Ubud Palace and Town

After filling our stomachs at Ibu Oka Babi Guling, we crossed the road to visit the Ubud Palace. There was no entrance fee to enter the place. Like everyone else, we started snapping photos here and there. We had not much idea about the palace. I only knew that it was across the road from Ibu Oka's, so we thought of exploring the place after lunch and at the same time, giving ourselves some time to digest our lunch before heading for a Balinese massage.

The first spot (if you were to enter from the palace side door) that attracts tourists for photographs 

Ancient looking 

The palace ground was filled with different types of Balinese structures. Anyway, I just love all the Balinese architecture.

Towering structure / door

Capture this shot while waiting for the rain to stop

Since we learnt that March was the transition period from rainy to hot season, we brought along an umbrella. There were showers occasionally but they did not spoil the day.

Basically, no proper dress code to enter the palace ground. So, most people were in shorts and slippers.

Some sort of gazebos in the palace ground. Proved handy during heavy rain.

After sheltering at some of the gazebos in the palace ground, we headed across the road again as we saw a beautiful fountain. The fountain was in front of the Tourist Information Centre.

The beautiful fountain in front of Ubud Tourist Information Centre

Next, we walked to the Ubud Market area which was also across the road from Ubud Tourist Information Centre. We walked past rows of shops with colourful souvenirs. Yes, the whole of Bali is very touristy. 

Ubud Market surrounding

We were too lazy to explore the market, so we just walked past the market area and explored the town on foot. We were more interested to see their small alleys, houses and way of life (if we were lucky). However, Ubud town was packed with restaurants, bars, guesthouses and spas. We were disappointed indeed that we did not see real Balinese going about their daily lives. Or we may have overlooked? We only saw a bunch of young boys playing football at a playground.

A peek into somebody's residence? or guesthouse?

At the cross road of Karna Road

An eating outlet with a nice garden

See who's up the tree? A bunch of mischievous coconuts?!

We somehow got lost exploring the small roads or alleys. Luckily,with Google map, we found our way back to the Tourist Information Centre in Ubud town. 

To sum up:

Ubud Palace: A nice and serene place to see Balinese architecture. If you are fast, you would only need 10 minutes here. Free admission (as of March 2013).

Ubud Market place: Did not venture in as we were not interested to haggle for souvenirs.

Ubud town is somewhat a pleasurable place to walk around but it is touristy.

Location:

Ubud Palace, Market, Tourist Info Centre and Ibu Oka Babi Guling are all near to each other. (near = just across the road.) 

Coming up next: our Balinese Massage experience :)