Sometimes you get to check off things from your bucket list without even knowing it was on your bucket list before. To visit a rice terrace wasn’t on my bucket list but I decided to add it, as it is something one should experience one day in their life. By now it also made it to my Asia Bucket List.
I was about to do this even sooner as I first planned to visit Sa Pa in Vietnam before changing my mind and going to Ninh Binh (which was amazing too! Check out my post about this beautiful place!). So I missed it in Vietnam but got to do it while being in Bali.
So during our stay in Bali, we had a villa in Nusa Dua but nevertheless, we rented a driver and decided to visit one of the rice fields in the area of Ubud. It took us almost 2,5 hours to get there and once we arrived we weren’t impressed either.
But Then we Actually Arrived!
At the point you enter it looks like a super touristy place. Everything is littered, children want you to buy their postcards, there are a lot of restaurants & shops and everywhere are those damn swings. My father and I already got grumpy and wondered when we could leave.
Recommended: The Truth About Bali. & The Best Restaurants in Bali
But we were lucky because the more we walked through the fields the better it got. The tourists were spread over the area, it was less littered and we left the swings behind. It was just adventurous to walk around and climb to the top of the fields. Unfortunately, we got surprised by heavy rain but it was still awesome as we were then sitting there watching it.
When it got less rainy we stepped outside the small stall we hid under and continued our walk through the fields. We skipped the Bali Swings (Way too mainstream.) but we still enjoyed it.
We also almost did a coffee tasting where you can taste different types of coffee produced in Bali. One of them is the famous Luwak Coffee (Yes, the one that finds its way through these cats.) There is even a cow on the mountain so you get some milk for your latte.
What I liked the most was a small stall that also offered different fruits to try. We had a small banana and snakeskin fruit. This one has skin that looks like the one of a snake. (Obviously.) Its flesh is very firm but the taste is sweet. All in all a very delicious fruit.
Related: The Four Best Restaurants in Bali
But Beware
Unfortunately, there is a scam at every corner in the rice fields. The mentioned children with their postcards are just one kind of them. First of all, they will charge you an entrance fee if you come by car. If you come by motorcycle you can just skip it and no one cares about it.
Then everywhere in the fields, people sit and want you to pay for them letting you pass. We found it quite annoying as we already paid for the entrance. Some of them even want each and every person in your group to pay. Some of them you can just skip, but some will stand up against you or even have a barrier. Of course, for most people, this is just a tiny amount to pay but I still don’t like being scammed.
For further reading, I advise you to read this Bali on a budget guide giving you special insight on how to visit Bali without breaking the bank!
Nevertheless visiting the rice terraces in Bali is a great adventure and a must-do when you are in Ubud!
Related: My Bucket List Experience living abroad!
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