Apologies for taking so long to get the second half of my trip posted.

Days 5 – 7: Ubud

So we checked out of Menjangan and took the next leg of our trip to Ubud. It is the birthplace of Yoga, and while I don’t do Yoga, I thought that was interesting. We thought it was a major city, but it was more of an amalgam of districts that formed a large town. However, I thought it was pretty funny that Uber does exist there.
The drive from Menjangan to Ubud was easily the most beautiful. We went up and over mountains, and were legitimately above the clouds at one point. Here are some pictures from the drive in, where there are some lakes carved out between mountains and inactive volcanoes:

We also stopped along our drive to a coffee plantation, where they give you a tour and give you free tastes of all their different types of coffee and tea (including plenty I didn’t even know of, such as Ginger coffee). You can see the coffee fields in the background:

Here, they make the most expensive coffee in the world, known as Kopi Luwak. It’s a disgusting process, but the coffee itself is out of this world good. For those who don’t know, there are these berries that fall on the ground when they are ripe, and a wild cat known as a luwak eats the berries. The stomach acid of the luwak digests the berry, but not the seed that is in the middle. After digested, the luwak defecates the beans and people collect the shite, and begin a process of cleaning (thank God) the remaining beans and then roast and grind them. It is extremely hard to find outside of Indonesia (and Bali specifically), but if you can find it, one single cup of Kopi Luwak can run anywhere from $50 to $100. I got a bag for $50, which I’m slowly going through now that I’m home. Here’s a shot of the contraption used to properly brew Kopi Luwak, and the final cup that I got to drink (which they only charge $3 for at the plantation):

In Ubud, we stayed at a place called Uma by Como. Here are some shots of our room, as well as the infinity pool and deck overlooking a ravine with a river flowing at the bottom:

We had dinner at the restaurant on the property that night. They also had 3-for-1 martinis every evening, which was deadly.

The next morning, it was raining most of the day, so we took the day to relax and recharge our batteries. We got a massage at the spa and ate and drank most of the day. Here's a shot from the Koi pond where we sat for breakfast each morning:

The next day, we had someone from the resort take us on a tour of Ubud. We paid for the 3 hour tour, but our guide was great and took us around for over five hours.
Ubud is designed so that geographically, each area specializes in a different craft, which is passed down from generation to generation. The first stop was the “Silver District” where they hand make jewelry and many other items. Here are some locals hand crafting some jewelry:

Next was the “Painting District” where, believe it or not, artists draw and paint. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the paintings, but they did let us take a photo of some people working on their art, as well as some of the property. Some wealthy local donated their home/temple to the artists of the village hundreds of years ago. We bought a painting here (below) as a memento of the trip:

We then went to a couple different temples that are well over 1,000 years old, and still used today for religious ceremonies. You'll see in one picture there is a sign that I found funny/interesting - Hindu culture does not allow women on their period to enter the temples as they are not "pure":

The second temple we went to was a water purification temple, and we were fortunate enough to go right as a religious ceremony was taking place. We even got to go through a purification ritual with our guide. I’m not very religious, but it’s a very humbling experience knowing that people have been going there for over a thousand years to do this:

We also passed the famous Tegalalang Rice Fields and were able to get a few shots:

For dinner that night, we had the best meal of our trip at Kubu. It’s not Michelin star rated because it is only a couple years old at this point, but I have no doubt it will be in the future. It is located at the Ritz Carlton in Ubud, which is a beautiful place, but the cost for a private villa was over $1,000/night, which is why we chose the villa at Uma by Como

. It’s hard to see in the photos, but we were in a private “cocoon” right on the river:

This post was edited on 7/18/17 at 11:20 am