THE EARTH MOTHER’S GUIDE TO Ubud
TWO YEARS AGO, SARAH LAIRD – FOUNDER OF NEW YORK AND LONDON-BASED ARTIST AGENCY SARAH LAIRD & GOOD COMPANY – TRADED IN HER BUSY MANHATTAN LIFE IN SEARCH OF A CLOSER CONNECTION TO THE EARTH. SHE FOUND WHAT SHE WAS LOOKING FOR IN UBUD, BALI. AS TOLD TO OLIVIA LEE
I’d never been to Bali before we decided to move here in 2015. For 28 years, my husband and I had lived in New York, running a business, raising our four children, dashing from after-school clubs to client meetings to industry parties and family dinners. We often talked whimsically about ‘getting away’, ‘reconnecting with nature’, but usually after a glass of wine and never with real conviction. We were happy in New York. It was only when my husband, Ken, took our two younger kids with him to Mongolia, in 2014, that the idea of escaping the city became one we couldn’t shake.
Ken works as a photographer, shooting in remote locations around the world. On this particular trip, they were staying in a small Mongolian camp, a full day’s drive from Ulaanbaatar. It was eyeopening for our children, aged 14 and 15. For the first time in years they put down their phones and tablets. They drank milk straight from a yak, rode horseback through the mountains, played archery with local herders. They learned more about the earth in that week than I’d been able to teach them their whole lives in New York. It was like a lightning bolt – if we wanted our children to understand the world we lived in, we needed to let them really live in it.
A lot of people thought the move to Bali was drastic, but for us it felt completely organic. In many ways our lives are similar to how they were in the States. I still run my business. Ken still shoots all over the world. The kids still go to school. It’s just that now they learn in classrooms made of bamboo. I spend my lunch breaks zipping past rice fields on a scooter, not pushing through crowds on noisy streets. We buy our groceries from a permaculture farmers’ market, eat at restaurants that use home-grown ingredients, and shop in stores that put emphasis on provenance and quality. We don’t go out of our way to do these things – it’s just that in Bali, you’re connected to the earth in almost everything you do. Time seems more precious here, and the planet more fragile.
This feels especially true for Ubud – a small town at the heart of the island – where there’s a sense that everyone is working together for the earth. I’ve lived here for two years now and have fallen in love with the places that make up this artisanal town, all of which encourage you to remember that the planet is bigger than any one person. It’s refreshing and uplifting, and it makes Ubud a destination that inspires those who spend time there. On the following pages, a selection of my favourite places.