Bali - Tegallalang Rice Terrace, Ubud Palace, & Museum Puri Lukisan

Here's various places we explored in the Ubud area of Bali. The overall beauty of the area is a feast for the eyes. I wonder how it is for people who are always surrounded by it? Sometimes you have to leave where you are and compare it to other places to properly appreciate the beauty of your own home (if there is any).

Tegallalang Rice Terrace is an iconic view for Bali, but it's also become a tourist trap with staged photos on swings and zip lines, which I tried to leave out of my pics. It may as well be a Disney park. It was nice to get a fruit drink and look at it all for a bit, but it's also nicer to get away from the crowds. This looks much nicer than the experience of it.

I better enjoyed the rice fields that are later in this post. There were some natural farms right next to downtown Ubud, but the tourists weren't all over the place. There was a drink hut for tourists to hang out in, but we were blissfully the only tourists there at the time. Anyway, here's a few obligatory pics that most everyone else has of Bali.

We had a driver for the day to take us around to various interesting sights. Karya Mas Wood Carving may be a bit of a tourist trap to sell carvings because that's how they make a living, but it's a worthwhile visit to see the craftsmanship and the huge amount of unique carvings they have to sell.

We also visited a huge art gallery which had many rooms of paintings for sale. They didn't want pictures of the art inside even though a pic doesn't replace the need for buying a painting if you're likely to buy one. I won't mention their name either since they don't want the publicity of what they have even though there was some really cool art here. I'm sure you can figure out what place it is if you're really interested.

Around Ubud & Ubud Palace

Here's where we followed a sign from the main road in Ubud to the Subak Juwuk Manis Rice fields walk. It looks a little sketchy at the beginning but it gets you quick enough out to the open fields. I preferred these rice fields to the iconic, and overly crowded, Tegallalang Rice Terrace. There were a few other tourists walking around, but otherwise it felt very secluded and serene compared to Ubud.

That shack on the right...

...had this inside when you peeked through the door openings.

Museum Puri Lukisan

The museum grounds are gorgeous and the buildings have traditional Balinese art. There was one building with an exhibit of modern art from a local artist which seemed a bit out of place as you will see. Here's a sample of some of what's here.