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Ubud
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
The travel time from Kathmandu to Bali took a little over 24 hours. We had a six hour lay over in Delhi, and then a red eye to Kuala Lumpur. I gave in and had a soy chai latte from Starbucks in the Malaysian airport. It was heavenly. I had been drinking plain back tea for days, as I was still getting over my sickness from Nepal and a nasty cold.
We arrived to Bali in the early morning and took a taxi to our hotel in Ubud. I have heard from a number of people that Ubud is a cute town nestled in the mountains, and it is a lot cooler than the coastal villages. Well, Ubud has become quite popular since the Eat, Pray, Love book came out. Plus, the movie was just being filmed in town. I’m here to tell you that this place is HOT and very touristy!!
At first, it’s quite a busy and semi-irritable place to be. It is very tiresome to always walk on busy roads. People are continuously asking if you need a taxi ride somewhere, and also attempt to coax you into their stores, restaurants or day spas every minute of the day. However, we’ve been here three days and I must admit that Ubud is growing on me. Like most places, once you get out of the hub bub of it all, there are hidden jewels and fantastic treasures. Ubud is full of them. The Balinese cuisine is fabulous and inexpensive. There are beautiful Yoga studios and the people are very friendly and helpful.
Today we went to the Monkey Forest and spent about an hour being completely entertained by the little rascals. They are quite cute, yet tricky, trouble makers. They splashed and wrestled in the water, stole a woman’s hat, and dropped bananas on innocent passers by. It was rather hilarious. The forest itself is dense and covered in moss. There are serpent stone stairways and Hindu statues spouting water out of their mouths into the winding river below. I felt like I was on the Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom movie set. I loved it. Later that evening we meandered our way through some narrow and dense jungle walkways by the light of our headlamps. We found a restaurant amidst the bamboo and hanging plants and ferns. Our food was about $1.75 a plate and it was delicious.
We head to the coast tomorrow and then to the Gili Islands. I’m ready for some beach, sun and scuba diving.
Posted: 05.11.2010
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