I ate a lot in Bali. I mean, it was hard not to. Breakfast was overflowing, and Ubud is full of restaurants and snack stalls waiting to be sampled. On our third day, I had the mee goreng for breakfast with a fried egg on top, because, you know, breakfast.
We decided to walk to Ubud’s downtown to burn off some extra calories, making our way down Jalan Bisma until we got to the Monkey Forest.
The Monkey Forest was only mildly terrifying, and after Nishan got his photos of Ubud’s monkeys gone wild, we stopped for lunch at Ibu Oka, the pig-centric restaurant that Anthony Bourdain infamously raved about. I got the spesial, which is a little bit of everything atop rice and greens, and you know what? Sorry Bourdain, but I’m not with you on this one. This little piggy was not my vibe. Too greasy and too porky. Somebody call the harambulance.
Aftewards we stumbled over to Ubud Palace which strangely enough is also Ubud’s central pickup and taxi queuing location. We headed back to our hotel after that, eager to enjoy teatime before dipping into the pool.
The next morning after a breakfast of banana pancakes, we figured we should take a day trip to the coast. Four days into our trip and we hadn’t even visited Bali’s famed beaches.
The hour-long drive led us to Seminyak, where we stopped at Warung Sobat for their grilled lobster. Warung Sobat is about a fifteen minute walk from the beach, and although it’s a casual spot, make sure to make reservations ahead of time so they can prepare the lobster accordingly. It comes with rice and a deliciously garlicy buttery sauce, and was totally worth our carbon monoxide fume-filled taxi ride to the coast.
Things went downhill once we got to Seminyak’s coast. I won’t even include photos. The beaches were lined with inebriated spring breakers and seemingly miserable families on holidays they didn’t want to be part of. (To be fair, I’d rather be in Ubud over Seminyak too.) Dudes, lay off the Bud Light and EDM.
This was our cue to head back to Ubud. Tea time and a dip in the pool was sounding real good right about then. An hour later and we were back at Komaneka. Ah, much better.
