The ‘Eat, Pay, Love’ movie has a lot to answer for. Watching Julia Roberts cycle through rice paddies, you would expect a serene, peaceful town full of gentle natives and the above mentioned rice paddies everywhere.
Well the natives may be gentle, but they mostly move around in cars and on scooters, which, together with religious events held on the most critical crossroads, provide the daily traffic jam. As for the rice paddies, one is visible if you walk all the way through Cafe Angsa. Now at my third visit, I managed to locate another one. Rumour has it there may be more if you rent a car and drive through the countryside.
Anyhow as far as I can see, riding a bicycle in Ubud traffic is a perfect way to meet your maker in person…
As for serene and quiet, call me an uncultured moron. I classify gamelan music as noise. Balinese dance is beautiful when taken in five minute doses, but it comes with gamelan. So I never made it to one of the countless performances…
Don’t get me wrong. I do like Ubud quite a lot. It’s just different from any expectations I had before. It has some beautiful spots, it can be peaceful away from traffic and gamelan, and the food is great (but very very healthy in some places).
Date: Oct 12th to 17th and Nov 16th to 21st, 2016