Ubud must be the cultural capital of
Bali. Every street for a 10km (or more) radius was lined with every
imaginable artisan shop: wood carvings, beautifully carved wooden
doors, cultures, bone and stone carvings, furniture (huge wooden
table tops), jewellery (silver, stone, gold), glass sculptures,
paintings, clothing, weaving, etc, etc, etc. SO MUCH ART. Ubud is
also home to a Monkey Forest, so you can guess what we did on our
first day there. Let's go look at the monkeys!! I was pretty sure
I'd had my share of monkeys in India (they're ALL over the place,
inhabiting almost every Hindu temple all over the country), but
really, you can never take enough photos of the cute monkeys! :P
There were also two temples in the forest. The smaller one was a
bathing pool and the larger one was a temple complex. Lining the
paths though the forest were statues, many of then with huge penises
or breasts. You certainly didn't have any difficulty determining the
sex of the statues.
After taking countless photos of the
adorable baby monkeys and the large balled male adults I left the
girls to their own devices and started out on a walk around the
countryside; down narrow, frangipani lined lanes, across bridges over
lush green and deep ravines, passing wood working workshops, small
houses, temples and community centers, through vibrant green rice
paddies and down through cool, damp gullies. The countryside of Bali
is a beautifully laid back paradise.
On our second day is Ubud we planned to
rent bikes and see some sights close to Ubud. I was hoping to get a
semi-early start, but between the speed at which the girls move and
Indonesian time (like Cambodian and Indian time) we didn't set off
till quarter past eleven. Finally, we set of to explore on our
wheels. It didn't take long for me to realize that the bike was not
adjusted properly for my body, the seat was way too low and the
handle bars didn't feel right. Unfortunately, the seat was not one
of those easily adjustable ones, although I was able to raise it a
bit, it was wobbly for the rest of the day, not the safest thing in
the world, especially when your flying down steep and windy roads. :P
The first sight we went to was Goa
Ganja, a Hindu cave made in the 11th century. The cave and bathing
pools were interesting, but we had more fun trekking down to the
river (a few hundred feet below), across a rickety bamboo bridge and
then clambering on the huge rocks in the river. It was quiet and
secluded, so I stripped to my underthings and cooled off in the
water. It was delightful! On the way back up we stopped for a fresh
coconut and after the lady asked us what we were doing that day she
kindly gave us directions to the next place on our list. Yeh Pulu is
a 89 ft long relief carved into a small cliff. It depicts scenes
from everyday life and probably dates to the 14th or 15th century.
Interesting, but it didn't hold our attention for long. We decided
to circle back to Ubud through the town of Pejeng, it was one long
uphill climb. Me and my bike were NOT friends. :P Just outside of
Pejeng we had a nice rest to look at a temple that was open. The
architecture on their temples is beautiful. It might not anything on
Angkor Wat, but it's still pretty to look at. The way back to Ubud
was down a HUGE hill, across the ravine, and up, up, up, up, up, up
the other side. It was a long way back up, on a bike that was not
Jewel friendly; I cursed my bike the whole way. Thankfully there was
a reward in Ubud. After showers and a small rest, we got back on the
bikes and went to a local burrito place. I had FISH
TACOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were STUPENDOUS!!! Rosie had her first ever
burrito. I don't think there's much of a Spanish cuisine in England.
The next morning we set out early (it
was all of 9am, but to the girls it was like we had to get up at the
crack of dawn) for a tour around the Ubud area. Our first stop was
the town of Tampaksiring and the two sights it had to offer – the
holy spring of Tirta Empul and carved shrine/monuments at Gunung
Kawi. We had a small altercation in Tirta Empul. Before we went
inside Sierra went to use the toilet. After she came out, Beth went
it. Seeing her go in, the toilet minder comes over and indicates
that it costs 2,000rp to use the facilities (~20 cents). Beth comes
out, having not peed because there's no paper and the floors all wet
and she doesnt want to get her pants wet. The lady demands that she
pay up. Beth tried to tell her that she didn't use the toilet, even
though she went in. 'Pee' and 'pay' sound too similar though and the
lady didn't understand what we were saying. Eventually, we just
walked away. She called after us that we were 'crazy!' I'm ok with
being called crazy. :) The spring was pretty cool. It was a holiday
so it was packed with locals coming for a swim to be blessed. We
walked around the temple a bit and saw the natural spring. The way
out was lined with hawkers. Even though it was still early, they
were out in force and some of them were really aggressive!
Our next stop was the monument/shrine,
carved out of the rock face. Pretty cool.
We stopped at a coffee 'plantation'
where they show you around a garden and then let you try their tea
and coffee, in the hops that you'll buy some. The ginseng coffee was
delicious, as was the lemongrass tea and the ginger tea. Their
speciality coffee was made from beans that had been through the
digestive tract of a small local mammal. Mmm, tasty.
We continued up, up, up. I didn't know
Bali was so mountainous. They're actually volcanoes, but still. It
got proper chilly up there! We stopped at a viewpoint of the volcano
and the lake below, I don't think I've ever seen a crater lake
before. Despite the lowering clouds, it was still pretty
spectacular.
Twenty minutes of hairpin turns and
never ending rice paddies later, we reached our final temple visit.
The Mother Temple Besakih. It's actually a whole complex of
different temples, the largest one being the most important. Our
driver tried to tell us that we had to rent a sarong to get in, you
don't. Wanna-be guides tried to tell us that you need a guide to get
inside the temples, you cant, only true devotees are allowed in. No
guide can get you into a closed temple. :P The temples are built on
the slopes of a volcano, so up, up, up went the steps. The whole way
was lined with hawkers wanting to sell you 'cold drinks and snacks!'
The view from the top would have been even more impressive if it
hadn't been so cloudy. :(
Yesterday we hired a different car and
driver to take us to Lovina, on the north coast of Bali. The road
though the volcanoes/mountains was 2 hours of sharp curves, up and
down and playing chicken with the oncoming traffic. Even I felt a
little nauseous at the end of the drive. Each town we went though had
flags out to support their favourite Euro Cup team. :P
Lovina is like what I imagine Kuta
looked like 20 – 30 years ago. Although parts of the beach are
developed into hotels/bungalows/apartments there are still stretches
lined with local houses/villages. Its quite and laid back. No all
night bars or pounding surf to attract the Aussies. :) It's not
without its tourist attractions though. This morning Beth, Rosie and
I woke at the crack of dawn (for real this time) to go dolphin
watching. It was more like dolphin chasing. I counted at least 50
other boats also out on the water (each boat hold 2-6 tourists) and
each time a dolphin fin was spotted the whole lot of them would turn
and race towards the sleek animals. Despite that, we did see
dolphins and we did see a fantastic sunrise. The clouds were gold, the water was gold, the volcanoes were sentinels on the horizon and the phytoplankton were glowing blue in the water.
