Indonesia, Bali - Livin' the Ubud life

There Chris and I sat, talking one morning over breakfast tea, convincing ourselves that we would leave Ubud to the tourists after a trek up the local mountain. We ended up staying another night; here's why:

Pics 1-4. You've heard of The Never Ending Story? The song that never ends? Well this mountain had no end. I cant say for certain how high we rode, but we never reached the top; couldn't even see it. One point to Mother Nature. To put the ride into perspective, we descended at downhill speed (~55km/hr) for a good forty five minutes. Oh, and we got rained on hard half way up the trek. We took shelter at a local warung (local shop) and paid our tab with resentment. Locals know they have visitors by the balls when it rains; we probably paid three times as much as we would have if the sun was out.

Pics 5-12. More rice fields, statues, and a picture of Chris taking a picture. The rice fields, though plentiful, are never the same twice around. And that is a very good thing. The statues are equally ubiquitous; though it is hard to determine which ones are indicative of traditional culture and which ones have been exaggerated to attract tourism.

13. A snail.

14. A hungry dog at the dinner table.

15-22. This is Ubed's market...there are many like it, but this one is Ubud's. Smells, sounds, and tastes that my descriptions would only fail to illustrate, this market has it all. Including grabby sales merchants, each one promising the best deal and good luck.

23. One of these palms is not like the others.

24. Q: what do you do when you spend all day at the market?

25. A: Buy a bunch of veggies and let your travel mate chop the onions. Chris apparently has no emotional attachment to the onions of this region, he never gave a tear as he cut them into little pieces.

26-29. This bush was just outside our window. Take a closer look. Is that...could it be...it is! We lodged right next to a pepper plant. Chop 'em up and toss 'em in! Damn, that salsa was HOT!!

30. Dinner time =) Took a while (we only had one burner)! Worth the wait, ate every bit.

31. Market bought dessert. Ok, mostly rice and sugars. Can't complain, they cost like ten cents each and double as a great push snack on the road.

32. Ahhh, now we're talking. A Balinese spin on an old classic. These sweet fried bananas caramelized into the things diabetic dreams are made of.

I am having a great time, enjoy the images and I'll check in again soon.

Be well,
-A