Blogs from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 45

Well, this will be short since the internet crashed as I typed the last one and the clock is now running out on my pre-paid card.... Yesterday, I went on a day trip up to Gunung Batur/Lake Batur and back. Gunung Batur is a volcano in north east Bali - apparently it last properly erupted in the 60s but everything I see seems to say different dates so by all accounts it seems to have a minor eruption every few years. No smoke yesterday though! We went by minibus to have breakfast overlooking the crater, and then drove back down a little way to a coffee plantation. Had a brief introduction to the coffee, but more on the fruit! After that we got on mountain bikes and cycled 24km (mostly) downhill, through villages, stopping to walk ... read more

I spent most of the morning wandering around the shops. I think I'll probably try and come back here for a day at the end of my trip for present shopping - I just can't carry everything round with me. After lunch I headed down to monkey forest. It's not very big, as I thought, but the trees are very dense so you can pretend your away from a town if you blank out the road noise. The monkeys are pretty tame but will steal anything they can get their hands on, and try and eat it. I got really annoyed at a girl who'd lost her water bottle to one. A guide helped get her it back but then when I pointed out she'd left the plastic wrapper on the floor and if she left ... read more

I abandoned the idea of getting into Java today. I've decided to take things a bit slower. I needed to rush to try and make it to the south of Borneo and back, but I think trying to make that would make me miss half the good stuff on the way and probably not take in what I did manage to see. Instead, I took a bus up to Ubud today, which is near the centre of Bali, and the cultural centre. It's not a very big place, but full of batik paintings, wooden sculptures and masks, and pottery. There's an arts centre in town that runs lessons on all sorts of things from gamelan playing to batik painting, so I might take a class some time. I'll be here another two days at least, but ... read more

As I leave Sleepy Sam's I am very unsettled. I am alone for the first time, I have to get to the airport, work out my plane ticket to Bali, and get through customs. I've also been reading stories on line of people being denied getting into Bali because they don't have an onward ticket (which I don't). I get to the airport just fine, but end up having to buy another plane ticket because I don't have my paper ticket. Cha Ching $500 total. Being on a backpacker's budget and slightly cheap to begin with I immediately work on getting my money back. 3 free glasses of wine on the airplane (white so my teeth aren't red at customs) = $15 3 hours of free internet at the airport = $6 1 free Lindsay Lohan ... read more

...Continued having left you in Bali, Indo after a long delay. Welcome back to A Balinese Yoga Festival! Day 5: An Afternoon Continuation Now, some 45 days later, something is rekindled. I think back to Bali, at Gunung Agung where I left my Self, where I left my readers. The retreat feels like ages ago, a distant dream savored and succored for its warmth, peace and fragility. And it was—ages passed with the interim of change, adaptation, new faces and new places. But today, October 20th, 2008, there is a revival of story. Back in a seemingly familiar culture, with familiar faces, familiar places, and the all-too familiar routines—the unknown is apparently lost to the lazy eye. Day-by-day I strive for that unfamiliarity received while traveling. It is a space without direction toward agendas, responsibilities based ... read more