Balling out in Bali

---

I arrived in Bali on Monday night after spending about 10 days in Korea, I'll have to write about that soon, but Bali it is for the moment. My mom came to Bali to meet up with me which is very nice. We are staying at the Tegal Sari in Ubud which is really beautiful, our room overlooks the rice fields. It is incredibly humid here, I feel like shaving my head, stripping down and lying in the pool naked - I won't be doing any of those things though. Apparently public nudity is frowned upon in Indo, go figure.

Ubud is an amazing little town, a lot of art and an unsettling amount of Western stores, is there no place on earth with out a Ralph Lauren and a Crocs store? Really, crocs? They remain to be ugly even in Bali.

Unlike the rest of Indo which is mostly Muslim, Bali remains about 90% Hindu which means there are thousands of temples all over the island. And I mean thousands. Every house is required to have their own individual temple, as well as a larger one in each town/city and then a few very large ones scattered throughout the island. Every temple has these amazingly ornate sculptures of demonic creatures which are supposed to hold the deities. Offerings - made of a little coconut tree leave pouch that is filled with flower petals, rice (or sometimes a mint/ what appears to be an un-cheesy gold fish, sans smile/ or a tiny chocolate bar) and incense - are put out side temples and pretty much all buisnesses twice a day. Walking down the side walk is thus a combination of avoiding oncoming motorcycles, dodging the gifts to the Gods and saying no to 500 million taxi offers. The people here are very nice, and not nearly as pushy as many places which is a pleasant surprise as well as the general level of English which is pretty high (especially compared to Korea).

Today I had both the pleasure and the regret to have tried both Kopi Luwak coffee and a durian. Kopi Lukak is coffee made by growing coffee beans, giving it to a Luwak (a small fox like animal), the Luwak then eats, digests and excretes the beans, which are ground up and make coffee! Yum yum. So apparently this coffee is some of the most expensive in the world, they claim is sells for 55$ a cup, somehow I feel that may be a bit misleading, but Jack Nicholson in "The Bucket List" claims it is the most expensive coffee in the world, so if he says it I believe him. Who wouldn't believe Jack Nicholson? Anyway, the coffee really wasn't all that good, it was fine, less acidic than other coffee but otherwise it was a little thin or something. Durian is probably the most disgusting fruit I have ever eaten. One would think that after smelling it (its not allowed on planes, thus unavailable in North America) that nothing could get worst but it does. Not really sure how to explain it other than very sweet, warm and the texture of what I imagine rotting flesh would be. But you should try it for yourself.

We are planning on staying in Ubud for a few more days, and then head to Ahmed for a day and then down south to the beaches. I suggested we go to the Gili islands to eat some magic omelets which they are famous for and was immediately shut down by my mother. What a kill joy. Something about the death penalty. Whatever.

Side note about coconut trees which I though was interesting - as they are considered holy here, no building is allowed to built that is taller than a coconut tree. There is one building in Kuta, but it was thought to have brought bad luck so there is a bylaw against it now.

The other interesting thing I kept seeing was flags and posters for the upcoming election in April. First off, the pictures are priceless, but what they also do is show what number and where on the ballot the candidate is going to appear. I'm guessing its so illiterate people can still go vote for who they want by looking at the number.

Tomorrow, white water rafting - that will be interesting! 20 bucks says I fall in!

---