper beach. It’s mostly stones and a crowd of divers with their gear scattered everywhere. We only stayed for about an hour and a half, just enough time for some snorkelling and to rack up a butt-load of jellyfish stings.
Pro tip: if they’re pink or white, you’ll be alright. But if they’re blue… you’ll cry “boohoo…” Sorry, no catchy mnemonic here today... Just watch out for blue jellyfish!
The “Sunset View” That Wasn’t
After all that, we spent our remaining hours at the ‘Sunset Point’, a bar on the closest headland. It’s a cool spot, but it did annoy me a bit. First off, you have to pay an entry deposit of about £12.50, which you can use for food and drinks. If you don’t spend it all, you don’t get any change, which is fair enough (kind of). But, the vexing part is that no combination of items on the menu adds up to that exact amount, so you inevitably end up spending more. Sneaky, but clever! And then there’s the whole ‘Sunset Point’ thing. You’d think that meant you’d get a good view of the sun dipping below the horizon, right? Well, Mount Agung (Bali’s tallest volcano) has other ideas and blocks it entirely. The view is still tremendous though, particularly if you are partial to lazing in an infinite pool with a cocktail.
Final Thoughts: Will There be a Bali Round 3?
The next day, we packed our things and hopped onto the shuttle bus to Padang Bai, where we caught the slow ferry to Lombok. There’s a fast ferry option too, useful if you’re heading to the Gili Islands, but we opted for the slow one since it’s cheaper and we wanted to catch up on some admin (like blogs) during the ride!
Overall, Amed was our favourite spot in Bali. It has that laid-back feel that everyone loves, some great snorkelling, stunning mountains, and great bars. All with a fraction of the tourists from our other Bali stops! It may not have the dramatic coastline of Uluwatu or the cultural prettiness of Ubud, but it ticks off every other box we were looking for. The only slight downside is that it’s a bit of a trek from Denpasar!
Will we return to Bali? Not on this trip, that’s for sure, and honestly, I’m not certain about future ones either. While it has its charms, I can think of countless other places I’d prefer – ones that feel less… ‘Weathered’, let’s say. Bali, for all its worth, feels a bit too used and abused for my taste, and the highlights aren’t any easier to reach than those in entirely different destinations.
Stay bald folks.
Toodles,
Jack
