Ubud, Bali

We took AirAsia to Denpasar, and from there we had arranged for a taxi that would take us to Ubud directly to where we were staying (a homestay, which is kind of like a hotel...mostly...but cheaper). This was a great choice, because it was already dark by the time we were leaving Denpasar.


Indonesia has been a perfect example of why I gave this blog its name. We had no idea what to expect, what we were in for. We've been confused, hesitant, lost, but always in the end we find ourselves feeling great--everything is cheap, even when you don't get the best deals. People are friendly, and will help if you ask. We're in a tropical jungle village, the heart of art and culture on Bali. It's crazy.

General Stuff & Such

Drivers in Indonesia are crazy at first glance, traffic is wild, and appears super aggressive with general disregard for lanes and other rules, but ultimately the roads are not very dangerous. Lots of scooters and motorcycles, too. It can be harrowing to be a pedestrian, or just ride a taxi for those who are uncomfortable in such situations, but given what I've seen it seems pretty safe.

Indonesian weather is a bit cooler than Singapore so far, though still hot & humid. The sun is generally out for us, but sometimes dips mercifully behind a cloud. Last night, in the middle of the night while we slept, a heavy rain fell. Short, but intense, and very loud on the roof.

As for Ubud...there's a lot to say, I'm not sure I have time to get into it. It's a smallish town, about 30,000 pop. I think. There are three main roads, with sidewalks--but the walks are brick/cement coverings over what troughs on the side of the road where rainwater flows. Sometimes there are dislodged bits or holes, so watch your step!

Roads are narrow and lined with shops and restaurants. Ubud is happy to serve the many tourists who flow through, but its certainly less of a mainstream destination than elsewhere I've traveled. We are having a good time, but it has taken a bit of getting used to, and many minutes have been spent looking around, wondering where we are or what we are supposed to be doing. How to safely cross intersections.

Goa Gajah

This morning we had breakfast at the homestay and then set out to walk to Goa Gajah, which is a thousand-something year old temple, I guess. After a while walking, it became clear that my map was not drawn to scale, and the walk there took a lot longer than we had expected. We decided we would use a taxi on the trip back, which would end up being its own adventure...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Goa Gajah's main feature is a cave temple, with carvings at the front, and an interior space with shrines. The cave was small, roughly one low-end San Francisco apartment's worth of space.

Cave entrance

interior shrine, not a lot of light in there!

 Outside were some other structures, many being worked on and restored. Water features and springs are very common for holy sites. Here's some stuff:

After that, we went out of the exit and sought a ride back into Ubud. Unlike literally everywhere else we'd been, here there were no men yelling, "Taxi?" to us, which is kind of what I'd been counting on. Wandering a bit, nothing serendipitous occurred, so we wheeled back to a tourist information desk...which was empty and unmanned.

Alright, that's awkward. My final plan was to walk to the entrance/exit near the parking lot and ask a random Indonesian man if he knew where I could get a taxi. He immediately set about helping. After some yelling at other indonesian men, pointing a lot, and telling us to go here or there, we found ourselves outside the parking lot where he'd waved down an old beat up van and told the driver what was up (I assume...it was all in Indonesian). We climbed in, and definitely overpaid for the journey, but I was feeling a bit to indebted to haggle. Whatever. I have to remind myself that even when something seems expensive here, it's still cheap.

Rupiah to USD is about 13,000 to 1. So, we've had a couple meals at restaurants, the first amounted to about seven dollars--for two meals, and two sodas. Anyway, that's kind of side-tracking.

Monkey Forest

Dropped off at Ubud we wandered the maze-like market for a bit, and generall wound south until we got to the Ubud Monkey Forest.

Monkeys are everywhere. I guess that should be no surprise, but immediately at the entrance we were faced with a dozen of the little gray bastards, jumping around, grooming each other, doing other monkey stuff. There were lots of rules to follow; don't bring food because it might be unhealthy for the monkeys, don't look them in the eyes, or they might be aggressive--dont get bit or do anything that could instigate a bite, because they might carry rabies.

Anyway, that's all boring stuff. The fun stuff is walking around surrounded by monkeys, watching as every so often a monkey jumps on someone. And if you are really lucky, that person will freak out and everyone will laugh at them.

You can but bananas and corn to entice the monkeys, who will climb on you happily to get to your food. They'll reach into your pockets too, and steal stuff. One girl lost her hand sanitizer.

The Monkey Forest has a temple, and a great view over some jungle areas. Down the path there is a stream running through a gorge you can walk down. Pretty cool stuff. Shady, though there are steps and hills here and there, but ultimately not a hard walk. Some guy was doing it on crutches (he was pretty fit in the upper body, to be fair). 

Then we went and ate. Bought some bits of clothing from a shop. Now we're washing clothes and resting. We'll probably head out tonight so see some traditional dances and music at the temples scattered around Ubud. Who knows. Tomorrow we'll be having a grand adventure in transit trying to find a way to Banyuwangi, which is over on Java. Our plan is to find an early bus into Denpasar, and there see if we can buy a plane ticket on Garuda Indonesia, and if that fails, find the 5 hour bus-ride to the ferry.

As always, no promises. But if it works out, we have a guide Christian has been talking to who can take us up to the Kawah Ijen volcano hike to see the fabled blue fire.

Thanks to Christian for all the hard work planning this Indonesia jaunt, I've really just been along for the ride!