Saturday, 16 March 2013

Ubud-day 1

This place is beautiful, but the hot water is spasmodic, the new bathtub does not have any taps, doh, and the TV has only Euro news in English, no BBC-whilst it is a luxury to have TV, it would be useful to have onc with something interesting to watch…though I now know there is a new pope!
But undaunted I enjoyed my breakfast staring at the rain on my veranda (the food is provided by the maids running over from the kitchen of the family home here and offering the menu-which is exactly the same as Gili Air, i.e. fruit pancake, or eggs and toast, plus fruit…nice, but it would be good, like the TV, to have a real choice.
The villa provides a shuttle service to Ubud town at set times. I had negotiated a rate for bike hire, but the 10 minute drive is along narrow, steep hills, and in the rain I erred on the side of caution and got the shuttle to the town….
Ubud is full of art galleries, markets, temples, palaces-my first wander took me to the Palace, and to the Museum of Balinese Art, which was fascinating. I’ve sent pics of me enjoying the cultural side of Bali, relishing the intellectual challenge of having to read and think after island downtime.


Relaxing by the Lotus Pond in a temple in Ubud
As the day drew to a close I took my bike out along the rice fields and working villages which surround the town, dodging the women walking carrying assorted goods from calor gas stoves/buckets/laundry/you name it... on their heads, the men with scythes, motorbikes and push bikes with wide loads of everything from eggs to hot meals-buying supper from the carts is the common way for the villagers to eat.
Tonight I swam under the stars, watching the mosquitos gather over my head waiting for me to surface for their supper….

1 comment:

  1. Glad you're having a good time Mum! Be careful of the monkey's in Ubud - and make sure you get down to the Jazz Cafe - and catch some Gamelan. Well worth it!
    Miss you.
    C

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