Travel and Photography | Take Me To Ubud | Bali Most Literary Town

© 2014 Hello Bali Magazine | October 2013 Issue | Volume 18 | No 10

© 2014 Wazari Wazir | Penestanan Rice Field | Ubud | Bali

People came from from all over the world to visit Bali for wide variety of reason. Bali is known for its exotic location, island of a thousand temples, yes there are thousand of them, one of the reason is that, at the minimum each village have three main temple or “pura”. Anyway like I said, people visited Bali for wide variety of a reason, some like its beaches especially to surf and some others because of spiritual reason and artistic reason.

For me on the other hand, I really don’y have a very specific reason but just out of curiosity and just to fills some time during school holiday for my children. Why Bali? Well, at first I wanted to visit Langkawi but upon checking out the flights, I notice that there is not much difference in term of flight cost to Bali and Langkawi during school holiday, so I choose to visit Bali because there were a promotion from MAS Malaysia Airlines and we get a better deal.

Anyway the main thing that attracts me much about Bali is because of its rice field. Maybe my answer surprise you because here in Malaysia we also have a rice field, the closest  rice field from Kuala Lumpur is in Sungai Besar or Sekinchan in Selangor, which just around two hour drive from Kuala Lumpur City Centre and the other one, among the biggest is located in Kedah (Malaysia’s Rice Bowl)  the northern most state of Peninsular Malaysia,  just approximately five to six hour drive from Kuala Lumpur.

But then, they are quite difference than what I saw in Bali, especially in Ubud. Here in Ubud, the rice field is more compact in size and some place has a beautiful terrace like in Tegalalang and in Jatiluwih but there are other places also in Ubud which has a rice terrace, but most popular among tourist is Tegalalang and Jatiluwih in Tabanan.

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | My Wife and HaiQal | Sungai Besar Rice Field | Selangor | Malaysia

The photograph above were taken at Sungai Besar rice field Selangor  in 2010. I’ve always love to take a photograph at the rice filed, it just kind of bringing back my childhood memories and I want that kind of memories also to be with my children while they are still small. One thing that I noticed about rice field in Bali compared to what we have here in Malaysia is that, it is quite small in size, I mean the partition were quite small, here in Malaysia, sometimes the size of the rice field is as far as the eyes can see but then that is what makes Bali rice field is unique, compact in size and quite photogenic. Anyway we stayed near Penestanan Village and to the rice field is just less than five minutes walk from our hotel at D’Omah Bali.

Penestanan is a a traditional and pretty village of artists and bead-workers on the western outskirts of Ubud. It has a population of about 2000, which is quite large for a Balinese village. Penestanan is only one kilometre from bustling colorful Ubud, the cultural and artistic center of Bali. Historic Penestanan is nestled between the famous villages of Campuhan and Sayan where some of the earliest foreign visitors to Bali chose to make their homes in the 1930‘s. Surrounded by beautiful terraced rice-fields, this charming village is the home of hundreds of painters and bead-workers who live and work in their traditional walled family compounds.

The name Penestanan comes from penastan which means bowl for holy water. The river Bhangsuh begins from a spring in the north of Penestanan village and joins with the Campuhan River in the south of the village. Penestanan ladies are famous for their beautiful skin, which is attributed to the properties of this special river. According to history, Ubud once had a king who donated land to people who gifted unique works of art to him.

People with artistic trades as painters, stone and wood carvers, jewellers, basket and textile makers, etc. were all given land and gradually villages grew that each specialised in their own particular type of art. Ubud is indeed a literary town, most of the people living here either a wood carver, stone carver or a painter. My supir (driver/tour guide)  is also painter once before he change carrier to be a tour guide. He said to me that all of his village people where he grew up is a painter.

“People from all over the world have passed through this village, son,” said his father. “They come in search of new things, but when they leave they are basically the same people they were when they arrived.

They climb the mountain to see the castle, and they wind up thinking that the past was better than what we have now. They have blond hair, or dark skin, but basically they’re the same as the people who live right here.”

“But I’d like to see the castles in the towns where they live,” the boy explained.

“Those people, when they see our land, say that they would like to live here forever,” his father continued.

“Well, I’d like to see their land, and see how they live,” said his son.

“The people who come here have a lot of money to spend, so they can afford to travel,” his father said. “Amongst us, the only ones who travel are the shepherds.”

“Well, then I’ll be a shepherd!”

– Excerpt from The Alchemist (Book) – (Paulo Coelho)

From photographers point of view, I can say that Ubud has a lot to offer, it is just that I didn’t get a chance to explore Ubud on my own, I mean traveling with my family, I’ve to always keep an eye on them at all time. The live in Ubud really fascinated me. There is a lot of photographic opportunity here if you dare to take the road less traveled. I mean just get away from the main road and try losing yourself into the small road leading to the unknown village.

To those of you who have a lot of time, especially who choose to stay in Ubud and not in Kuta, Sanur or Denpasar might wanted to try a Campuhan Ridge Walk , unfortunately we didn’t have the time to try this out, even though our hotel is just less than ten minutes walk to get into the staring point at Warwick Ibah Hotel . Even if you stay along Monkey Forest Road, it is not very far to get there. Be prepared to spend around two hours for this walk, just don’t worry though, you won’t get hungry or thirsty, there are quite few restaurant or cafe along the way with a beautiful rice field to rest your tired eye.

There are many other attractions in and around Ubud other than the rice field, what Ubud doesn’t have is the beaches, so if you are an artist, no matter what type of art you are into, I think Ubud has a lot of potential to inspire you to satisfy your hunger for arts. Just take a look at the few listed places down there about what Ubud has to offer. Maybe you wanted to check out this blog for more info : Things To Do in Ubud

Among the interesting place in and around Ubud :

1 : Monkey Forest : Monkey Forest Ubud

2 :  Ubud Palace : Ubud Palace

3 : Kecak Dance at Pura Dalem : Kecak Dance

4 : Bali Bird Walk : Bali Bird Wak

5 : Neka Art Museum : Museum Neka

6 : Antonio Blanco Museum : Blanco Museum

7 : Arma Museum  & Resort : Arma Bali Museum

8 : Elephant Safari Park : Elephant Safari Park

9 : Bali Zoo : Bali Zoo

10 : Taman Nusa : Taman Nusa

Related Post : Once Upon a Time in Ubud Bali

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