Ubud and just Bali

Our first two days in Bali were spent lounging around on Kuta beach. Not much to report here and actually I just want to write about Ubud. 

We left Kuta for Ubud Wednesday afternoon and it seems that our luck with transport is still a bit rotten. The bus broke down and we had to get out and give it a push up the road. Nothing to complain about apart from the fact that I did notice Katie Finn cheekily stayed in the bus while the rest of us huffed and puffed the bus up the road. Anyway, we got to Ubud and after dumping our bags in the hostel ran out the door to catch a traditional dance performance in one of the local temples. Local dancers told us the story of their legendary Sita princess in traditional costumes. The music was made by the voices of the men and we were engrossed for the full show. We rounded off the evening having some Balinese tapas before bed. 

Our continuing bad luck with transport didn't end with the bus. Just after I asked Katie - and I mean literally within a second - if she trusted me enough to drive her around all day on a moped, we skidded on some sand at the bottom of a tiny bump in the road and off we toppled off to the side. In fairness, it was the slowest fall in the history of mopeds falls. My leg was a bit scratched but no injuries to report. The biggest victim was the right mirror, smashed into pieces. We were lucky that a lady from the salon across the road, Sri, saw what happened and took us in. She cleaned up my wound and took our bike to a garage down the road where they replaced the mirrors for 5$. We struck gold with her. Such a genuinely nice person who actually apologised to us about the that the mirrors costing so much.

Happy to report the rest of our day went a hell of a lot better. We must have driven at least 50km through small villages, past hundreds of Hindu temples and not to forget the amazing rice terraces we came across. After stopping for a tea we climbed down into the terraces and found ourselves being led around the different levels by a local farmer who showed us a few things we wouldn't have found ourselves. The rest of our day was then spent finding our way back to Ubud and eating suspicious looking tofu from a local cafe. When we got back to Ubud we ended up visiting a Monkey Sanctuary in the centre of Ubud. We were a bit wary of them seeing as they were fighting with each other, grabbing things from other people and lifting up the skirts of some women. Awkwardly, one man asked such a woman if she was hiding a banana up her skirt. Scarlet for all involved. 

Our second day in Ubud has beaten all so far. We enjoyed driving around by ourselves the day before but the cycling tour we booked with Bali Emerald was unbelievable. We were picked up at 7.45 from our hostel along with our other tour members. I won't go into too much detail because this post will become a mile long but here's a rough breakdown:

- stopped at coffee plantation where we got some insight into coffee harvesting. Tried all sorts of teas and coffees - Katie got a cup of the famous Kopi Luwak or CAT-POO-CCINO as we heard someone say. Seeing as I'm suffering from 'Bali belly' at the moment I stuck to the teas.

- second stop was for breakfast with a spectacular view of Kintamani Volcani and Batur lake. Picture below, the black part to the left of the slope is lava from an eruption 20 years ago.

- freewheeeled 20KMs downhill through the most amazing Balinese countryside.

- stopped at the holy Banyon Tree on the island. We were embarrassed because a couple of tourists were swinging out of the vines, which was clearly requested not to happen. The ladies were also requested not to approach the tree if they were menstruating, cue some discrete conversations on the side between a few tourists. 

- finally ended the tour by cycling the last 4km uphill and after wiping the sweat off our faces sat down to a local Indonesian lunch overlooking rice terraces. Not a bad way to spend the day. 

Then to take the edge off our strenuous workout we called in to the salon of our friend Sri (the lady who saved us in our moped skid) for a Balinese massage and floated in dream land for the rest of the day.

Having a cup of the good stuff:

Mount Batur Volcano, Kintamani:

Banyon Tree:

Our third day in Ubud went something like this...we got up reasonably early, had breakfast and mooched around the market for a while. Katie is an awful influence. After six months of travelling almost I haven't bought one souvenir. One morning with her and I've a bag full of stuff. Anyway, one fish pedicure, one actual pedicure and one portion of street vendor noodles later we found ourselves hiring a driver (that's how we roll) to take us to the Tanah Lot temple on the west coast. Except he didn't just drive us there. He took us to another coffee plantation, the royal family temple (no menstruating ladies allowed!) and then Tanah Lot. Now, be warned, Tanah Lot is jammers with tourists but for a very good reason; it's out of this world beautiful. Then the evening we spent eating chicken and pork sate and black rice pudding from a local restaurant. Bliss.

Fish pedicure:

Ubud statue by local market:

Royal Family Temple:

Tanah Lot Temple:

That's that for now. Tomorrow morning we have an early start to go off and catch a boat to the Gili islands where I expect to snorkel to my hearts content. 

If you are interested, below is a couple things we learned about Balinese culture: (and mostly because I can't help myself). 

• a baby does not touch the ground for the first three months of it's life.
• the husband assumes all the wife's chores for the first three months of above baby's life.
• placenta of new born is buried within family compound in a coconut to ask spirits to protect the child. 
• yellow and white means a balance between holiness and purity. 
• black and white means a balance between good and bad, meaning security.
• offerings to spirits (good and bad) are made twice a day by families. Little banana leaf trays are filled with food and flowers and left on pavements in the morning and evening.
• people have their teeth filed in straight lines to remove any 'imperfections' in their characters.
• they believe in reincarnation - but that an ancestor will come into the body of a baby - not a random spirit.
• a Balinese house (compound) is split into three; head (temple and grandparents house), body (family celebrations like funerals, weddings and baptisms) and legs (sleeping area, kitchen and toilet). 
• when people die they are buried for five years then dug up and cremated in a mass cremation. We were told this was the split the cost of the cremation.
• Bali Hindus sell their beef to the Muslims while the Muslims sell their pork back to the Hindus. 

Offerings: