10 Travel Tips for Ubud- Bali

Spas Spas Spas

Ubud is by far the most intense and yet chilled out place I have ever been to! It's... It's not a tourist spot even though thousands of tourists are here cause in a couple of days they just blend in with it's people and methods because it simply IS the place to Eat.. Pray.. Love! 

Here are my top tips while in Ubud:

1. Don't pack too many clothes: Trust me your wardrobe just isn't equipped to handle the weather here. Just pack your pure cottons.

Cottons ONLY

Have fun with your clothes

2. Forget the makeup and creams: It's a tropic island! Hot and Humid as hell! Just don't even bother with all your fancy SPFs. You could use the sprays if you can resist not wiping your sweat.

No Make Up

3. Don't shower everyday: Haha! Kidding! The Spas here are dirt cheap and just such a pleasure. Why take a simple bath when you can have someone relieve all your stress, massage you, scrub you and then ask you to dip yourself in a flowered bath all for like Rs. 1000 or $15 right?

Blisssssss

4. Fruits: Oh my god! Eat the Fruits! Eat the Fruits! Eat the Fruits! They are absolutely organic and heavenly!

Passion Fruit and Snake Skin Fruit

Local Food

5. Local Food: Try the duck here and must try the tofu and tempe with rice and crisps

6. Kombucha: Champagne of the Gods! This is Organic wine. Yup! You read it right! It's fermented tea and tastes great actually. I believe the best place for this is at the Clear Cafe. Try it!

7. Ecstatic Dance Party: I'll give you details in my write up but just put it on your list for now. You have gotta attend one of these.

At the Ecstatic Dance Party

8. Yoga Session: Try to take one of the Yoga classes. The way they handle yoga here is most unique and its a lifestyle here.

9. Sound Therapy: I don't know if you have heard of this before; I hadn't! It’s actual healing by sound and is absolutely scientific. Try to attend one of these sessions or atleast talk to the experts who practice it. Its enlightening!

10. Apps: Uber doesn't work all areas here so get yourself the GrabCar app for taxis and more importantly GO-JEK for the scooter taxis. Oh GO-JEK is my absolute fav app considering they will even get you your coffee or food orders whatever and deliver it. They were my saviour after my accident there!

Go-Jekkinnnn Haha!

Most Importantly:

Don't be You: Take this one seriously! Just for the few days you are in Ubud; forget everything you know and believe in and listen to everything this cosmically charged place says to you and shows you... Unlearn.. Relearn and Love Yourself!

Unlearn.... Relearn... Love Yourself!

Ramgarh- Hidden Haven

Travelling Boots in Ramgarh

We all know I love to travel Solo, but it never meant I don't enjoy company! I just happen to be very picky about who I travel with and who can handle me when I’m not me. Allow me to explain.. I’m a very calm and unexciting person in the city I live in.. I like it like that! But when I travel I’m like this energiser bunny full of curiosity and an unquenchable thirst to see and experience everything. Something only a few can relate to. 

So when we needed to just get away for a weekend, my friends turned to me to look for options and I chose Ramgarh Bungalows. A Neemrana property tucked away on a hill a little ahead of Bhimtal and beyond Nainital. The website made it look perfectly quaint and just what we were looking for. But it was a section called ‘Writer’s Bungalow’ that had me sold. 

The route..???!!!

Friday morning 5 am we were on our way. Me with my closest and most caring friends Rohit and Swati. Rohit is the most wonderful affectionate guy I know. He is mischievous and yet a perfect gentleman and Swati and I; although we had met only recently.. she and I had connected like we were always meant to be! My absolute soul sister.. who is rarely more giving than I am. Twas a beautiful drive and like a perfect road trip should be… it was full of all kinds of songs, many pit stops and a gorgeous drive.

The air started getting crispier and colder as we went uphill and around hairpin bends, lost our way and went back and forth a few times but nothing.. I mean NO-THING, no website, no HD picture could have prepared us for the what we were about to see. The property in front of us was the perfect specimen of Romance, History and Old World Charm. Nothing but virgin green mountains all around, clear blue skies above, dew filled grass under my bare feet and butterflies dancing all around me.

The Writer's Bungalow

The Breakfast Layout

If this line alone hasn't made to time travel and taken you away from the busy life of lights and gadgets and notifications, come on… take a long drive on these winding and unwinding roads and get to Ramgarh Bungalows.

Warm, simplistic food and service in the quiet of Nature and the noise of birds, bees, breeze and words bursting in my head. We spent 1 night in Ashok Vatika where Jawahar Lal Nehru had lived once. Too tired after the early morning and long drive, I decided to snooze for a while and as I lay on the 4 post high bed; something just hit me. It was quiet. I mean just quiet. No sound of vehicles, no horns, no AC, no fan.. just some tweeting birds. The best most sound afternoon nap ever followed.

The nights were so silent that you can hear your own breath. We lay outside on the grass just gazing at the skies for hours and were simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of stars our sky could hold and we could see… a privilege we city people simply can not enjoy. 

The Writer's Bungalow

Inside Writer's Bungalows 

Cutest interiors

Twas really the next day that I found out about the story behind this place and was suddenly a whole new invigorated and inspired. The Writer’s Bungalow. Quaint cottage with 2 rooms and the cutest yellow interiors. These are old structures which have been restored so have a very earthy feel to them with the old school doors and windows. Now the best part was… many many years ago, Rabindra Nath Tagore had possibly started writing the Geetanjali here. 

Me lost..

Still Lost...

Perfect moment captured....

Yes you read me right.. here… right where I was standing he had lived and wrote. He probably was looking at the same view as I was and started writing the Geetanjali. Mahadevi Verma had also lived here… hence the name.. Writer’s Bungalow!

Ramgarh is known as the the Fruit Basket cause they grow all sorts of exotic fruits here and the best part is they rarely use any chemicals.. hence they may not be the prettiest fruits but they are exploding with taste and juices. You can go for a Nature Walk to explore the orchards around.

Sai Baba Temple- Ramgarh

Swati is religious and wanted to visit a temple so we drove all around searching for a temple and stumbled upon the cutest smallest Sai Baba temple not far away and a restaurant which served the freshest most tasty simple food we had eaten… oh my god how we indulged in pure gluttony! 

We walked for hours.. sometimes humming songs, sometimes huffing and puffing with the uphill climbs and sometimes just silently to soak the view and fill our lungs with this fresh air with smiles on our faces. 

3 days… we barely talked and yet felt more connected than ever! In the silence of nature and away from the static of radio waves and buzzing phones… we rejuvenated our minds, hearts and souls. 

The most perfect weekend getaway!

For booking with them: Ramgarh Bungalows