Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A RICE-PADDY WALK THROUGH UBUD KAJA
Running east of, and almost parallel to, the
Campuhan ridge walk
is an almost circular
rice-paddy walk
that begins and ends in the northern part of Ubud known as
Ubud Kaja
(
kaja
literally means “upstream, towards the mountains”). The complete walk takes about
two and a half hours and is flat, though there's not much shade. About 800m into the walk
the
Sari Organik
café makes a lovely place for a break, and you can refill water bottles here
too.
The walk begins from the western end of
Jalan Raya Ubud
, just before the overhead
aqueduct, where a track leads up to the
Abangan Bungalows
on the north side of the road.
Head up the slope and, at the top, follow the track, which bends to the left before straight-
ening out, passing
Gusti's Garden 2
bungalows and heading north to
Sari Organik
, passing
the spa Cantika on the way. From here the route is straightforward, following the track,
which is paved in places, for about 3km as it slices through gently
terraced ricefields
fringed with coconut palms; you should see scores of beautifully coloured dragonflies and
plenty of
birdlife
, including, possibly, iridescent blue Javanese kingfishers. There are a
number of art shops/studios where you can get a drink en route.
After about an hour and a quarter, the track ends at a sealed road. For the most straight-
forward version of the walk, turn around here and retrace your steps.
Alternatively, if you want a bit of an adventure, turn right onto the road, which rises,
curves and then falls to cross the river. The
southbound track
starts almost immediately
after the bridge and runs east of the river. After five minutes of following the track through
the village, it forks; take the right fork, keeping the water channel on your right. Another
five minutes later a dirt path heads up into the paddy fields to your left; take this path. At
this point the southbound track becomes totally indistinct and for the next thirty minutes
you should try to follow the narrow paths along the top of the ricefield dykes, sticking
roughly to a southerly direction and keeping the river in view on your right. You'll in-
evitably wind in and out on the paths through the paddies rather than being able to head
straight-as-an-arrow south. Don't forget to look back at the amazing
views of Gunung
Agung
(cloud cover permitting): with the mountain in the background and the conical-hat-
ted farmers working in the glittering ricefields, these views are perfect real-life versions of
the Walter Spies-style paintings you see in the museums and galleries of Ubud. After thirty
minutes or so you'll see a rough path about 5 or 6m below you to the right on the riverbank.
Scramble down some rough-cut muddy steps to reach the path. This will lead you back to
Ubud through some light forest and then paddyfields.
Twenty-five minutes after the scramble down you'll reach the
outskirts of Ubud
. When
the path forks, take the left fork steeply down to a stone bridge. The road bends right,
