Ubud, Bali {Rice Paddies and Hiking Trails}

The journey to Bali is a long one - there's really no way around it. We flew out on Thursday night and arrived at our hotel in Ubud around 11am on Saturday. Knowing that we'd need something amazing to look forward to after all that travel, I booked us 4 lovely hours at Bali Botanica near our hotel. We were treated to a hour and a half massage, body scrub, rose petal bath and facial. Oh yeah, and it was $35. Yes please!

So - annoying part of the trip was that the airline lost my bag for about a day and a half. So I got to wear Jason's clothes until the markets opened. I was able to get a pair of shorts and a shirt for about $7. Way less than the $40 I was given as compensation. Regardless, it made the beginning of our time in Bali uncomfortable. We were content to relax at our hotel for a while. We stayed at the Warwick Ibah and loved every second. There was a bit of a language barrier, but at the end of the day, we couldn't have asked for a better place to spend our 5 days in Ubud.

After we felt rested up, we walked along the rice paddies to Sari Organik. The walk itself was relaxing - about 40 minutes - where we encountered less than 10 people. Once we arrived, we ordered way to much food! Everything was so cheap! Fresh juices/coffee for $1, amazing organic fruit platters for $2, veggie spring rolls for $4. And the view was just incredible! 

That night, we did a little clothes and souvenir shopping and then treated ourselves to room service. My clothes were set to arrive the next afternoon and I truthfully didn't feel like doing anything other than relaxing in our room! 

The next morning, we woke up early and caught the trail right outside our hotel for the Camphuan Ridge hike. This is a pretty popular trail and the landscape was just fantastic. Note my very stylish gear in the photos below :)

The great thing about this hike is that there are all of these great little shops to stop and get a fresh juice, snack or even a massage! We were traveling during the rainy season, so these little places were a great place to stop when it started sprinkling on us.

While we were out, my bags arrived! We treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Bridges, about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. The restaurant is set right along the river valley, so super romantic. We had mushroom ravioli, pasta with Bali's famous duck, yummy fish and a bottle of rose! Not very local, but we knew we'd have ample opportunity for that in the next few days.

Up next: Our bike tour around Ubud and a Balinese cooking class!