.....I'm back.....I survived my tropical cold! Well, I guess I'm still fighting it off but I felt so much better this afternoon that I actually joined Lynda and ventured outside the gate of our little garden.
Today we met one half of the couple who will be living upstairs for the rest of the time we're in Ubud (all the way till April). Tess seems very nice. She and her husband are originally from the Netherlands and moved from there to Spain to escape the drizzle. In 1989 they visited Bali for the first time and discovered that they kind of loved it here too and sooooo pretty much ever since then they've been coming here for about 1/2 of the year. They have a house that is about 20 minutes (by motorbike) from here and while it is very beautiful, Tess finds it a little to quiet for her liking. She says, "I'm more of a city girl" and so they've got that house up for sale and rent it out regularly until it sells. When it is rented out (and whenever Tess needs an injection of the "city", they use the apartment upstairs here. My guess is that their house rents for much more than the cost of this apartment in town. As Tess says...."she gets so much pleasure from meeting people and talking and going for coffee that she just has to have a place in town". She seems very nice and both Lynda and I look forward to getting to know them both when we return from our trip to the north of the island.
Tomorrow is our travel day. It will take us about 3 1/2 hours to get to Lovina if we just drove straight through but we plan to stop along the way at a few of the sights so it will be a very long day for Jati as he will have to turn around and make the 3 1/2 hour drive back once he drops us off. We've both packed up our cases tonight so will be ready to hit the road by 9:00. Ketut has already got our breakfast for tomorrow planned. We will be having omelets and fruit salad at 8:00.
This afternoon for "lupper" (late lunch/early supper) we finally made our way to the place with the red umbrellas that sits beside the rice fields. We'd tried to find it the other day but ended up on the other side of the rice fields from it. Today though we persevered and voila...there we were at the Three Monkeys Restaurant. I'd read about it on trip advisor as a 'place to go' and after our introduction to it...I'm pretty sure we'll find our way there again once we're back from the north. It was a lot more pricey that what we've been used to but even at that it is still very affordable. As long as we don't do that too often we'll be just fine. LOL. The menu included a lot of western options and so for the first time since we arrived here we both ordered something that looked like it had come out of the kitchen at a restaurant at home. Even though the price was much more costly we still had an appetizer that was meant for 2 people to share, 2 mains, 1 beer, 1 dessert, and 2 tea. Total bill was under $50. And....that included a tip that was substantial enough for the server to come back to the table to ask if I was sure??? We assured him we were and that it was to share. He left our table with the biggest smile and on the way out everyone had an extra big smile and thank you. At home that same meal at a similar restaurant would have been at least $70+ before the tip. The restaurant was quite upscale and the service was second to none. In fact, today there were more staff than customers!
After "lupper" Lynda and I split up....she stayed at the restaurant enjoying the amazing views and really great soundtrack that was playing while she finished the book she was in the final stages of. You know....when you get to the last couple of chapters and you can hardly wait to finish it to see if you guessed the ending or missed it entirely.....well, that's where she was. I on the other hand hoofed it up the street to see my reflexologist. Today was my third visit to see him and once again....I can't say that it all feels good but I can say that I'm certain it is good for me! He does such a great job and in addition to the reflexology he works on my knees and lower legs. There is so much stripping (or whatever it's called) to be done in there and I can actually feel the difference immediately! It hurts when he's doing it but its that good kind of hurt...the kind when you know that it is the right thing to be doing. Anyway, I'll be back to see him when we get back from Lovina too and will continue to see him about once a week for our entire time here. And....it costs me $10 for a one hour treatment! I am feeling very very lucky!
I mentioned that the restaurant we were at today sits beside several rice paddies. It is right in the middle of town but yes....there are rice paddies! You'd never know they were there unless you left the main streets and went down one of the little laneways or into one of the restaurants. The really interesting thing about these rice paddies is that since we were at another restaurant sitting beside them the other day (3 days ago I think it was) they've planted a new crop. The other day there was just mud in a couple of the paddies and water in others. Today, there was water in them all and beautiful little baby shoots of rice plants neatly lined up in rows poking up about 5 inches above the surface of the water. The colour of green that those baby rice plants are is a special kind of green...the kind of green that only baby plants can be. It was all so serene and with a backdrop of buildings scarred by time and weather the contrast made it all even more so. Looking across the rice paddies we could see the other restaurant we'd been in. There was the Buddha statue that had been the view we'd enjoyed from that location. From this angle we could see that statues back and seeing it from that angle didn't detract from the tranquility of the scene at all. I know I've mentioned previously how the inclusion of nature into their restaurants adds so much to the ambiance but I think this example takes the cake! Having a series of rice paddies at the edge of your floor and with no walls at all....its just plain spectacular in a very understated way.
The other little tidbit that we learned about the rice paddies is that there are tiny fish that live in the paddies. They are maybe an inch long at most. I remember first learning about them in Thailand. They can actually live in the mud and the dirt as the paddy goes through it's various stages (well maybe its the eggs that live in the mud and the dirt) and then when the water is flooded into the paddies...the fish hatch and voila they help aerate the paddy. You know they're in there because you can see little circles rippling randomly on the surface of the water. At first you think it might be starting to rain because that is what those little circles look like....a drop of rain hitting the waters surface. But no, it's not rain....it's those little fish doing their thing!
Tonight we were able to set up the ipad and watch a few clips from the semi finals of the Voice on youtube. There are some good singers on there but for both of us tonight Sundance took it. Who knows though....any one of them could win it! It is kind of weird not having any TV here but kind of nice too. It was a treat to watch that little bit of the Voice and the other night when we watched a movie....that too was a treat. There's no binge watching anything here! LOL.
That's about it for today and it's time for me to take another one of those tylenol sinus nighttime tablets. Fingers crossed that when I wake up tomorrow my head will be clear and I won't need to carry a roll of toilet paper around with me everywhere I go!
Till next time......
L & L
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