I decided I wouldn’t rent a motorbike while in Ubud because I stayed right in the center and outside my hostel, which looked like an Ubud temple, was a walking street filled with souvenir sellers. I definitely didn’t want to ride a motorbike in there, so I skipped renting one to go to a further destination.
Ubud temple: Pura Taman Pecampuhan Sala
This day I went a bit further and used Grab bike and my legs to get to places. My first stop of the day was this Ubud temple: Pura Taman Pecampuhan Sala temple, a temple that is not so known amongst the crowds and looks stunning, so I definitely wanted to see it.
To get to Pura Taman Pecampuhan Sala I booked a Grab Bike, the problem is that I won’t be able to book another one to go back cause this is far from Ubud city center, about 20km and 45 min by motorbike. I thought I would figure out later how to go back downtown… Anyway, I visited this Ubud temple which has no entry fee but demands a “donation” if you do the ritual.
Temple ceremony bath
So, this Ubud temple, just like Pura Tempul, but without the crowds, has “holy water” and you can participate in some sort of ceremony where a local will lead you to a waterfall nearby, tell you what to do, and allow you in the holy waters. You will be wearing a red cloth around your body, everybody must wear it. Initially, I thought of doing it cause it is something different and interesting but then I gave it a second thought. This is not my religion, I don’t believe in any of this, I have no idea what I am doing, why should I do it? Because it looks cool? Yes, it does, but does it have any meaning? Isn’t this a religious site? I didn’t know. I just found myself wondering about different explanations for doing it. After all, you don’t see any Asian tourists coming to churches and engaging in the stuff we do or doing it like us. Because it is not their religion, why should they? Doesn’t it work the same way around for us? Aren’t we just spectators of what is going on? Hmm after giving it a thought I didn’t join this ceremony. Also, because they do it for money, right? How religious is that? It works on a donation basis, but I know pretty well that as foreigners our donation should be a fat one. I passed on this experience and admired the beautiful temple instead.
This Ubud temple is so charming!! Covered in moss, with water flowing from different spots and the powerful sound of the river and small waterfall not far away. I loved staring at it. So gorgeous. There were some stairs leading I had no idea where and I decided to check them out. As I attempt to do so, a man comes after me saying I can’t go. Why? Because it is too slippery he says. My face must have been priceless. I MEAN c’mon, the stairs were a little slippery but nothing dangerous about them, they were just mossy and wet from all the moisture around. Oh, it is very dangerous he says hahah. Please dude you have no idea where I have been to tell me this looks dangerous. I really don’t know if they think we -tourists- aren’t capable of walking on our own, if they take us for stupid, if they think we can’t use our legs, or if they are way too used to lazy tourists…
I don’t know and I really don’t understand this attitude in Bali, because this kind of situation didn’t happen only once and they always seem so fearful for me. I still don’t get it. After much persistence, I managed to go upstairs on my own. Yes, he wanted to come with me because it is sooooo dangerous. I needed to insist a lot to go on my own and be allowed to. Ok, in some places I understand their concerns but here?? Ridiculous!! It is just a normal staircase. Not sure if he just wanted to guide me so I would pay him for doing it. In Bali I had this feeling many times, they are doing it for the money and I don’t appreciate that. So, when I finally convinced this guy to let me go alone I went upstairs where the view of the temple was wider. In fact, there is nothing else if you keep following the staircase. The stairs lead to some fields and that’s it. Not worth going all the way up even though you can’t go much further anyway.
I still left a small donation at this Ubud temple anyway and in exchange, they gave me this black, red, and white “bracelet” which is a sign you have been in Bali, apparently.
Tibumana waterfall
From Ubud temple Pura Taman Pecampuhan Sala I decided to walk all the way to Tibumana waterfall which is about 7,5km away and a 1h30 walk. The reason why I decided to do it was because on the way to Pura Taman Pecampuhan Sala by motorbike I found the street very quiet, surrounded by beautiful landscapes, and worth a walk around. I ended the day very tired but the walk was awesome. I truly enjoyed it!! I crossed many rice fields, many cute small villages so well decorated, tonnes of beautiful buildings and houses that looked like Ubud temple, green sceneries, and many smiley faces that stared surprised to see me walking there. I was approached a few times by people on motorbikes offering a ride. One of them seemed to want payment but the other ones were just pointing at their seat. I gently refused all of them, even though I think I could have had a free ride. I really wanted to walk along those streets! They were so quiet and so beautiful that I was not willing to let that experience slip away from me.
People were astonished when I revealed where I was walking from haha. I confess I love this part too. I love the fact I’m the only one doing it, I feel somehow special. I like to feel I’m enjoying the real local lifestyle and the best way to do it is walking among them. I said many “hellos” and spent most part of the time smiling, so I would definitely do this again. I recommend a walk here. It didn’t feel unsafe even for 1 second but some of the men’s reactions of me walking alone made me doubt the safety of the place. They looked so scared for me when I said I was alone. Be careful, they repeated many times.
I also felt like their faces changed once I said I lived in Vietnam. And their speech too. I made sure to say it and watch their facial expressions change.
I’m not sure but I got the feeling that Bali receives many 1″st time in Asia travelers”, many inexperienced ones, and not so many adventurous ones. The locals look always so scared for me like I’m dumb and not capable. Once I tell them I’ve been around SEA for a while, their faces change to a surprised mode and even their doubts and interest seem to fade away. It is true that in Bali I have met many people coming for a short holiday, so I think that is one of the reasons why they looked down at me like I’m just another stupid tourist who falls for all their traps and pays ridiculous prices due to lack of knowledge. – not blaming the tourists though, blaming the locals for taking advantage. Anyway, I was extremely tired when I arrived at Tibumana waterfall, but very happy about my decision to walk that grueling distance.
There is an entry ticket like in almost all the waterfalls in Bali. This one was 20k rupees. There are some restaurants at the entrance and snack spots and that’s where I took a break to eat some grilled corn. Then, downstairs to the waterfall itself. There were some people but I didn’t think it was too many. I could still have clear shots of the waterfall which is gorgeous. There were some people swimming, a thing that I haven’t done.
The waterfall is surrounded by lush green vegetation and a few other smaller cascades that also have their charm. I stayed over there resting my legs for quite a while admiring the beauty of the place and listening to the powerful sound of nature. Beautiful spot!
As this waterfall is about 14 km from the center of Ubud, I thought I could book a Grab bike here to go back downtown, and I was right. I could book a Grab and I did, but guess what, he canceled 3 minutes later, and after that, no other driver accepted my booking!! Weird the least! Once I got to the pickup point at Tibumana waterfall, my rider canceled the order and I was approached by a local moto-taxi driver who quoted me the double to go to the same place I was trying to book on the app. He was charging me 50K to go back to Ubud and I thought it was too much as the app mentioned 25K. I said no and kept trying to book another motorbike on the app. I tried and tried and tried, and no one was accepting it even though I saw some guys wearing Grab jackets stopped there a few meters from me. What I thought was that they were trying to make a stupid out of me, because I refused this local driver’s offer and now I can’t book anything!! What a joke. Motorbike mafia here. Feeling like I was being stupified, I left the place walking but knowing I didn’t have any other option to go back to Ubud. But I was too proud to let them have it their way. I kept walking and this man chased me on his motorbike to see if I changed my mind and pay his price. I didn’t. Even if I had to walk all day long, I wouldn’t have him win his deal. I did it because I felt like they were mocking me and they have a pretty good scheme among themselves so tourists have to pay more. I thought someone would be kind to me and offer me a ride at some point.
I kept walking from Tibumana waterfall heading to Ubud unaware that there was another waterfall nearby, therefore more taxi motorbikes and more scammers. I walked from Tibumana Waterfall to Taman Sari Waterfall and on the way a lady stopped to give me a ride. She dropped me at Taman Sari Waterfall so I could find a moto-taxi to take me to Ubud. Once I arrive and the mafia surrounds me, they shout a ridiculous price of 100K!!! ARE YOU KIDDING??? If I thought the other guy was being greedy, I don’t know what to say about these ones. But I knew I didn’t have other options so I would have to make a deal with these scammers instead.
Taman Sari Waterfall
But 1st I decided to visit Taman Sari waterfall, a place where I believe you don’t need any ticket even though there is a ticket counter several meters away from the entrance to the waterfall. The entrance isn’t sealed and the counter is pretty far, and this is how the scam goes. My theory is that locals simply decide to create these ticket booths and because we foreigners are honest and believe that if there is a ticket counter we should buy tickets, 1st thing we do is head there instinctively without even trying to get in. These booths are so far from the entrances and there is no one checking tickets, there is nothing stopping me from going in, so why should I believe this ticketing system is real? I saw a foreigner walking past the counter, he was walking on the street and didn’t stop to buy a ticket, and all those men shouting at him, he just ignored them and proceeded to the waterfall and got in. So, this is why my theory about scams in Bali. My advice is, to buy tickets if someone at the entrance stops you from going further. If not, probably the ticket counter 200 meters away is a scam. Another 20K rupees for this waterfall. It is beautiful but I was really pissed with these people’s dishonesty. I didn’t stay long but the waterfall was nice. I think Tibumana looks better.
I was very disappointed with the locals’ attitude towards visitors so I didn’t enjoy the waterfall that much. Seeing all of them act like this made me sick yuck.
Then I went back to the scammers to negotiate a price to go back to Ubud. Either that or walk for 2 hours… My destinamtion was Goa Gajah, an Ubud temple. I managed to lower the price to 50K, the same as the 1st guy asked me back at Tibumana waterfall.- renting a motorbike would have saved me all this hassle, but wouldn’t allow me to have the great walk I had that day, so I’m happy I didn’t rent one.
Ubud temple: Goa Gajah
From Taman Sari waterfall I went with one of those taxi motorbikes to Goa Gajah, a place I also wanted to visit it’s more central so from there I knew finding transport would be easy. I arrived 30 minutes before the place closed and paid 50K for the entrance that I thought expensive actually haha, but I’m a cheap a* anyway. I’m used to Vietnamese prices as I lived more than 2 years in the country. This time the ticket counter was not a scam because there were people checking the ticket at the entrance and I had to wear this sarong that was given to me. I thought I was going inside already too late but this Ubud temple is actually not that big and can be seen in a short period of time. The thing is that I really like to enjoy the places slowly and inside Goa Gajah was a pretty green space where I could have seated and enjoyed for much longer than I did.
In Goa Gajah, there is this massive beautiful tree, so imposing! Loved it. There are some traditional architecture buildings, and some sort of cave with a carved façade that seems to be the advertised image of this place.
The place itself is nice and quiet, but I enjoyed the area downstairs a little more. There was another beautiful tree, a Banyan tree that must be holy as it was wrapped in the typical checkered Balinese cloth. This tree’s roots were really big, astonishing, and powerful. Surrounding it was this very green scenery with a waterfall a few meters away and a river course that turns the area very moist and humid therefore mossy and charming. I kept walking all the way until I could no longer, following a staircase where no one seemed to walk on, just to find another way into Goa Gajah but this one for FREE! Yes, you read it. Again the same, I was blown away when that staircase led me to a small alley surrounded by houses. Like WTF!! Is that ticket counter another scam??? OMG, how come? Even though I don’t think that office is a scam, it is just weird that there is a free access, but as tourists don’t know about it, they keep the entrance open, I assume. This spot is actually marked on the app Maps.me. You will find it as free entry to Goa Gajah. If I only checked the map before haha too late now. Anyway, I will remain not knowing very well how the touristy spots in Bali work for real. It was a nice Ubud temple to visit anyway. I ended up seeing the sunset from Goa Gajah and this was basically my day. I ended up exhausted, but very fulfilled.
Check more Ubud temple and spots near the city center HERE! I also visited another waterfall, the most beautiful in Bali I think, or at least the most beautiful I have seen: Sekumpul waterfall. You can read more about it HERE!
Buy bus tickets to Ubud HERE!
Apply for an Indonesian visa HERE!
