Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

While our extended stay on Gili Air was not in our original itinerary, we were pleased with our decision to linger in one place.  However, after sixteen nights, the time had come to move on.  Our little slice of paradise shrunk into our memories as we sped away on a speedboat to Bali.  We rode through the tropical hillsides to the town of Ubud, a popular city in central Bali.  After the remoteness of Gili Air, Ubud overwhelmed our senses: droves of street signs, Polo stores, honking horns, and shouting tourists.  Back to the real world!

Thankfully, our South African friend we met on Gili arrived in Ubud the previous day and took the welcomed initiative to plan our accommodations, evening entertainment, and daytime cultural activities.  She booked us into a comfortable home stay located in downtown Ubud, which was somehow hidden down a back alley opening up to a gorgeous green rice paddy.  The three of us attended a traditional Balinese dance show - while definitely aimed at the tourist contingent, the high quality show was entertaining and surprisingly not too tacky.  The power and influence of the dancers’ stare was something we had never experienced; the story was told with their eyes.  That, combined with their intricate and sharp hand movements, wowed us (even Ken, who before arriving admittedly wasn’t stoked to attend, agreed).


The following day we toured through the lush rice paddies on a combination cultural and bicycling tour.  Our day began with breakfast overlooking an active volcano and Bali’s largest lake.  Then we stopped at a coffee plantation where we tasted coffee with perhaps the oddest processing method: tamed possums ate coffee cherries (which they couldn’t digest).  Next, they pooped them out, causing some weird fermentation in the beans... and finally the beans were cleaned and roasted.  We felt sympathy for the people who had the job of finding the beans.

Anyways, we proceeded to bike 25 kilometers downhill on local roads, through attractive villages and terraced rice paddies, back to Ubud where we ate a scrumptious buffet lunch.  

At about the fifth kilometer (barely into the ride) black rain clouds began releasing a vicious downpour.  Our guides handed over very attractive ponchos and we continued on our way, eyeing the sky uneasily.  

Unfortunately the downpour turned into a monsoon thunderstorm.  Buckets of rain drenched the lowlands and power lines fell.  We hid out near a temple waiting for the storm to abate, eating cookies and bananas to bide our time.  Four members of our group gave up the excursion, preferring the comfort of the van that followed us.  But five of us (Ken, myself, our friend Carryn, and two others) carried on, determined that the Balinese weather gods would not get the best of us. 

With lighting amongst us and visibility down to two meters, we sang: “Thunderbolts of Lighting Very Very Frighting!”  followed by “I’m Singing in the Rain What a Glorious Feeling I’m Happy Today!” followed by “If You Like Pina Coladas and Getting Caught in the Rain...!”  (That last one was a two-fer because not only were we caught in the rain, but Ken was notorious for ordering “girlie” drinks like pina coladas and banana shakes).

We departed Indonesia with a mixture of joy and contentment.  While we didn’t see much of “Bali proper,” we did get a glimpse in Ubud.  We were more than thrilled to thoroughly experience Gili Air and would highly recommend a visit before it explodes with tourism.  And now... on to meet some Kiwis... New Zealand bound!