So Bali is like a little piece of heaven here on earth, or so at least I thought before coming here. But it's not all just sunshine and pure bliss (although that's what it is mainly!), there are a few scary things here. First the terrorists and their bombings, like that fateful nightclub bombing back in 2002, and then another one (although smaller) in 2005. The terrorists target main toursit areas, which is scary and yet one more reason to steer clear from Kuta and such places. (People in genral advise you to skip Kuta, it's too crowded, the beach is dirty, it's only good for partying.. and as I'm not feeling really like hitting the party scene, there's no reason to go there.) And another intimidating thing is the drugs and everything to do with them. I read this book about Kerobakan Jail, Balis most notorious jail, that is right next to Kuta. I thought it was goog to read it while I was here, but it wasn't, at least for me. It made my imagination run wild and for a few days I was really fearful. There were stories about murderes escaping almost regularly and not so long ago, there was a big riot and 300 prisoners escaped and in the end, they only caught about 200 of them..(most of them locals, who had returned to their villages to see their families). I didn't even know that there are several violent gangs in Bali, I just naively thought that everyones one big happy family here. And then the terrible stories, of someone popping one ectasy pill and ending up in the prison in the same cell with hard core criminals. If you want an antidrug book, then read Hotel Kerobakan. I wouldn't even dare to dream of smoking a joint here, not in a million years..

Ok, that was a bit heavy and Balis tourist office certainly won't be happy if I scared possible tourist away by pointing out only the bad things here, so let's get back to the good stuff and really, Bali is great, despite my earlier remarks.

Ubud is a very pleasant city. It's surrounded by beautiful rice patties and has a nice atmosphere. It's said to be the cultural capital of Bali, with many many galleries and museums and several different dance companys performing nightly. There are lots of good cafes and restaurants. Everything is fairly close, so I can walk everywhere.

There are only three annoying things:

1) The shop keepers don't pester you at all, but on my 15 minute walk to the Yoga Barn, I can here "transport, transport" "tomorrow transport" about a hundred times and then "massage, massage" about ten times.

2) The condition of the sidewalk. It's not only a bit crumbled, so that you can trip, but there are big blocks of it sometimes missing, and unless you a are careful you can drop in to a ditch or a river/sewage system. (And it did happen to my friend in India, and I'm not keen to suffer the same fate..)

3) James Blunt. Not that I have anything against him, I do like some of his songs, but just the fact that they play his first album everywhere!! Even in my favourite cafe they only seem to play his cd, which I find funny, since the cafe defines itself as a cafe with great food and great music. Either they could only afford one cd or then they just really like him.

Everyone who know me, knows I have a pretty close relationship with my calendar in Finland, so you can just imagine, it's done me a world of good to take a brake from it for a few months. But I have to admit, I've been quite excited in Ubud, because I have had to make schedcules, fitting in my indonesian classes with the yoga and making appointments in the spas. The first three days I was so "busy" I didn't even have time to go to the spas, which was a shame, since you can get one hour massage for less than 5 euros. So on my fourth day, I decided to splurge and booked a special spa package, that included 1,5 hour (heavenly!) massage, a mud mask and a flower bath. As I was floating in the flower bath, eating fresh fruit and drinking ginger tea, all I could think was that why on earth haven't I done this everyday? The whole package set me back only 12 euros. And yes, I've taken up tea drinking. I still don't believe that a cup of tea will cure everything, like the Irish seem to do, but I quite enjoy a cup every now and then.

The yoga has, once again, been one of the highlights on my trip. Even I do it in Finland as well, it's not the same, because I never have time to do it four hours a day and really get into it.. The yoga barn is a cool place, the setting is a bit like barn meets temple, there are no walls, just bambu curtains. The teachers are great, especially our teacher from Minnesota, who is funny and wise, but also very strict during class. There's no slacking when he's around and his Vinyasa flow classes are my favourite.

One day I was reading a local newspaper and there was an article (with a photo of course) about Victoria Beckham visiting her husband in Turku, Finland. Davids injury was only secondary to the article.. The article told in detail about her visit to Finland, even revealing what kind of car drove her from the airport to the private clinic. I can just imagine what finnish press was like during the Beckhams visit, if it was half page news in the Jakarta Post. (And I would also like to pint out that Obamas visit to Indonesia got one full page, so only half a page more than Posh..oh dear oh dear, wher is this world going to..)

I've been really good and haven't been shopping at all. Those who have seen me here, know that I'm not travelling lightly and I'm sick of carring so much stuff, so I decided not to buy a thing from Bali. I can't even enter a shop, because if I do, I feel bad for not buying anything after meeting the shop keeper and feel obliged to get something, so best is just to walk one the other side of the road. And also I've learnt from my past mistakes, like buying tons of cool clothes from Bolivia and India, only to find out later, while trying them on in Finland just how silly I look in them. So I've wised up and haven't gone to any shopping sprees.

Days in Ubud just seemed to fly by and now it's time for me to move on. My next destination is the Gili Islands. They are three islands, north from Lombok. A remote place with no ATMS, no cars, not even a police (if you get in to trouble, you have to find the village eldest or something..) So I'm looking forward to the quiet days on the beach with me and my book..