This is our view for tonight. Not bad!! Could be a lot worse. We could be at home right now facing “that” unbelievable view. But, right now we’re not! And so . . . . we continue with our adventures.
We had a good few days in Ubud. It is an interesting place, but I think we had an idea in our heads of what we thought it would be like, and that’s not how it ended up being. It’s a busy, crowded, noisy, somewhat chaotic place. We were in the middle of town, so our experience probably would have been different had we been on the outskirts. However, there’s not really a transportation network in the city and B-Rod wasn’t willing to drive a scooter there. Not because he doubts his ability, but he is a bit scared by the amount of people who don’t have the skills riding around, and unclear of the consequences if something nasty occured (the long term Canadian “host” has a very broken/dislocated shoulder as a result of an accident about 6 months ago). So, if we wanted to be around things, we had to be in town. The people in Ubud are pretty amazing. The host of our place, Kopang, and her family welcomed us into their compound with open arms. The two long time residents there (an American and Canadian), took good care of us and helped us make arrangements for things to do. The Balinese people in generally are super friendly and welcoming. If it wasn’t for the people . . . and the food, I don’t think we would have enjoyed our time in Ubud as much.
Ubud was very much about the cultural aspect for us. We saw a traditional dance, went to a few temples, and witnessed the sacred in the every day that is just a part of the culture here.
Our first night in town we ended up at a Kecak (monkey chant) and fire dance. I LOVED it!! B-Rod did too (I think). I don’t think he was into the chanting quite as much as I was.
We both had been pretty lazy for this trip and didn’t really put a lot of thought and effort into what we wanted to see and do. I think it is mainly because we had thought that we were going to be spending our time in Thailand. It really wasn’t until fairly last minute that we made the decision to forgo Thailand while we waited for the mourning period there to end. The only thing either of us really knew was that my aunt and uncle from Hawaii vacationed there very often. Luckily Dave (the Canadian guy who is a longtime resident at our place) set us up with his friend who is a driver and set an itinerary for us follow. So, off we went.
Tegalalung Rice Terraces
Despite being fascinated with rice terraces and having Banaue on my list for ages, neither of us have been to one yet. Pretty incredible. Can’t wait to see more!
I spent the time wandering around. B-Rod took off, and I didn’t realize what he had gotten up to until later when I looked at the pics on the camera.
B-Rod doing what B-Rod does best . . . . . makin’ friends!
Kintamani
Our driver’s name was Gustav. Super nice guy, but there was a bit of a communication problem. Not because he doesn’t know English very well, but because we don’t know any Indonesian!! So, we ended up in this area, not really knowing what it was about. We were just taken to this view point (where we had to pay) and that was all we did here. It was beautiful, but we’re still not quite sure of the significance. The volcano, Mount Batur, is an active one, and had Lake Batur beside it. Maybe it’s an area for hiking??? Is it that we were in the crater of a volcano, looking upon a volcano within that volcano???
Pura Tilta Empir (The Water Temple)
I LOVE touring temples. In Bali there are plenty of them to visit. Most of the temples in Bali are based on the Hindu faith. It will be interesting to notice the difference when we visit some of the Buddhist temples in Bali. The Water Temple is said to have a sacred spring that was created by Indra and has healing properties. There was a whole ceremony that happened around the springs. There were a few tourists taking part, but as I don’t understand the ceremony and I’m not overly familiar with their faith, I choose to remain a fascinated observer.
When entering temples, you are given a sarong to cover your legs. Dave gave us a couple back at the house because he didn’t like the design of the tourist ones. B-Rod kind of liked the red ones they were handing out though:)
The water ceremony began with an offering and prayer just behind the offering area.
Then people entered the water and ducked under the water spout going down along the line.
It was just as interesting all around the temple.
In Bali, they pretty much believe most things have a soul. Anything you see that has a sarong or a sash around it indicates that it is honouring the soul within it.
Coffee Tasting
We ended up at a coffee farm where we were shown around the process of making coffee. It was interesting, and B-Rod was fascinated by how the plants look different than the ones on my uncles coffee farm in Hawaii. They also made tea and made all of the spices for the teas on their land.
Got to sample a few different coffees and teas which was fun even for a non-coffee drinker.
Todd is going to be soooooo jealous. B-Rod even sampled the Luwak coffee, otherwise known as cat-poo-chino!!
Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)
From our coffee experience, we went to an archaeological site which had been built as a spiritual place for meditation. It was pretty spread out, so it was nice because it seemed fairly quiet and peaceful.
Entrance to the cave
Inside the cave
How many penises . . . . . ?
It was a pretty long day and afterwards we were really appreciative of the fact (or I was anyways), that David made arrangements for us to have massages. Perfect way to end the day!
Yesterday, we left Ubud and made our way to Amed, which is a diving area on the island. We had planned to do the south of Thailand to go diving for our original trip plans, so we wanted to make sure diving was a part of this trip. The countryside in Bali is amazing and there were a few areas I would have loved to have spent time in.
Amed is said to be a place where you go snorkelling, diving and not much else. Perfect!! The beaches aren’t spectacular and the one by our place is just a rocky beach, but we’re by the ocean, it’s warm (Rocky has complained about being too hot a couple of times!!!), it’s a lot calmer and quieter than Ubud, and we could use a bit of time to not do much. Life in this part of the world is pretty good!
