Blissed Out in Bali

After volunteering at the farm animal rescue for two months followed by a fun filled and action packed road trip up the Australian coast from Brisbane to Cairns Nick and I decided that Ubud in Bali would be our next stop. We chose Ubud because it has a reputation for being a laid back kind of place with plentiful vegan options and it's not too far from Australia. It sounded like a great place to rest and recharge our batteries and I'd say that it exceeded our expectations quickly becoming one of our favourite places in the world. 

We chose to stay in Penestenan at an amazing Air BnB located a little way into the rice terraces. We were about a 40 minute walk from Earth Cafe in the centre of Ubud but if that's not your vibe taxis were around 70,000 and we took them once or twice. The area is beyond gorgeous and I think that we'd have had a very different experience if we'd chosen to stay in the bustling, traffic filled, touristy centre of Ubud.

Here I could wake up early and sit and listen to the world waking up whilst drinking tea, head out for an early morning run around the quiet lanes and surrounding streets, or pop around the corner for a restorative yoga class followed by breakfast at Alchemy Cafe.

We were welcomed with a fresh coconut and I immediately got into my bikini and into the pool. I love having private outdoor space when I travel. It doesn't happen often but when it does it's blissful. I can't think of a nicer place to relax than this.

I really can't recommend the area or the Airbnb more highly. If you're heading to Ubud and want to stay at Oming's place you can find it here and if you've never used Airbnb you can book through my link in the sidebar and get a discount. I'll earn some Airbnb bucks too which can help me travel for longer!

One thing I've always struggled with whilst travelling in Asia is dressing appropriately and being comfortable. My usual style isn't really appropriate for a lot of the muslim areas I've been too and whilst I can cover up my top half with a looser t-shirt, scarf, or plaid shirt my struggle with covering my legs is real. I hate trousers. Like I seriously hate them. I've never found a pair of trousers that fit me and are comfortable enough to sit down and eat in, and the ubiquitous one size fits all elephant trousers do not fit me at all.

Everything changed when I found these high waisted leaf print trousers made of a super thin material at a store in Ubud. I love them. They're high waisted enough that there's enough stretch for my hips and they're wide enough that my thighs do actually fit in them. They even have a pocket! They're a little tight around the middle for me to eat a huge amount of food whilst wearing them but they are high enough that they eliminate the need for chub rub shorts. I love my chub rub shorts but having to wear them and my black harem pants (that totally double up as my pyjama bottoms) when it's 30 plus degrees is seriously the worst. Because doing a little shopping and supporting local people trying to make a living is fun I also bought a couple of cute bracelets.

When you're only travelling with hand luggage every single purchase needs to be carefully thought out because there just isn't any room for new things. The addition of one too many t-shirts or even a chunky fridge magnet could push my backpack to breaking point so bracelets are the perfect souvenir. I'm going to post about all of the excellent food in Ubud next time but I wanted to share that I finally got into coffee! I dabbled in coffee a while back but it never agreed with me, I'd get hyper for 5 minutes and then need a nap after one latte. Don't even get me started on espresso. Disaster! Apparently cold brew with cashew milk was the answer all along. It's actually decent and not overhyped hipster nonsense. This was news to me but I should've known that I'd love it as other apparent hipster things like artisan bread and avocado toast are right up my street.

It seems that cold brew just has less caffeine than regular coffee which is a win in my books. As you can see I fell head over heels in love with Ubud, I just felt so comfortable there. Does it look like somewhere you'd enjoy? I can't wait to show you all of the delicious food next time. See you soon!