Early bird tickets are now on sale for Bali’s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2011. Click here, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Go buy”, which will let you download the booking form. If you want to know before you download: it’s 290AUD for a four-day pass for international attendees, … read the full post

Preparations for this year’s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival are bearing excellent fruit with a raft of prominent international writers confirmed to be attending the October 5 to 9 event. The full programme is set to be announced in a few weeks, with discounted early bird tickets set to be available within that time frame … read the full post

Bali’s Green School is a spectacular campus set just outside Ubud. Nestled in a river valley among rice fields the school is surrounded by village paths and backroads, which, as it turns out, make excellent fodder for a bit of cycling around Bali. With that in mind, some of the more pedal-minded parents have put … read the full post

There was a stuff up the other day when I headed to Fivelements outside Ubud for what was supposed to be a very special treat for myself and my four-year-old daughter: a spa treatment, an afternoon tea and a puppet show. The show was cancelled, but I didn’t see the email they sent me; I … read the full post

Update Monday August 27, 2012 We were deeply saddened to hear this morning that Brian has passed away. Many ribs and way too many martini with martini chasers were enjoyed alongside his wit and fine humour. Our deepest condolences to his family. RIP Brian. Roadside shack Naughty Nuri’s is an Ubud institution, open since 1995 … read the full post

I think the bit where Julia Roberts gets stuck in a traffic jam must have ended up on the cutting room floor, but here’s a nice little video to illustrate the traffic situation in Bali’s cultural heartland, Ubud. No easy solutions, but banning tour buses would be a good start.

We arrive in Ubud after dark with a sleeping Mr 2 and overtired Ms 4 in tow, and the long walk down a narrow footpath between mossy high walls doesn’t inspire confidence in the place we have booked to stay at for the weekend. As we enter Ubud Lestari, Mr Travelfish, who poked his head … read the full post

The Ubud Botanical Gardens had its “soft opening” in mid 2006 and from the look of their website and the pics on the wall at the main reception area, it must have been quite a place through the next year or so… Fast forward to early 2011 and the gardens are, well, a bit the … read the full post

You’ve seen Eat Pray Love right? No? Lucky you. In the middle of the Bali portion of the film, Julia Roberts takes a stroll through the central market in Ubud and careful watchers will notice that the market doesn’t appear to be “traditional” (muddy and full of flopping fish, shivering ducks and long dead cows) … read the full post