Wish You Were Here: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

April 20, 2012 at 10:37 AM | by jetflyboy | Comments (0)

Selamat pagi! For those in the know, you know that's "good morning" in Bahasa Indonesian. Naturally this can mean only one thing. We're in Indonesia! To be specific, we're in Bali; even more specifically, the town of Ubud.

After a few flights and even more fun in a few airports, we arrived on the tropical island and it was all worth it. First, we began in the beach town of Seminyak, which was everything you dream of when Bali comes to mind. Infinity pools, luxury hotels, black sand beaches, cocktails, and sun have all played a major role in this trip. We even sampled kopi luwak, a rare coffee of origin in Indonesia basically made from mongoose poop. More on that later.

Now is the time escape the city and head for the hills. Ubud lies about 2 hours north of Denpasar and is smack in the middle of rice paddies, jungles and rivers; we can hear a waterfall in the distance as we type this. The green landscape is only made richer by the blue skies and the welcoming smiles. What it lacks in beaches, Ubud makes up for with stone carvings, batik and other Balinese art. It's the cultural capital, to get right down to it.

Our journey hasn't really stopped in Ubud, however; we've gone even further afield, to the lush rural expanse outside of town, where there's the wellness retreat COMO Shambhala Estate. It's all about healthy eating and communing with nature to balance a hectic lifestyle. Yoga and meditation classes along with Balinese dance instruction are part of the itinerary for guests. Sure, we're totally ticking another destination off the bucket list, but we're also meditating at dawn and doing some rice field trekking. Wish you were here.

[Photo: Rayme Gorniak for Jaunted]

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