Fields of tranquility

Walking down Ubud’s main street, Jalan Raya Ubud, makes you feel like you are in just another touristy tropical destination. There are shops, people trying to sell you taxi rides or dance show tickets, a Starbucks... it doesn’t seem all that tranquil. If you find yourself here looking for the natural beauty that people have told you about, head north for about 500 metres and you’ll find it.

In fact, head down any laneway you like at any point you like. Ubud is a region rather than a town – it is made up of about 12 different villages. The main streets that you come across are thin fronts for the rural life sitting just behind it

When you move past the town, you may find jungle, or you may find miles and miles of rice paddies. Either is good, but a walk amongst the rice paddies is akin to a warm bath: you cannot help but relax. At the time that we arrived, we the seedlings were just sprouting, so we could see the care with which each row had been planted. There were symmetrical little lines of green grass coming out of the mud in each paddy, each paddy being one patch in the quilt that made up the fields stretching all around. It was like being drowned in a sea of green.

As you walk along the stony path that runs between the paddies you can see the farmers working in the fields as well as little shrines that can be found every hundred metres or so (Ubud is a very spiritual place: you can’t go far without coming across a temple, a shrine or an offering left on the ground). The fields are like a massive, intricate artwork – beauty is can be seen from a distance, and beauty can be seen from close up.

Rice paddies and jungle make up the stretches between the towns in Ubud. Go in any direction away from the concrete and you will find yourself in one of the other.