We went to Ubud Morning Market as part of our cooking class. There are actually two markets in Ubud, both interconnected. The Ubud Morning Market is where the locals go while the Ubud Traditional Art Market is a more tourist oriented market. The latter was featured in Eat Pray Love and is known locally as Pasar Seni Ubud.
I thought that going for a Balinese cooking lesson was a cool thing to do while on vacation, although I can’t claim credit for it. My better half was the one who thought of it and booked us the classes. The van picked us up in the morning and we went to the Ubud Morning Market for a tour of the place and to sample some local produce as well.
Our guide took us through the sight, sounds and smells of the Ubud Morning Market…
…and I thought it was very refreshing that there was no attempt to sell us on anything (probably coz these are mostly produce).
The fruits, vegetables and meat are mostly familiar except for this unusual specimen:
This was described as a “sweet passionfruit” to us and we all got a taste of it. I thought it was a buah salak at first. It’s not passionfruit as we know it, this is a South American breed called granadilla. Unlike our purple passionfruit, this is orange and features a seed matrix that looks like kiwano (horned melon).
It’s very sweet with no sour notes and nice to eat by itself. The pulp is very tasty.
A clockwork orange. π
Bali is also able to grow their own grapes now. I tried one of the first batches of Balinese wine made from Balinese grapes in Club Med Bali in 2013 and it was decent, if rather immature.
There are also knives and other local goods on display at the Bali Morning Market.
My dear spotted a mortar that she really liked – it’s made out of volcanic rock from Bali! I paid IDR 60,000 (about RM 20) which is quite a good deal.
We also walked around the touristy Ubud Traditional Art Market after we finished our cooking lesson. It’s worth a stroll even though you’ll find most of the things here are mass produced souvenir kitsch. My better half also had a theory that if we were carrying a certain color of plastic bag, it means that we were willing to spend more, or rather am susceptible to be conned more easily. Haha!
I don’t know how true that is, but I had limited headway while bargaining for a set of three kittens that my dear liked. I think we ended up paying RM 80 for it. I don’t think there’s a plastic bag conspiracy though, it seems quite unlikely in the free market everyone-for-themselves nature of the tourist trade, but you never know.
I love markets…anywhere! The ones overseas are so different and so very interesting and this one is even more so. I sure would love to walk around and browse.
They find our Sibu market very interesting too, the biggest in the country and different in more ways than one from the ones in the peninsula, or so they say.
Yeah, I’ve always loved going to markets in different countries.
We’ve been to a really nice on in Germany too, couldn’t speak the language but by pointing and asking (with some bad English on their part) we bought a lot of deli meats and jelly suspensions (one of their specialities) for a nice lunch.
Sometimes our better halves are better planners with brilliant & impossible ideas that work. Lucky you!
I just realised I didn’t see this area of Ubud as I had no idea this small town exists. I myself love to visit local markets and even back lanes of the streets in overseas.
Thank you for sharing the vibrant photos.
Yeah, she’s really awesome for booking something that we both like to do.
It’s so different too – learning how to cook Balinese food in Ubud. Brilliant stuff.
Ubud used to be a backpacker town, really small when I first came here in the early 2000’s but it’s quite commercialized now. I can’t believe how much has changed in 14 years, the tourist trade has made Ubud like how Kuta is now.
What is that fruit? Can get over here? Curious, never tried before.
It’s a South American granadilla!
I’m not sure if you can get it in Malaysia though, they call it a passionfruit, which it both is and isn’t. We get the normal passionfruit here but I’ve never seen granadilla here. It’s not impossible though, we have a lot of imported stuff e.g. kiwano, which I’ve never thought would be available in KL.
After cycling in Ubud, the locals gave us free oranges from their orchards…yea, it looked exactly like the one u had.
I enjoyed strolling in morning markets too (especially when in foreign land) as u get to see their what their locals have, but unfortunately I did not get to visit Ubud market.
Nice! It seems like a fun thing to do cycling in Ubud!
I think we’ll try that next time we’re in Bali, have heard of people cycling in the interiors and in the Muslim majority island of Lombok. Lombok is quite different from Bali coz it’s not majority Hindu so it’s a little like a Malaysian island but more people are going there nowadays coz it’s relatively unspoiled.
I’ve not even been to the markets here in PJ. LoL. I’m not a market person and buys everything from the supermarkets with aircond and trolleys…
Haha! I do go to markets in KL and PJ.
It’s quite fun though, can find unusual stuff sometimes – we have gotten baby sharks, live frogs and eels from markets before.
Reading your post makes me wanna go traveling!!
Yeah you should!
We got another trip coming up soon, this time to Japan.
wow…it’s so happening over there! Love the refreshing view of the market as well as the fresh produce!
Yeah, it was a lot of fun!
The market visit was refreshing coz it wasn’t a tour where they’re constantly trying to get you to buy stuff. It was more of a value add thing to the main cooking course.
The Theory of a certain color of plastic bag – how did it come about? And what is the color of plastic bag?
Haha! I don’t honestly know!
You have to ask my better half. I think it’s something about a certain color of plastic bag means you don’t bargain and is easier to “cheat” and if it’s another color you drive a hard bargain and other sellers will know if it’s the former and ask for a higher price.
I don’t think it sounds logical in the free enterprise market though…
I love those passionfruits! The white-fleshed ones are the best, they have a really special “grapey” taste. Glad you got to try them. Still a bit early for durian there I guess? Should be end of November.
Yeah, I believe they’re quite common in your part of the world!
I’ve personally never had them until now. They’re soooo good though, very sweet, unlike the sour regular passionfruit. Both has their merits though, the regular passionfruit we get here tastes wonderful when juiced.
I can’t find any durians in Sibu! I’ll try looking again this weekend.
Many things to see and buy in Bali.
Yup, we went to Ubud instead for the culture.
My better half did go to Kuta though when I was in Taiwan (she came earlier coz I was held back by the Taiwan trip) so I only joined her after I got back.
I have been to this market. Yes, a lot of things to see and the vendors not aggressive as some.
Color coded plastic bag…hmmm…interesting theory. Could be that those stall selling pricer stuff uses certain type of plastic bag…others just plain black color bag
Yup, it’s a nice place to buy stuff.
We also got a pestle and mortar made of volcanic rock from Bali. There’s a lot of interesting things like that in Ubud Market. I hear there was another volcanic eruption lately which stranded a lot of people in Bali. More material for making the volcanic rock pestle and mortars then. Haha!
Might be, I’m not sure it sounds plausible though, the plastic bag theory.