Talk:Ubud

Guide Status of this Article

As I understand it, an article cannot have guide status unless it closely matches the Wikivoyage manual of style. This one does not as virtually all of the listings are not templated but are instead just bulleted text.

There was also no Get Out information but I corrected that.

I have therefore changed status of article to usable. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 09:31, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

It probably used to, but was destroyed by spammers at some point. Other than the chaotic sleep section, I pretty much think it's up to guide status. But seeing that awful mess, you are probably right to demote it. --(WT-en) Stefan (sertmann) ^Talk 09:36, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

The article is actually well written and extremely accurate. It is a great shame that it has been somewhat tainted by non-standard sleep listings. Sadly, this seems quite a common problem. With a couple of other Bali articles I have laboriously corrected all the non-templated listings but there are far too many in this article to set about that task. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 09:40, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

Yes, my mistake, I thought it would be up to guide status, but missed the sleep listings. (WT-en) Globe-trotter 10:18, 21 September 2009 (EDT)

For a place like Ubud with a zillion hotels, you can just nuke spammy listings on sight — there's no need for more than 5-9 options per price category. I'll do a first sweep. (WT-en) Jpatokal 11:56, 21 September 2009 (EDT)

Very good Jani. If you do that and there are a manageable number of non-standard listings, I am happy to do any grunt work required to put into a templated format and get this article back to guide status (which it deserves). I have a number of additional good See and Do listings to add as well for major attractions that are missing, (see Central Bali for example. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 12:09, 21 September 2009 (EDT)

Star nomination discussion

This is probably the single most important of all our Bali articles. Ubud was recently voted the number 1 favourite Asian city destination of Conde Naste Traveller readers, and it has been in the news both because of that, and the hype surrounding the filming of Eat, Pray, Love,.

I think I have done more work on this article than any other in the past 4 or 5 months, and I am now very happy with it and believe it is up to star guide standard. It is a long article and I thank in advance those who make it all the way through! As usual, all comments gratefully received.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 07:39, 8 March 2010 (EST)

• Amazing work and admit that i really like it. It seems that i missed a couple of interesting spots at my last stay in Ubud in 2008! So, now my issues.

1. Imho it lacks some contrasts and maybe it would help to have two maps. A more detailed one of the "centre" and a broader overview map for general orientation. I know, it has been discussed but the current map is a compromise we might don't want to have for a star article.
2. Monkey: I strongly suggest to expand the Stay safe section with a warning on Monkey like in Uluwatu because most unwary traveller don't expect to be harassed from them like they actually do.
3. Call me ignorant but this Eat, Pray, Love story crosses my attention the first time. At least in Swiss, Germany etc. Ubud is known for its art, Balinese music performance and as a yoga retreat. I would prefer to have the EPL thing a bit lower in the text as imho it's a bit promotional.
4. Hotels: I spotted a couple typos/spaces etc. Maybe some native speaker has a closer look.
5. Eat: In the splurge section you name the Maya Ubud (best coconut ice in my life and i'm picky) and the ??? for their kitchen as well. Maybe you enter the Restaurants of these hotel as a listing because the Maya definitely proofs the exception of the rule.

I will have a closer look on the weekend but that's the points that catched my eye at first glance. Thanks again, (WT-en) jan 13:39, 10 March 2010 (EST)

• Support. A pleasure to read, and up to star standards as far as I can tell. Nice sleep section, by the way—it can be really hard to keep coming up with good descriptions for hotels when you have so many in one article!

A couple things to be aware of: Most publishing style guides recommend that numbers 1–20 be spelled out when used in prose, other than for times and money (admittedly, though, I have zero knowledge of British publishing standards). Our convention is to write XAM-YPM daily, that is, the daily after the times is requisite. And remember the serial comma ;)

Since my complaints were pretty trivial, I just went ahead and made the changes myself. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 14:17, 10 March 2010 (EST)

• Support. It does read well and appears to have the listings needed. I do not know if this disqualifies the article from being a star, but I think it could be improved by adding/expanding intros to some sections and maybe also subsections. See has no intros at all, and the intros to do and eat are rather short. In my opinion, listings become more interesting to read, if an introduction has given the reader an idea of what to expect from the listings. One other thing, are there no other drinking places worth mentioning?, --(WT-en) ClausHansen 15:36, 10 March 2010 (EST)

Whoa. 3 sets of comments overnight! Thank you all very much, really. All very positive, and I am pleased the article reads well. It has been a long job getting it to this stage. Specific comments:

• The EPL Phenomenon. It is huge jan. I am sure your girlfriend will have heard of this damnable book. Far from being promotional, the info box piece is designed to be quirky, and actually poke fun rather at the hordes of acolytes who have flocked to Ubud seeking redemption, after reading the book. Right at the beginning I call it turgid, which is hardly promotional!

• Jan, on restaurants in hotels, I do not think we should break the rule in a star article of all places. I have mentioned Maya briefly as it is a great restaurant (pleased you agree!), but it should not be there as a listing when it is already in the sleep section. That is definitely a slippery slope, and not one I would care to take a step on to.

• Section intros. Claus - let me work a little bit more on those. Good points and well taken.

• Numbers. Hah:). I will be guided by you there Peter. Certainly the rule I have always used is one to ten as words, 11+ as numbers. That may be a rather old-fashioned British rule of thumb though. Thanks for making the changes, and for the general proofing corrections. LOL on serial commas! I am trying to change a habit of a lifetime, and I at least got some of them :).

• Map. I am very much of the view that one map should be enough. This one prints in guide book size perfectly, and it is easily readable. If a user opened it and printed on a standard A4 computer printer (much larger than guide book), it is very clear indeed. Big squarish maps are an issue for in-article legibility, but I am not sure what we can do about that. Print-wise though, the map is absolutely fine. I can also say with some confidence that this map is more correct than other Ubud travel maps. The maps I have looked at in LP, Rough Guide and elsewhere all have some howling mistakes. You need local knowledge for the road layout, as well as using public domain map sources, as the latter are not especially accurate for Central Bali.

• Drinking places. Not really Claus, other than restaurants/cafes. I might be able to add some cafes as bars, and will think about that. I make the point upfront that Ubud is really not a night time drinking place, citing the music curfew. That's not why people go there. You are quite correct though to notice that the drink section is disproportionately short. Let me try to address that at least a little.

• Monkey warning. Very good point and will do.

Thanks again and I will get going on some of that.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 21:36, 10 March 2010 (EST)

After Claus' comments, I have added two more cafes which double as bars. This is scraping the barrel a bit though, and that's it for bars! Also updated the map, adding these and a few other recent bits and pieces.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 01:13, 11 March 2010 (EST)

• Support Burmesedays: I asked my girl friend and my team assistant and both didn't know EPL. The German Wikipedia only have a brief article about the author so maybe it failed in the german speaking countries. I stayed in the Maya Ubud for three nights and only have praise for them but i understand you don't want to open pandora's box (i remember the Mainski debate on the Nusa Lembongan talk page). Only thing is the map where even my 2006 Lonely Planet already had two maps which where useful and would allow a bit more detail for the center. (WT-en) jan 08:16, 11 March 2010 (EST)

Thanks Jan. You should be grateful that EPL has not made it (yet) into the German speaking world :). I did move the info box further down after your earlier comment. Maya is a great resort, it really is, and I am happy to hear you had a good time there. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 08:34, 11 March 2010 (EST)

• Support — great job all in all, I'm hard put to find anything at all to improve. Maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon though, but it seems to paint slightly too bright a picture of the town, and I've added in some of the downsides: terrible traffic (in the town center) and poor local transportation, for starters. It needs at least one picture of central Ubud's ugliness and congestion though, since it's not all terraced rice paddies... (WT-en) Jpatokal 07:01, 12 March 2010 (EST)

• Support. When I read this, I see I really missed a lot last summer I was there :( :P But it's a great article! I added one more restaurant listing and also made some other small changes if you don't mind (and updated the map). About EPL: I feel exactly the same as jan, here in the Netherlands it is unheard of and even while having visited Ubud, I had never heard of it before. --(WT-en) globe-trotter 07:55, 12 March 2010 (EST)

Fair comments Jani. The problems with Bali's infrastructure have been highlighted in other articles, but somehow Ubud escaped. That is wrong and should be addressed. Also, I am so used to these problems these days, I barely notice. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 08:04, 12 March 2010 (EST)

Thanks G-t. Proof-reading is not one of my strong points :). Good addition as well.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 08:04, 12 March 2010 (EST)

and starified.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 05:57, 4 April 2010 (EDT)

Bali 3000 closed?

A comment was left to day in article that is has closed. If so, that's the end of the best internet establishment Bali has ever had. The website is still up but they are not answering the phone so I guess it may be true. I will post the listing here just in case. I guess it's a sign of the times - free WiFi is killing off even the best specialist internet cafes.

• <listing name="Bali 3000" alt="" address="Jl Raya Ubud" directions="" phone="+62 361 978538" url="http://bali3000.com/" hours="8AM-11PM daily" price="Rp 20,000 per hour" lat="" long="" email="" fax="">is now closed</listing>

--(WT-en) Burmesedays 05:35, 30 April 2010 (EDT)

This page is sold at Amazon as eBook

I was looking for a bali travel guide ebook at amazon and downloaded the sample of this guide: http://www.amazon.de/2011-Ubud-Travel-Guide-ebook/dp/B004TSJ88O/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1312391521&sr=1-3

It's just this wiki page and it is being sold for 2,99 EUR. I don't know if this is legit... —The preceding comment was added by 91.49.63.164 (talk • contribs)

Yes, if a bit shady. Our Copyleft allows anyone to use our travel guides for any purpose. The hope is that the information will be spread far and wide. (WT-en) LtPowers 16:58, 3 August 2011 (EDT)

Comments from MastaHanky

Great article - I'm in Ubud now and am updating a few minor things here and there to keep things accurate. I also added one more restaurant listing (Cafe Clear) because there weren't any vegetarian/vegan-friendly options listed in the Eat section.--(WT-en) MastaHanky 06:39, 19 September 2011 (EDT)

Resort photos

Ran across an article with some stunning photos of an Ubud resort: http://luxduck.com/stacked-infinity-pools-bali-rainforest-pics/

Similar photos here would be nice. Pashley (talk) 15:38, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

Tour listing moved from article

This tour listing has a clearly promotional tone, but I also seriously doubt this tour gives "value added" as defined at Wikivoyage:Tour:

• Ubud Waterfall Tour, Jl Raya Ir. Soekarno, ☏ +62 81 558 418 737, reservation@balitraveldeal.com. 9 hours. Explore the village with its friendly people and its artist at their own houses while they are making the art works. Then stop at Ubud monkey rain forest, try the famous Crispy Duck set menu for your lunch, and have a time to visit Ubud Market to see the variety of art work/handicraft like wood carving, bag, painting, clothes and a lot of more. Then you will driven to Kemenuh Village to see the waterfall. USD 50.00/car. 

Ikan Kekek (talk) 05:11, 26 May 2016 (UTC)