Ubud

My oldest son and youngest daughter put their heads together and decided to treat me to 3 days in Ubud before I returned home from Bali.  We stayed in The Udaya Luxury Resort in Ubud which sits in the central highlands of Bali surrounded by jungle and rolling foothills - and an extremely busy town centre.  It's only about 35 km (22 miles) from the airport in Denpasar but is about a two hour car ride.  I'm sure the traffic has a rush hour but it just seemed to be constantly frantic to me.

 

The Udaya 

 

With an average elevation of around 200 meters (700 feet) above sea level, Ubud was noticeably (and thankfully for me) cooler than around the beach towns.  It was a welcome respite from the heat.

 

Once again I faced the challenge of the stepping stones.  Below are the stones leading to my room. 

 

 

 

When I saw the photo below I was stunned to see how old that lady looked, stepping gingerly, hand out to grasp the platform beside her in case she stumbled.  But I was in safe hands with my grandson leading the way and my sil bringing up the rear.

 

This beautiful statue was set into the wall outside my room.   I asked a staff member about it and didn't need to understand her words (I couldn't) to know she was there to protect or bless me in some way.  (The smile and body language told the tale.)  She did a good job, I slept very soundly in my lovely bed.

Tegalalang Rice Terrace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a series of cascading rice fields.  To me it looked like a jungle with picturesque rice terraces in the 'tamed' areas. 

 

Along an edge of the ravine were a series of adrenal inducing activities for the adventurous of spirit.

 

Grandson Aiden chose the zipline.

His mother, Justine has always had a fear of heights but these days pushes herself to overcome it.  She climbed up into this nest and squatted down to feel safe.

Then, I daresay after taking a deep breath, she stood up.  I was very impressed. 

This love heart frame was there for tourists to sit in and have their photo taken but I liked how it framed the view on the other side of the ravine.

I was lucky enough to be in the right spot at the right time to see a rice paddy being ploughed.