Adventures with Jack and Julia

After ten amazing days on the beaches of Bali, we made our way inland to spend a week among the yogis, rice paddies, and jungles of Ubud. Since we knew we were going to be spending Christmas here, we were sure to book an extra special hotel. We stayed at a beautiful spot just outside of the town right in the heart of fully grown rice paddies and with an outdoor pool. It made our first ever Christmas away from our friends and family that much more bearable, although we missed them all so dearly. Each morning of our stay, we ate the delicious included breakfast while we watched the rice farmers harvest and subsequently burn the fields as it was the end of the season.

Ubud used to be completely covered in rice fields but over the past twenty years, gentrification has once again played a major role in changing the landscape of yet another special place for better or for worse. Luckily, there are some beautiful rice paddies with dedicated walking zones and were very popular with tourists. You can even pay to sponsor a stone tile along the path to help maintain the walkway and the surrounding area. Although we walked through multiple paddies over the course of our stay, our favourite was called the Sweet Orange Walk Trail and would recommend it to anyone visiting Ubud as it’s a lovely peaceful walk through the countryside.

Just like Canggu, Ubud’s food scene is nothing short of outstanding. Some of our favourite restaurants that we tried while we were there were Zest, Plant Bistro, Seeds of Life, Warung Bernadette, Cantina Rooftop and Acai Queen. Zest was so good we actually went twice for their pizzas, caesar salad, and gorgeous architecture.

Of course, no trip to Ubud is complete without a yoga class. Being world-renowned as a haven for yoga enthusiasts, we signed up for the most relaxing slow flow class at a studio called Radiantly Yoga. The instructor was fantastic, and the view of the jungle out of the floor to ceiling windows as the sun set was a memory we’ll not soon forget. Bali is included in the popular ClassPass platform, so we took advantage of some free credits for that class as well as to book a gym session at Kayon Beach Resort where we were able use the infinity pool afterwards.

There’s so much to do here in Ubud even though it’s a rather small town. Everything is very densely packed and we often found ourselves wandering down cute streets looking at the shops and cafes. On one morning when we were feeling a bit more adventurous, however, we walked away from the hustle and bustle along a trail called the Campuhan Ridge Walk. Along the way, we stopped at a spot we never would have found was nestled deep in the middle of a rice field. It had these cute colourful bean bag chairs where we hung out for a while and had some mocktails. We were having such a nice time exploring the scenery that by the time all was said and done, we’d walked over 14km! This of course meant we had to reward ourselves with some coconut ice cream sandwiches wrapped in cookies from Kind Koko when we got back to town.

And then came Christmas. It was such a strange feeling for us to be so far away from home in a tropical country. Not only had we never been away from home at this time of year, but because Bali is primarily Hindu, Christmas isn’t really celebrated. There were some decorations here and there, but that was about the extent of it. Our morning was spent enjoying coffee and a chai matcha latte, followed by a massage, a swim in the pool and amazing dinner at Cantina Rooftop overlooking a stunning Hindu temple. We started the evening off with their “Lolita” cocktail which consisted of Tanqueray Gin, grape liqueur, pure lime juice, passion fruit puree, white honey, egg white and floral bitters so we can remember how to make it again. An atypical Christmas called for an atypical cocktail and it didn’t disappoint!

Out of everywhere we’ve been, there haven’t been too many that we’d seriously consider trading Vancouver for. Ubud is definitely one of those places for us, though. The food is both extremely healthy and tastes outstanding, and we loved surrounding ourselves with like minded people who have the same fitness and health goals as we do. We also love the way so much culture and history is interwoven into the town. Like some other places we’ve mentioned, Ubud has a certain feel to it that’s so infectious and you can’t help but immerse yourself in it. Ubud is somewhere we know for sure has not seen the last of us!

As our Indonesia chapter comes to a close, we are so sad to be leaving. We could have easily doubled our time and felt so blessed to be there every single day. New horizons were beckoning us to come explore, however, and it was time for us to make our way to another country with many thousands of islands and our number four on our journey: the Philippines!

Happy New Year to all! Thank you for continuing to support us by reading our blog! If you want to help support us further, please also consider buying us a coffee 🙂