One thing that you guys know about me is that I’m such a morning person — and in Ubud, that comes with its perks. Before and during sunrise is the most magical time in vibrant city, for sure. There’s a morning glow that peeks from the jungles, a soft breeze that rustles the leaves and a lively market that starts as early as 6 AM right in the center of town, which luckily was only 10 minutes by foot from our lovely hotel. 🐾
Everyone we met in Ubud had told us about the beauty of this market. In the early mornings, it’s a farmer’s market, where fruit, vegetable and poultry farmers drive their trucks and set up shop (using the backs of their trucks) right in the middle of the market parking space and even on the side of the road! All the fruits and vegetables are wonderfully cheap — you can even haggle if you’d like — and we got this huge assortment of tropical fruit for LESS THAN 5 DOLLARS! 🍉🍍🍌 By 8 AM, the farmer’s market quickly disappears and musters into a knick-knack haven, which you may recognize in an iconic scene from Julia Roberts’ Eat Pray Love, and we got some fun souvenirs for our parents and even a couple decorations for our apartment!
Walking through the morning market was a dream, surrounded by exotic fruits (so many varieties of coconuts, seriously), beautiful flowers, and friendly faces. We picked up a few dragon fruit, the locals call it pitaya (pit-ah-ya), which was my favorite fruit to eat growing up in Hong Kong. Cutting these babies open in our hotel room definitely brought back some nostalgic childhood memories of splitting the fruit with my grandma, digging out the flesh with a spoon and staining half my face pink! We also got two mini pineapples, Jay’s favorite, and a bunch of tiny bananas to feed the monkeys at the Monkey Temple we were planning to go to later that day. 🐒
If you are planning to travel to Ubud, definitely put this market on your to do list. It’s a great chance to chit-chat with the locals, try some exotic and fun foods, and just soak in the liveliness of Ubud central!
So many more Bali adventures coming soon! Can’t wait to share them all with you! xo
Kimberly Hsieh says
Looks like you had so much fun in Bali! Were the dragon fruits white or pink inside? Pink ones are my favorite!!
xo, http://www.lovekimber.com
Waikei Tong says
PINK! Those are my fave too 😋
affecionada says
How gorgeous! What a nice way to spend a morning. Looking forward to more Bali posts. xx
Jen | affecionada
Waikei Tong says
Thanks so much! 🙂
Jacqueline Sin says
Oh my gosh Bali looks amazing! I also LOVE dragon fruits (perks of growing up in Hong Kong *high-five* hehe) and seeing all these tropical fruits that you don’t see in Europe/ the States make me happy 😀 I am dying to visit Bali (hope I will get the chance to soon) and I can’t wait for your other Bali travel posts! <3
Jacqueline | Sail Away to Neverland ♡
Waikei Tong says
AH YES! Hong Kong is the best! 🙌🏼 And I feel ya, seeing the exotic fruit and foods make me super happy too (I think I saw a few durian, too!!) But thank you babe! So much more to come xo 😁
Marissa Levain says
You look like you’re having the best time! Adore these shots 🙂 You’re the cutest!!!
Waikei Tong says
Thanks so much babe! It’s been the best vacation!!