Our time in Yogya had to come to end at some point. Besides I had tested most of the local cuisine apart from the ever elusive crab :). Post the Indonesian reggae party our rather (read very) broken and tired team made it to Yogya airport in time to board the Lion air flight to Denpasar, Bali. I am not sure if the flight actually happened but I do recall boaring a plane, seeing Mt Bromo and the surrounding Caldera from the air and then waking up once we had landed in Bali.

At this point our team went our separate ways - Pete and Hen headed further east to the Gili islands whilst we chose to explore the interior of Bali for a bit. We had a cunning plan to avoid the expensive taxi's inside the airport went on a mission to get out of the airport in an effort to find a local Bemo (bus) that would get us to Ubud at the fraction of the price that a taxi would charge. However, this turned out to be an unrealistic dream and we soon realised that in our current states trying to get a local bus anywhere was not going to happen. So one blue bird taxi ride later (we did save Rh 50000 vs. the airport price) saw us arriving in Ubud, or the Knysna of Indonesia as we soon came to realise.

Ubud is about an hours drive north of Denpasar, the capital of Bali island. It is a cultural haven of Bali, highlighting the religious roots of the island of Bali. It has been an interesting transition from the Islamic dominated island of Java to the Hindu base of Bali. Everyone home has a shrine, central area where they can worship their gods and place their offerings. This was one of the first things that we noted upon arriving in Ubud was how each home and business presented offerings everyday to their gods. This was mostly in the form of a flowers, rice or other small food items. It is really nice to see how the people live their religion in their daily lives vs. choosing to follow it when they so desire.

Ubud is a vibrant town and full to the brim with tourists. We suddenly knew we were in tourist central as there were more white faces here than anywhere else that we had been. What was most disconcerting to us the sudden increase in food prices. As we walked up the main drag of Ubud (Jl. Monkey Forest) every restaurant (now flashy and immaculate) was offering meals at 2-3 times the price we were used to paying on Java. When you are used to paying R25 for your dinner the sudden shock of R40 to R60 a meal was pretty stressful :). This was something we had to remedy or our stay in Ubud would be short lived. Thankfully, J the Spaniard, recommended a home stay for us just off the main road called Arjuna house which promised not to break the bank. This home stay was located within the a communal property and is basic in the sense that we were given a room with 2 beds, a fan and a bathroom (one that we are missing today) all for the price of R40 each per day (includes breakfast and coffee). However, I would say that this is one of the most efficient places I have stayed at. The lady running the business was incredibly helpful and always had a smile on her face (almost all Indonesian's do).

We spent the first afternoon passed out recovering from the party and exploring a small section of the town. We did thankfully come across a small "cheap" restaurant up a small alley for dinner which we visited the following evening again. On our first full day in Ubud we decided to hire scooters and explore the countryside to the North of Ubud. As this was my first time on a scooter (actually first time solo on motorised 2 wheels) there was some apprehension. Wes claims he almost drove into a wall but he seemed pretty proficient from the get go. I think that the man renting the scooter to me could sense my stress as he asked me time and time again if I knew how to drive a scooter/drive in general. I was just thinking how hard can it be, after all I did drive in Egypt :). Anyway, we eventually got on the road and with some severe chronic shaking on my part made our way North. Our first stop (30 mins or so travel time) was at a Balinese coffee stop. We were just hoping we could stop and have a simple coffee on the side of the rode but instead we were introduced to all of the different spices found in Bali (cardamon, vanilla, etc.) and shown the complex process of producing Balinese coffee and Luwak coffee (google it). And hour or so later Rh. 70000 lighter (one coconut coffee and one Luwak coffee down) we continued North on our trusty scooters. This is when our scooter troubles began! Soon after leaving our coffee stop we met a "friendly" man who just wanted to help tourists avoid trouble ("no money money) and offered to take us on the back road to avoid the Polisi. We were sceptical regarding the "I just want to help" part but decided to go with him in an attempt to avoid the cops. We were not sure how legal we were upon the scooters so thought it was best to avoid the cops. The route took us through the local country side and down a particularly steep hill. I lived up to my name of Tumbleweed by taking a small tumble down the hill and leaving the scooter way behind me. So to keep the record straight I have now fallen off every 2 wheeled mobile device that I have used. Miraculously I survived and so did the scooter. Wes was waiting at the bottom and as though he expected it to happen and he chuckled as we went on our way. The interesting part was that our "friend's" route popped out right next to his restaurant and we were summarily ushered in to it to "only" see the view. We did manage to get out without spending a cent but he would be waiting for us on our return. Our next goal was to see the black lava of Mt. Batur. This involved a rather hair raising trip down a winding road into the valley of the Caldera upon which Mt. Batur stands. This active volcano erupted in 1963 killing many local villagers and wiping out all the agricultural land in the valley. According to the artist (Nyoman - one of the survivors of the eruption) the land used to be fertile and green and a there was a large village in the valley. This whole area is now covered in thick black lava and a few small huts. It is a pretty stark picture of how destructive nature can be and how we need to respect these forces. It still amazes me that people chose to live here but I suppose that if this is where your roots originate then it is very hard to move on. Our trip into the Caledra had to come to an end and we faced an interesting trip up the windy road, past our new friend and back to Ubud without meeting the cops. Sadly, I cannot report back and say we achieved this with much success. The trip out of the Caldera was entertaining as we had to contend with trucks, other scooters and cars. The most challenging part was when we came face to face with a truck on a blind corner that had stopped to offload/unload into another truck. A new for me and maybe these guys can teach the Egyptians a thing or two. We initially made it past our friend's restaurant only to be caught by him on the way down the hill. He initially thought that we were new tourists to hunt but once he realised who we were and that we had not visited he restaurant he decided to flip us off and continue on his way. Then to make matters worse we got to meet the police who kindly informed us that we did not have valid licenses and that we needed to pay a Rh. 250 000 fine (we were shown the book stating this) and once this was done we were issued a fine and sent on our way. All in all a very eventful first scooter trip. The upside is that the fine is supposed to be valid for 2 weeks from the date it was issued and we should be okay across the rest of Indonesia. What may have been the highlight of the whole day was when we stopped to look at the rice terraces and a very old man carry baskets of grass popped out beneath us. He simply looked as though he making his way home from the rice terraces and asked us to take a picture. This turned into the normal money for my picture and what we soon realised was a well planned tourist catcher. As soon as we had paid him he disappeared round the bend only to pop up again as soon as the next tourists arrived. All in all a rather cunning old man! We spent another day in Ubud planning our next move and exploring the town a bit. This involved the traditional visit to the Monkey Forest to see the Maccau monkeys (can't see this type of attraction kicking off in Natal to see the Vervet's) and walking the town again. Ubud has been a very interesting experience and I could see myself coming back here in the future if only to use it as a base to explore Bali (legally) a bit more. Next stop Labuanbajo on the island of Flores to see the Komodo's :) Ubud Highlights: - Arjuna house - Damon falling off his scooter (Wes) - Mt. Batur and the black lava - Scooters and the Balinese countryside - Rice terrace tourist hunter