Day 4 - Ubud

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Alarms off at 7.30 for a 8.15 pick up for our Bali Baik Tours. Had the usual fruit platter as well as scrambled eggs for breaky and finished just in time as the tour bus arrived perfectly on time and soon we headed off in a mini van along with another family of 4 from Wollongong of all places !.



First stop was the coffee plantation where we sampled a range of coffees and teas. Elise love the Mangoeseen Tea so we bought some. They had this special coffee that they raved about but I did not try it. They have an animal like a possum that is nocturnal and it scoures the ground and eats “only the best coffee beans”. It is unable to digest so they come out with the poo (yuck!). They then clean the beans and roast them and then grind them and whalla !



They also made chocolate and vanilla coffee. I liked the coconut coffee and mocha. Luke was brave enough to try the chilli tea. I bought some orange chocolate which tastes like those good old jaffas (where do they sell them these days?). Our tour guide was a guy called G’day. Well actually I think it was spelt more like Gede but pronounced the way we say it.



Next we went to a restaurant where sat on the balcony overlooking Lake Batur,and the two active Volcano’s of Mt Batur (1717 m) and Mt Agung (3142 m). They last erupted both in 1963 but at different times in the same year. Quite cloudy so our views were limited. They gave us a buffet breakfast here and I quite liked their version of sweet potatoes.



After brushing aside some old lady trying to sell me postcards (have you heard the word nagging ?) we were soon on our way to pick up our pushbikes for a 2 hour ride in the countryside. Elise and I shared a tandem bike which was an interesting experience I must say. We had a guide out front and behind as well. As usual Luke was out front ! It was mostly downhill so no need to worry about peddling. We made a few stops along the way. Or first stop was to go and see someone cropping the rice in the rice patty fields. It is amazing how they developed the irrigation systems. The tour guide did not know exactly how they made them so level.



We then stopped and the tour guide said look over to the right and you will see an interesting cemetery. I’m not sure but instinct made me look there was this massive web in the trees with at least 50 massive spiders. Once I told the tour guide we all forgot about the cemetery, and the guide climbed up the tree to grab one by it’s legs. “Not poisonous” he declared. He showed it a few people and asked if there was brave one amongst us to old it. Luke said no, Kerry no as well, Elise was freaked out, and me, well I said OK.



It felt weird crawling over my hand and forearm with prickly legs that kind of tickled as he moved his way up my arm. After we grabbed a few hairy snaps (excuse the pun), the guide grabbed the spider and threw it back into the web and it stuck ! I then noticed my hands were sticky as the spider had been laying it’s web on me ! Yuck.



We then headed off down the hill again (Oh after we heard about the cemetery I think). We went passed a school and the kids had all just left and were walking down the road smiling and saying hello to us. Most were walking but many also were driving mopeds. These kids were probably about 12-14, and they were all impeccably dressed in uniforms. You got the sense how important they value the education of their children to build a better future for their people.



Our next stop was to see a rooster fight. They had what looked to be a boxing ring with all these locals around (all men) and two roosters getting taped up. They tied what looked to be an extremely sharp knife to the front of their left legs to be used as weapons. Our guide told me they would fight to the death and all the people around (about 50) were lodging bets on who would win the contest.



Kerry & Elise along with the other family were not keen to watch this so they went back to the bikes but Luke & I stayed. The guide told me that they use the left leg as this is much stronger for all Roosters. The contest lasted about 2 minutes and we saw little as the crowd blocked our view, but they roared their delight when a strike was made. I can see some people would object to this but it is their culture and I respect that.



Our last leg actually included a couple of small hill climbs and our chain slipped so I had to do a bit of walking which is not what I needed after yesterday’s step climbing records. We were then taken to the house of Wayan who owns the business. His family prepared for us a traditional Balinese meal and we had these amazing things that were a bit like prawn crackers only better tasting. We also had some unreal peanut sauce with rice. Yummee.



We then headed back to or family villa at Sri Bungalows in Ubud. Relaxed for an hour and then Elise and Luke ordered some room service for more food ! Kerry and I decided to walk down the road to the Monkey Forest. It was a slow 10 minute walk and we were a bit apprehensive as we had heard how aggressive they can be.



We say some tiny baby monkeys probably only a few days old. They are amazing to watch. These monkeys had the run of the house around this rainforest park with some temples inside. Only costs $2- to enter so it was Ok especially seeing the tiny ones. We did not see any monkeys attacking anyone or stealing cameras etc which was good as reviews on this we had read about were a bit alarming.



On our way back we stopped in a shop that had some Bali artwork, and after some toing and froing Kerry bought this nice painting to take home. It was hinged into 4 pieces and folded up so we thought it would fit in my suitcase fine. We got the price down from 500,000 to 350,000 (around $35-). When we got back it was only about six inches longer than my suitcase !! Oh well we don’t have any flights for another week so will worry about it later.



Dinner tonight we wanted somewhere close by so we went to 3 Monkeys Restaurant. No monkey dishes to be seen anywhere ! Luke had a Pizza, I had some grilled prawns with a Thai Spicy Salad, and Kerry had Snapper. Elise was full from the days earlier eating so a Bruschetta was fine for her. Food was excellent here. The setting was nice adjoining a rice field with nice mood lights although the lights made it hard to see what you were eating and whilst we had requested non-smoking section, we were seated next to people having a puff. That is one thing I have noticed in Asia they have not picked up on this passive smoking problem at all. I think the meal + drinks cost about $65-. I think with some smoothies, a large Bintang, glass of Chardonnay, and a Pina Colada the drinks cost more than the food.



Well we have crammed an awful lot into 2 days in Ubud. I have enjoyed the atmosphere, but there was so many shops and things to see around this area you could easily spend 2-3 weeks here doing it real slowly. As we ventured around there was constantly things happening on the side of the road. People just going about their normal day to day lives but the images will last for me a long time. Things like overloaded motorbikes, women carrying thing on their heads, children smiling.



Not sure what to expect tomorrow as we move to the hustle and bustle of tourist zones. Too tired to bother packing. That can wait until the morning.

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