Blogs from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 16

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Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud March 10th 2013

Good Morning, Bali! I woke up to the sounds of crowing roosters, the faint scent of incense, a feeling of confusion and a full dose of humidity.....I had this funny feeling I had been "here" before. Ah....the roosters crowing at 4 a.m. What an orchestra after sleeping off my jetlag from the night before. Yes, "here" is where I found myself after 16 years of being away. Bali, my first love.... so glad to be back! Going back to one's first love can be a beautiful thing if you're lucky, right? It can also be a depressing thing. To be honest, I felt a huge scense of foreboding. Maybe age has made me such a cynic? Jaded? Blah! After all, 16 years away from Bali was a very very long time. Would my love still be ... read more
A view from my balcony in Ubud

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud March 8th 2013

And finally I made it to SE Asia after leaving NZ and a short stopover in the Brisbane airport. I had been in Bali in 2002, 3 weeks before the bomb attack in Kuta. I remebered it being sunnier, not as dirty and with lots of tourists and topless girls in the beach. It might just have been that I was in Bali during the high season or that I had an idealized vision of the place. This time, there were still a lot of tourists, but because it was the end of the rainy season, it was mostly clouded and partially raining. And Kuta was a lot more contaminated than I remember. I arrived at around 2pm in th airport and the first thing I did after getting my backpack was negotiating a taxi from ... read more
Monkey Forest, Ubud
Kecak, Fire Dance
Rocky Temple

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud February 5th 2013

My flight was four hours from Hong Kong on Cathy Pacific's 777. I am always amazed, wherever I go in Asia, the planes are filled to capacity! After buying my visa on arriival (VOA) for $25. at the airport, I went through immigration, which is always jammed even at 2AM, as was the case when I arrived in Hong Kong the night before. The airport is small and already I'm liking Bali! I am picked up by a driver from Rumah Rodda Homestay in Ubud. The traffic is heavy in Densapar, near the airport, many motor bikes crowding the road along with busses & cars. As we get furthur out of town, the traffic thins out, the air cools and we travel about one hour to Ubud. Ubud comes from 'Ubad' ancient Balinese for medicine and ... read more
My bedroom
local flowers
Cascading, Terraced  rice fields.

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud January 25th 2013

Os balineses são um povo sem sobrenome. O batismo se dá pela ordem em que as crianças nascem na família. Via de regra, o filho ou filha mais velhos se chama Wayan, o que vier na sequência Made, o terceiro Nyoman e o quarto Ketut. Em bahasa indonesia, a língua nativa de Bali e do restante do país, esses nomes indicam, respectivamente, se o irmão é o numero 1, 2, 3 ou 4. Se por um acaso a mamãe balinesa tiver forças para uma quinta criança, o ciclo do batizado volta para o início e a criança tambem se chamará Wayan (ainda que nesse caso existam mais duas ou tres opções, como Putu). Confuso? Imagina como deve ser a chamada na escola.... Para facilitar um pouco a vida, os balineses ganham um segundo nome que serve ... read more
tentando soltar o nó da bolsa
Rocky Temple
templo das aguas

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud January 25th 2013

At Ubud's tourist information center there are free copies of the nightly schedule of traditional dance performaces. Each night around the city there are 9-10 different performances for about 75,000 rupiah a person to attend. They all last 1-1.5 hours. Full of traditional music and costumes, they mesmerize and captivate. I went to three of them. I went to one my first night in Ubud. I admit I was persuaded by the architecture of the theater and by one of the cute kids helping them sell tickets. When I arrived that night, he remembered me and gave me a big grin and wave. First the musicians played us some music. Balinese music is unlike any I've heard before and it takes some getting used to. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but ... read more
A side view
Look at his hands!
She's amazing.

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud January 25th 2013

My last full day in Bali I took an organized tour. I'd been trying all week, but with a minimum of two people needed per tour, I'd been stuck waiting for someone else to book first so I could join them. We set off at 9am for a tour around central Bali to see 7 different sights: Goa Gajah -- the Elephant Cave Tampak Siring -- The holy spring water temple Tirta Empul Temen -- a coffee plantation Penelokan -- Mount and Lake Batur Besakih -- the most important temple in Bali, located at the base of Mount Agung Bukit Jambur -- rice terraces Klungkung -- Old Court Justice of the Kingdom The couple I joined was from the east coast of the US but had acutally lived in Minneapolis a few years ago. We had ... read more
Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)
Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)
Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud January 24th 2013

I arrived at ten o'clock, right on time for my appointment. A little path led me through a small garden to waiting slippers and a smiling staff. They presented me with some fresh juice while we went over a few more details of my plan. I chose my body mask and which type of facial I wanted. Fortunately, those were the only difficult decisions I had to make. After being shown to my room (with two massage tables!) I changed into spa attire (disposable underwear and a sarong) and sat down to wait. The music piped in was calm and relaxing and very Balinese. I never did hear the same song twice. My spa attendant (what does one call her?) arrived a few minutes later and explained how things would go: An hour and a half ... read more
It's so quiet and pretty
the lobby
My room

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud January 21st 2013

After another leisurely breakfast of homemade coconut and banana stuffed pancakes, I decided to see the rice paddies. There are rice paddies all around Ubud, but numerous people at my homestay agreed that the ones to the northwest of town were the best. The owners' son gave me a lift up to where the side road crossed Ubud Raya. I walked up a steep, uneven concrete road, followed a little path down behind a brick wall, and then suddenly, I was engulfed in beauty. There were rows of green rice and palm trees as far as the eye could see. I started walking down the narrow path. It turns out that it's planting season, so some of the fields were muddy and seemingly empty. But many had small shoots of rice growing. There were small groups ... read more
majestic view
lovely
shrine

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud January 20th 2013

I'm not a big fan of monkeys, but since everyone I talked to said I should go, I decided to check out the monkey forest. One guy at my hostel warned me to not take any water with me because the monkeys will want to steal it, and then went on to tell me about what happened when he visited a few weeks ago. While I thought perhaps he was exaggerating a bit, I did leave my empty bottle in a trash bin. I bought my ticket and saw a woman selling bananas by the gate. I refused, feeling smart and safe since I know the monkeys would probably chase me for the bananas. Three steps into the park, I was suddenly flat on my bottom, blood gushing from my leg. It took me a moment ... read more
In the Monkey Forest
Awww, a little cemetary
In the Monkey Forest

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Ubud October 9th 2012

Hier der zweite Teil mit Bildern von unserer wundervollen zweiten Unterkunft die wir ausfindig gemacht und uns dort so richtig schön heimelig gefühlt haben. Unseren Ausflügen in der Gegend um Udud und den Ausflügen zu den Reis Terrassen nach Tegalalang, zum heiligen Lake Bratan mit kleiner Tempelanlage und nach Tanah Lot. Das Wetter war an dem Tag sehr bescheiden und am See der auf 1200 Metern Höhe liegt herrschte eine mystische Stimmung durch den Nebel der sich langsam über dem Wasser ausbreitete...... read more
43 z Ausflug zu den Reisterassen Tegalalang
44 Ausflug zu den Reisterassen Tegalalang
45 Ausflug zu den Reisterassen Tegalalang




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