Welcome to Ubud.

04.02.2019

Everywhere there are only cars and scooters, the road is completely congested and while the scooters squeeze past us on the left and right, we are moving forward at a snail's pace - our destination right in front of us.

We have been on the road with Putu - our driver from the airport - for over an hour now and we have finally reached Ubud in the highlands of Bali, our home for the next few days. The journey was adventurous. There don't seem to be any real traffic rules here. Everyone just pushes their way into the intersection and then sees what happens. There don't seem to be any speed limits either. Whenever possible, Putu zooms off at breakneck speed, until he is slowed down by a scooter, which is immediately overtaken, even if there is oncoming traffic. The only thing that everyone seems to follow is to announce themselves with a short honk - and constantly! Whether you're racing through a village, entering an intersection, or someone is just walking by the side of the road. There's constantly honking. Not loud impatient honking, just a short friendly 'Hello, here I am'.

And then we finally arrive - Puri Garden - our home for the next four nights, where we hopefully experience beautiful moments again, meet many new people, and feel at home. The welcome is already promising - you immediately feel comfortable.

Since we can't check in immediately, we visit the associated restaurant and treat ourselves to lunch - super delicious! That gives hope for the breakfast, which is included in the room rate and is also served there.

Finally, we are taken to our room. The entire outdoor area of ​​the facility around the pool is super beautiful and invites you to linger with many seat cushions, loungers, baskets, and hammocks. However, everything is already filled with people. As we later learn from Katharina - she comes from Dresden and is currently doing her semester abroad in the accommodation - the hostel is actually fully booked. That explains why all the beds in our room are fully occupied.

For us it is the first time that we are staying in a mixed 8-bed room - so many people at the same time and also with boys. Let's see how it goes. The toilets and showers are also mixed. But there are individual shower cabins, so you still have your privacy.

After stowing our belongings for the moment, we want to explore who will be around us in the next few days. And where better to observe this than right at the water source. So changed, packed up our things, and down to the pool.

There we finally get to know Becci - a 19-year-old German from Cologne, who has been traveling in Thailand with her friend Sarah for over two months and now wants to explore Bali for the last two weeks before her return to Germany. Tomorrow the two of them will continue to Canggu. Since they haven't organized transport for that yet, we give them the phone number of Putu, who is so happy about the recommendation that he posts our selfie from the first day as a What's App status and thanks us warmly there.

What we immediately notice in the new hostel is that the staff who provides you with food and drinks is super friendly and curious. You are repeatedly asked if you need anything, if you are fine, what nice things you are planning for today, and so on.

The first and even the second time we find it really cute and have extensive conversations with the young girls. But when we realize that it keeps happening over and over again and you feel like you're involved in a conversation of the same kind for the hundredth time, it becomes very exhausting. The same can also be read in the reviews of the accommodation.

We have a lot planned for the week, so we'll see how much of it we actually experience. Tomorrow we start directly with a trip offered by the hostel. Among other things, we are planning to visit the rice terraces, local temples, and a coffee plantation. Climbing Mount Batur for sunrise is also on the agenda. Let's see what Ubud has in store for us.