We started out our morning with (SURPRISE) another amazing breakfast buffet. Little K is quite the celebrity and has made all of the hosts/hostesses and servers fall in love with her. They all greet her each morning and come by to say hello. Is this what being related to a celebrity is like? 🙂
After breakfast we headed to the lobby to meet our driver. You can get a driver for the day (arranged through the hotel) for $80 USD ($10/hr) which is incredibly reasonable. Our driver, Utama, was super nice and very knowledgeable and would be taking us on our adventure to visit the city of Ubud. Ubud is this adorable little town with a lot of art and culture nestled in between rich, lush forest and rice paddies. We actually thought about staying in Ubud given all of the lovely things we’d heard about it from friends; however, we passed it up to be able to stay in a location a bit more central to the things we wanted to do and to be able to introduce Little K to the ocean.
On our way to Ubud, we first stopped at Bali Bidadari Batik where we were able to see men and women doing batik painting and weaving clothes. I highly recommend stopping by as it’s fun to see and it helps you appreciate the work that goes into creating such beautiful art and clothing.
The weather near Ubud was a little rainier than in Kuta Beach so we didn’t get a ton of great photos of the city.
It was cool to see the different areas outside of Ubud, some of which specialized in carpentry, stonework, or textiles, and others that were city-like with galleries displaying art or very rural with lush, thick greenery.
Our next stop was visiting the Tegunungan Waterfall. We were really excited to go visit, but we totally didn’t think about bringing along swimsuits (which we should have because it was HOT outside.) We definitely recommend visiting the Tegunungan waterfall if you make it to Bali; it’s conveniently located just outside of Ubud. There is a little bit of hike, but the view is worth it as it’s absolutely beautiful. 
We kept trying to snag a photo of Little K on the hike to the waterfall, but she was NOT having it. No paparazzi for her, even if it was just mom and dad. J got a photo (above) of me trying to talk Little K into posing for a photo. When we finally got to the waterfall though, she warmed up to the idea of a photo so long as we took it in the water. What a negotiator! As you can see from the other photo below of J, everything was so lush and pretty.
After the waterfall we had worked up an appetite so we planned to head to a restaurant to get some food, but on the way, we stopped at a carpenter’s place and saw the stunning hand-crafted furniture that he made from reclaimed wood. I fell in love with a coffee table the gentleman had created specifically from the reclaimed wood from some old Balinese boats. He sold me the table for an unbelievable $100 USD. How amazing! Don’t get me started though on how I feel about importing this into our country. Let’s just saying it’s costing us a lot more than we thought between export fees, handling fees, shipping/cargo fees and then legal fees and import taxes.
For lunch we headed to Bebek Teba Sari — our driver, Utama, frequently drives tourists to Ubud and recommended it as not only great food, but a fun experience.
While we waited for our lunch, Little K practiced her photography skills a bit more. She is getting better and better at it. She took the following photo all by herself. Not bad for a 3 year old!
Little K was really excited to eat lunch in the little hut on stilts. And seeing her happy made me happy of course.
J and I enjoyed some Balinese wine along with our lunch which was delicious!
After lunch we bid adieu to the adorable little restaurant to head onto another adventure: to a coffee plantation!
J was on his quest to try luwak coffee so we headed to the nearby Teba Sari so that we could try some fresh coffee, tea and chocolate. Once there, we received a free tour showing us the various plants they grow for coffee, tea and chocolate and we got to meet a few of these cute little civets who are an integral part of making the luwak coffee.
On our tour we were able to see all the steps in making coffee and how they harvest a lot of the herbs for tea. Little K even tried hand roasting some coffee beans herself:
After the tour, we decided it was time to try some of the coffee and tea. Well…. J tried the coffee and I tried the tea. 🙂 Little K decided to be bold and try one of the herbal/non-caffeinated teas. She didn’t love it, but she didn’t hate it.
We liked the coffee, tea and chocolate so much that we decided we’d bring a bunch back to share with family. It was really hard for me to pick a favorite tea since I enjoyed almost all of them, but I thought the mangosteen tea was really unique in flavor.
After we wrapped up our adventure in agrotourism for the day, we headed to the Ubud Monkey Forest to see what it was all about. Be aware that as soon as you get there, you will be bombarded by people selling souvenirs and they can be a bit pushy. However, you can walk quickly past them to go purchase your admission into the park that is a bit of a sanctuary for all the monkeys.
One of the things they tell you as you are going in is to avoid looking the monkeys directly in the eyes as they may think you are confronting them. So we told Little K to be careful not to do that and she listened, but she did crouch down and wave to a monkey which made him start coming toward her for a second until she screamed the most piercing shriek and the monkey took off so fast it was like it was never there. A few of the park rangers came running to make sure everything was okay. Little K felt pretty brave after that and told the story for a few days about how she scared the monkey.
It’s under $5 USD for adults to visit and under $3 USD for kids to visit the Ubud Monkey Forest. If you are a fan of nature or animals then it’s a must-see in Bali. On our way back from Ubud to Kuta Beach, we got to see some rice paddies since the rain had died down.
However, I think the stop that Little K enjoyed most was the last one on our way back to Kuta Beach. We stopped at Mason Chocolate Factory where we got to see some chocolate being made and taste the final product!
It was another wonderful day in Bali where we got to witness the beauty of Indonesia and the wide array of things that make it such a unique place to visit. Little K was pretty wired on the ride back to the hotel, but we all promptly crashed upon on arrival. To bed we said!
andyoumaysayimadreamer 