On our second full day in Ubud we got up early in the morning and rent a motorbike at our hotel which was surprisingly cheap with only 60’000 Rupiah (about 5 CHF) per day. Although Nino never drove with a motorbike he learned it quite fast. The traffic in Indonesia might seem to be a little bit dangerous and there are piles of building materials such as dirt or gravel along the streets, but all in all it seems to be almost saver than in Switzerland since everything is a little bit slower. Due to the traffic inside the cities and the bad condition of the streets outside, you will never be faster than 60 km/h and that is really a maximum you rarely reach.

Our main goal of the morning was to reach a temple Steffi told us about in the north of Ubud by noon, since we knew that we have to return early for the delivery of our new credit card (just as a reminder: for the last 5 days we were very limited with our cash, since we only had the amount we withdrew at the Bali airport where we also left our credit card in the banking machine.). But we still took our time to explore the surroundings of Ubud and instead of just taking the fastest way, we additionally passed the famous rice terraces of Ubud. While for us, as we even were in a hot spring in the heart of rice terraces, it was not that spectacular, many tourists went there by car to mount the stairs along the steep rice fields.

After a quick break at one of the many small restaurants on the other side of the valley, we drove off towards the temple. Since we were not sure about the direction (even Google Maps can be quite tricky inside these narrow villages) we decided to first follow some signs to another temple: the Pura Gunung Kawi Sebatu. It might be important to mention that it is not the same as the more known Pura Gunung Kawi which is about 10km away.

Surrounded by jungle and with almost no tourists, it is one of the most beautiful temples we have ever seen. Many little ponds, decorated with statues and inhabited by hundreds of large, colorful fish contain holy water used for ceremonies.

As in every other temple, large gates connect the different parts and separate the areas used for praying by the parks in front of them. Providing a mystical atmosphere, all walls are overgrown and unite the temple to the forests around.

Svenja, already very fascinated by insects, was lucky enough to find a very large mantis sitting right on the paths used by visitors, so she picked it up to bring it to a saver place. We do not know what it is but she really seems to attract them, since next to this mantis also two butterflies already landed on her hand.

After visiting the temple we had to return to the hotel since the tracking of our credit card showed us, that it is about to be delivered. Unfortunately, after arriving at the hotel we still had to wait for about 3 hours, but nevertheless we were eased to have credit card again. Since we had to withdraw new money anyway we decided to the bike and drive towards another temple, the so called Goa Gajah or Elephant cave.

When we arrived at the cave it was already quite late, so all the tourists already left. In the center of the temple was a huge tree roofing the full area. The most famous part you can see above. A small cave with a lot of structures at its front. On the inside you can find three small altars.

As most temples, the Goa Gajah had some holy springs, used by many people during their ceremonies and prays.

Due to our reservation at the Fair Warung (Warung stands for a restaurant serving Indonesian food) we had hurry up a little bit. But it was really worth it. The Fair Warung is a restaurant belonging to the Swiss Fair Future organisation. Some years ago the small place was used as hospital, therefore also the quicken is very small (about 2.5 squaremeter) but never the less it has really great food. And the best thing about it is, that for every meal you have, two inspections for children in Bali by a medical doctor are payed, giving access to medical treatment even for the poorest ones.