Ubud, Bali - Indonesia

Ubud landscape with their popular paddies.

Ubud is one of important town in centre of Bali Island in Ubud District surrounded with beautiful landscape of rice paddies and steep ravines. The town was originally important as a source of medicinal herbs and plants; Ubud gets its name from the Balinese word ubad (medicine). One of popular attraction in Bali, this area has transformed to accommodate different types of travellers need.

Because of its location, it also makes a good base for visiting other Balinese attractions, but there is plenty to see and do here. Ubud is surrounded by the traditional stunning landscape that Bali is known for including rice paddies, scenic villages, art and craft communities, ancient temples, palaces, rivers, unique character and friendly locals.

Local people at temple.

Local people activity.

Ubud has been a ‘royal town’ for well over a hundred years and its princes, who bear the title ‘Tjokorda‘ or ‘Agung’ still live in traditional palaces, called ‘Puris’, that dot the countryside.

In the south of the town is a small reserve called Monkey Forest, housing an abundance of long-tailed macaques that clamber over the temple. Bananas are on sale so that tourists can feed them. Just beyond the Monkey Forest is one of the many craft villages in the area which specialises in wood carvings. The Museum Puri Lukisan (Museum of Fine Arts) has a wide collection of traditional and modem Balinese arts and the wood carvings are particularly good.

Perfect vacation at Ubud, Bali.

Another temple at Ubud, Bali.

Ubud is bursting with colour and light, perhaps it is this profusion of plants, flowers, palms and rice paddies that inspire the creative minds of the population. The town and area has a number of art museums, such as the Blanco Renaissance Museum, the Puri Lukisan Museum, Neka Art Museum, and the Agung Rai Museum of Art. Close-by is the Museum Rudana in Peliatan,

The Grand Palace, Bangkok

The best way to approach the Grand Palace complex is from the Chao Phraya River. The palace complex and Wat Pra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) are set within almost 10 ha (25 acres) of flat surrounded by a white wall that belies the unbelievably colorful wat within.

The Grand Palace itself is not lived in by the king, but used by on ceremonial occasions. The four buildings that make up the complex are not open to the public, but you can admire their exterior architecture. The largest building, the Grand Palace Hall was built by British architects in the late 1880s.

The Grand Palace by night.

The King will change the Emerald Buddha's attire.

The surrounding area.

Nothing could prepare you for your first sight at Wat Pra Kaew. The colors of Theravada Buddhism are red, green, orange and yellow and along with masses of gilding and gold leaf, lotus bud patterns and columns encrusted with gleaming mosaics, these colors are everywhere – so bright they almost hurt the eye.  The stupas are gilded and the swooping layers of the roofs are tiled in shining orange and green tiles. The Thai version of the Ramayana story is illustrated in its entirety around the interior walls.

The Emerald Buddha is tiny in comparison to many if the famous Buddha statues in Thailand, but it is of immense significant. Its origin is surrounded in mystery, but it was first recorded in Chiang Rai, in the fifteenth century. Laotian invaders removed it to Luang Prabang and then Vientiane, but it was recovered and returned to Thailand in the eighteenth century by Rama I, the founder of current Chakri dynasty. It sits high up in a glass case in a huge shrine that was built specially to house it.

Temple of Emerald Buddha.

The sculptures.