Blogs from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 6

Ubud was the perfect way to end the holiday. It is the cultural centre and heart of Bali. We decided to hi a driver for the day to take us from Seminyak to Ubud so we could do some cultural things around the island on our travels. First stop was the Balanese traditional dancing.... This was well... Interesting, I didn't really enjoy it that much but there was a crib sheet telling you about the story behind the dance and I found the culture and "myth" like aspect of the dancing interesting. For example the Barong is a good spirit and the Rangda a bad spirit and they basically battle during the dance, in which there is no winner. There's a lot of screaming and weird parts to this dance. In sure there are multiple but ... read more

Back in 1983 when I first visited Bali I fell in love. “I’m in love with the Balinese people,” I wrote in my journal. They weren’t just friendly, or kind, or helpful—there was much more. It was their hearts. They spilled beauty and warmth and light, and their smiles radiated an inner peace. Unconditional love was there, offered to the foreigner, and I soaked it in. When I continued on my solo journey then and moved on to Java and Sumatra, I couldn’t say I was in love with the people. Not like in Bali, where I had felt my heart expanding and growing warm when I was around the people there. So after a long time away, I returned to Bali this trip, remembering that extraordinary expansion of heart that I felt back then, and ... read more

Bargaining used to be fun. When I was studying in Ecuador in 2008, regeteando (bargaining) for jeans at the market was one of my favourite ways to practice my Spanish. It was an actual interaction, conversation and communication with a local. It was just the way to do things, and we both got something out of it. At some point between now and 9 years ago, the world changed. Tourism grew all over the place and the destinations had to adapt. Orion mentioned something he read the other day about Eat, Pray, Love "ruining" Bali. After it became a hit novel and movie, the tourists started flocking in and the tiny island started to change to accommodate them. Sure, it's nice for the economy to have more people (with more money) coming through, but it ... read more

I'm not sure what's worse, listening to the sound of mozzies or hearing nothing but still being bitten. I had a pretty ordinary night's sleep Last night as I scratched the night away. I couldn't work out why as we had a mosquito net over us which should have kept them out. It was only in the full light of day that I saw that one corner of the net was still tied back that it all began to make sense. Won't be making that mistake again. At least everyone else woke up feeling better. rmily has colour in her cheeks again and tom was perky also. We went for a swim to wake up, and then had breakfast. Unfortunately it seems that every time anyone eats something it triggers a reaction and they feel lousy ... read more

Ubud 14.12.16-22.12.16 Wreszcie moge z radoscia dodac kolejne miejsce do moich ulubionych jakie udalo mi sie odwiedzic - Ubud miejsce magiczne, przesycone tradycja, kultura i czarem. Dotarlismy do Ubud z lotniska w okolo godzine, moze tuz ponad i od razu sie w tym miejscu zakochalam. Na 8 dni zatrzymalismy sie w hotelu - Pertiwi, ktory oczarowal mnie rowniez. Pokoje sa czyste i w sumie dosc ,basic' ale cala reszta rekompensuje w 100%. Pertiwi jest swietnie zlokalizowane, jest mnostwo przepieknej zieleni, dwa bardzo zadbane i czyste baseny, swietna obsluga i dobre jedzonko :-) Na terenie Pertiwi rosnie mnostwo kwiatow, krzewow i drzewek, ktore juz znalam bo mama choduje je u siebie w domu. Super bylo widziec te same kwiaty - od razu poczulam sie jak w domu :-) Caly nasz pobyt w Ubud byl dosc intensywny gdyz ... read more