Blog 57

We saw dolphins on the speedboat from the Gilis, and it was spectacular! No idea what the species were but they were the jumpy kind. The speed boat was insane speedy madness! Air time galore. And then as quieter waters made the journey more relaxing we found ourselves on the shores of Bali. Lush green and mountainous with turquoise waters sums it up and we're not even off the boat yet.

Package tours can have their benefits in Asia. In one instance you spend an hour and a half on the side of a dusty road, baking in the sun, seeing mirages of coaches on the horizon, only to find out they forgot you... But the next you're met off the boat and ushered to your own private car and driven to the karma vegan heaven that is Ubud. Having not eaten for hours we asked the driver to stop for food, and what food it was (see Bryn's travel cook book if you're interested).

Ubud is an utterly amazing place. It's in the mountains of Bali. It's got a cool tropical climate. It attracts hippies and artists. Every building looks like a 500 year old temple (and some of them are) and the vegetarian food here is a mash up of Balinese and western tastiness.

We spent a lot of time wandering the streets, photographing court yards of water features and carved stone, half hidden under a mass of vegetation. The exciting bits included a 40 mile downhill bike ride through northern Bali, a hike into the rice paddies and stopover at a random cafe for sangria, and the spectacle of the egrets...thousands upon thousands of these white birds come to land in the same trees just out of Ubud every night at sundown, and they've done this since the 60s when one day they just showed up (so the story goes). Well this is Asia, and everything is an attraction, so obviously there's going to be a guy selling Bintang. We took a seat, popped open a beer and avoided the bat smelling bird poop.

After five days here in the hills we spent our remaining rupiah on art, coffee, bamboo straws and a few other things I've already forgotten, we sent our final package home. More stamps went in the passport and this cost us a few more pennies (we overstayed our visa). Onto the plane we went and off to the land of oz...

Bryn