Happy 2017 and my apologies for having been so long off-line! Hard to believe the last time I wrote was from Lovina.
Our trip from Lovina to Ubud was relatively uneventful but you might like to hear about our lunch/shopping escapade at some little village atop the mountain. As we've been known to do we decided on lunch at a roadside market where the locals would eat. Lady luck was on our side and one of the vendors was a friend of Jati's aunt and so she took good care of us. We ordered our rice and "stuff" in a brown paper cone. Lynda opened hers and exclaimed, "It's looking at me!" when she saw the little tiny fish that was part of the "stuff" atop the rice. I chose not to look at mine and mostly concentrated on eating the rice part. All I could think of was a time in Mexico near Patsquaro where we stopped in a village that had food stalls all of whom were selling fries. Except that upon closer inspection....all those fries had eyes! Honestly, they looked like perfect fries all standing tall in a paper cup (much like McDonalds would present them)....but they all had eyes! They were all skinny little fried fish from the polluted lake the village sat beside. Thank gawd we didn't eat those fries! These little fish at least were very very tiny. Maybe these little fish had been imported from Africa where we saw millions of them drying on tarps in Zanzibar. Small world! For dessert we decided on something that was in the midst of being fried. It was some kind of batter that was used to surround a wide array of "stuff". This "stuff" did not include fish though (thankfully). This "stuff" ranged from tofu to bananas and mixed veggies to some kind of rice ball. All were pretty good and when you figure that we got a big bag full (enough for about a dozen people) for under a dollar...the price was right! To wash it all down we decided on roadside 3 in 1 and so Jati's aunt's friend fixed us up with little glass glasses that held about 3/4 cup of quite strong 3 in 1 (which is just instant coffee, cream, and sugar in a pkg). Those little glass glasses were HOT so drinking the stuff was easier said than done. To keep the many flies out she had topped all of our glasses with little pink plastic lids. Got the picture? Yep....it was a market and there were lots of flies. There were also a lot of dogs and Lynda tried to make friends with some of them by feeding them my leftover "stuff" (remember I focused on the rice). All she succeeded in doing was creating a dog fight. Jeez...there were dogs coming from everywhere and guess what...they only ate the rice and left the "stuff" so I guess they didn't like the bits that looked back at them either. Since we were stopped anyway we decided to check out the local shops for local sarongs and let me tell you there is a funny story there! I will cut to the chase and just tell you that within seconds of our entrance to the shop Lynda was stripped to her underwear and dressed in something that was made for someone quite a bit smaller! She modelled her attire as the ladies who dressed her said she looked great. I disagreed strongly but no words were needed as the look on my face said it all. It was kind of like the time that she showed up in Vancouver with phone book yellow coloured hair that some hairdresser in Mexico told her looked good. Mexico or Bali....Lynda is an easy mark! In the end....she got out of those 'too small' clothes and poor Jati will never be the same as he was there for the unveiling! Privacy is not always available. In the end, purchases were made by both of us and we now are the proud owners of lovely Kintimani style sarongs (that fit us!)
Another stop we made was when Lynda used her spidey sense (I am sure she must have something more than eyes cuz she sees stuff I miss all the time) to spot a bunch of people lined up along a wall looking over the edge at something below. It turned out to be the military putting a few hundred new recruits through some basic training exercises. It was an obstacle course of sorts and so we watched the antics for a while before heading out on our way again. In hindsight...how crazy were we to stop where there are people lined up along a wall and military all carrying guns?! Yikes! Sounds like a dangerous spot to stop. But honestly all kidding aside....we have both commented so many times that it feels very safe here. Both in Lovina and in Ubud either of us are comfortable walking alone day or night. Not that we do a lot of street walking at night so don't start worrying about us please! LOL.
Speaking of stops along the way from Lovina, another stop we made was at a roadside fruit stand. Some of you may have seen the video on facebook but it's worthy of note here in the blog as well (for posterity if nothing else). Durian, also known as the king of fruits, is a large spiny ugly looking that that is said to smell like hell but taste like heaven. Both Lynda and I were durian virgins and so we decided the time had come to change that reality. Jati likes durian and so we had him give us a lesson in how to tell if it's ripe and how to open it and how to eat it...etc. Lynda went first....she smelled it and discovered it wasn't that bad so if it didn't smell too bad and was supposed to taste better than it smells she was good to go. It was barely touching her tongue when she screwed up her face and said "no, this isn't good at all!" Actually....she said "no bagus" which means No good in Balinese and the guy who works at the fruit stand was practically peeing his pants watching her. She gave it another tiny try but again...it was no better. Then it was my turn. Having seen her reaction I was even more nervous but heh....gotta give it a go. I smelled it. It was okay...kind of citrus and cheese mixed. Then I tasted it. It was okay...kind of citrus and cheese mixed. I actually had another bite because I couldn't believe it wasn't too bad and it was still kind of okay. I'm not sure I can say I 'like' it but...I might try it again so that sort of means I liked it a little. Lynda tried to get me to have some more but I was already starting to sweat so decided I'd stop rather than risk a heart attack as durian is supposed to speed up your heart if you have too much of it. We cleansed our palette with mango that were yummy so all was good in the end. When the time came for us to leave Lynda said she was sorry to have lost her durian virginity on the side of the road in Bali! I'm not sure the fruit stand guy or Jati got that one but I sure did! LOL
We've settled back into Ubud and all is good in our little Balinese world. The skies opened up last night (during the night) and that was the first rain that we'd had in two days so I'm sure the plants were thirsty for it. It is cooler today as a result of the rain too which is a nice little reprieve. Today after a leisurely morning of stretching, meditation, breakfast (omelet and fresh fruit), and a game of rummy I headed out with a whole list of things to do! I guess that means we "live" here...LOL! First I needed to drop off some laundry (at $2/kilo it's pretty affordable!), next I wanted to see if I could locate the shop where I'd left a deposit on a little purse I'd asked them to custom make a longer strap for (still haven't found it!), from there I wanted to hit this little restaurant where they have a great iced latte that also turned into a bowl of pumpkin ginger soup for lunch. I am typing this from that little restaurant and just finished the most delicious bowl of soup! I had no intention to have anything other than the iced latte until I saw someone else with a bowl of the most beautiful looking soup. It was a beautiful butternut squash colour and there was a drizzle of white decorating the top....It was then that my taste buds went crazy and I decided I was a little hungry maybe.... well....I wasn't really hungry but after the first taste of that creamy golden deliciousness I was glad I'd decided to go for it! I'm saving the iced coffee for dessert and taking this opportunity to type a little 'catch up' missive for you all.
As I sit here in Maha Restaurant I am loving everything! The temperature is perfect, there is a beautiful breeze, my belly is full of healthy delicious soup, there are three cute little rabbits hopping around the courtyard I'm sitting in, the wind in the leaves of the tree overhead are keeping time to the music that is wafting out of the restaurant, there is the distant buzz of life on Monkey Forest Road out the front of the restaurant....yes.....all is good.
At this very moment Lynda will be just climbing aboard the back of a motorbike with Ketut as her driver. She has made arrangements for him to drop her off and pick her up from her new yoga studio where she is booked for her first class this afternoon. It will be fun to hear all about her adventure there. The location she's discovered is breathtaking in its views and she'll get a workout before her yoga as she climbs 100 stairs to get to the place.
Heh...a flower just fell on me....now that is the kind of thing you want to have falling from the skies....beautifully fragrant flowers!
Back to being on the back of motor bikes....Lynda more than I but both of us have grown quite familiar with that as our mode of transport here in Ubud. Coming home from the grocery store the other day (where I had a bucket that was filled with other stuff and Lynda was carrying a yoga mat) we hopped on the back of a couple of bikes and before we knew it were zipping up Monkey Forest dodging cars like we'd done it for years. I thought about carrying the bucket on my head but heh....you gotta draw the line somewhere and I didn't want to show the locals up. LOL. In truth, the driver hung the bucket on his handle bars for me so I didn't have to try to balance it and myself as we zipped in and out of cars on our way home.
Two days ago Lynda had a VERY LONG back of a bike ride! I was out getting a pedicure and foot massage and was surprised that she never showed up at the spa (which is just steps from our place) as her plan was to drop in for some new polish in prep for New Years Eve. When I eventually got home I found a note saying just that she had gone out with Pasek (our host). When she finally returned I got the rest of the story. Pasek had taken her out in search of a dentist as a crown had popped off one of her teeth. The search was long as every dentist said they didn't have the right kind of glue but in truth they saw the job and knew it was beyond their experience. It was a complex root canal that in my opinion looked like it came out of the back of a computer. There were metal pins and they had to fit into little bitty grooves and well....I can understand why those first 4 dentists shied away! Finally, dentist number 5 said she would be able to help and that Lynda should return for an appointment the next morning which she did. In the end, it was a great experience, Lynda's tooth is back where it belongs, and ......she is only 350,000 IDR poorer for the experience. (Yes, that is just $35 CAD for a 1 1/2 hour appointment and there is a 3 month warranty on the work. Makes me wonder why we bother getting travel insurance!).
Yesterday, Lynda and I went in search of something she'd seen on one of her motorbike treks. It was a Fish Spa and after googling it we decided we were up for the adventure. We'd seen other fish spas on the road but honestly most of them looked pretty disgusting and this Fish Spa was highly rated for it's attention to hygiene and care of the fish so off we set. It didn't look that far on the map and it isn't far when you're on the back of a bike but when you're walking and it is HOT HOT HOT out....it was a bit of a trip. But....we are in Bali and time is irrelevant so we just made a day of it stopping along the way for a drink or a snack, to do a little shopping, or to check out a spa, and eventually to have some dinner. In the end, we found the spa but...it was closed! We're hoping the closure was just for renovations because now that we know where it is and have read the reviews we're anxious to go so fingers crossed that next time we'll be lucky.
Speaking of stopping along the way for snacks and dinner....both Lynda and I have come to the conclusion that as good as the warungs are we are also going to start to frequent some of the other restaurants too. They're a little more expensive (at least twice as much) but still inexpensive relatively speaking. And since we really only have to buy one meal a day (breakfast is included with our room) we can afford it. We may not go to restaurants every day but we cannot afford not to as the food scene here in Ubud is unbelievable! Every meal we have we think is the best thing we've ever had and then we go to the next place and it seems to be even better than the last. It is obvious that they all use super fresh ingredients and the presentation is 5 star every time and the flavours are like a party in your mouth and well....I guess we've become addicted to the food scene here as much as the next guy. The other night the table next to us ordered a dessert called Death by Chocolate and we've decided we're probably going to have that for dinner one night! Yesterday at one of our stops we saw oatmeal on the menu so we've decided that we're going to skip breakfast one morning and go for oatmeal instead. You may be thinking....really?! But when I tell you that the oatmeal is packed full of peanuts and cashews and almonds and bananas and coconut milk .... see why we might want to go give it a try? LOL. Yes....it is easy to enjoy eating very good quality food when in Ubud!
New Years Eve was an international affair for us this year! Here we were in Bali and headed out with a group that included: 1 Korean, 1 from England (who is now an expat living in Bali for the past 8 years), 3 Balinese, and us 2 Canadians. We started out the evening with drinks at the expats house and then moved from there on to dinner at another fantastic restaurant (this place is FULL of fantastic restaurants!), and then we were off to a club where there was a well known reggae band playing for the night. We rocked to their rhythms till the clock struck 12 when we moved outside to the edge of the soccer field (in the middle of town) as they were setting off fireworks to mark the new year. As luck would have it we were perfectly placed as we could see all of the fireworks in the soccer field as well as the ones in the palace just a block away from the soccer field as well as the ones about a block to the right of the palace. We had three shows going on simultaneously and it was fantastic! On top of that, what's not to love about a place that lets you bring your beer out of the bar and then back into it after the fireworks are finished! The bar was packed with people from all over the world all celebrating the start of 2017 together....we were having our own little UN event!
It is easy to meet people here in Ubud. So many are travellers and accustomed to the practice of making new friends. For example, on New Years Eve as we were walking home we met a couple from Newcastle England. We continued our NYE celebrations on the street for another hour or so and had some wonderful conversation to boot. Or, just prior to my coming in to this restaurant I met a woman across the street. She was shopping for a sarong and asked my opinion between the two she was deciding between. In no time at all we'd become great friends. Jessika is from Germany where she just quit her job as a physician and is travelling around the world until she lands in Canada where she has a one year work visa. She is planning to arrive in Canada in April (same time as we're heading home) and since she is probably going to make BC her home base for that year our paths may cross again. Jessika won't be able to practice as a physician in Canada due to licensing issues but she has been studying alternate therapies that complement her traditional practice. She is thinking that she may be able to do that kind of work in Canada and I suspect it will work out for her just as she hopes.
What else can I tell you about the past week??? Well, last night two little house lizards got into a huge battle on the wall in our room. That was pretty exciting! They hissed and spit like dragons and in truth...they're a little scary when they get like that. They're only a few inches long and they're good little guys as they eat all the mosquitos but when they're mad....they're mean! The other thing thats been happening the past couple of days is that the papayas have been falling off the tree right beside our patio. The guys have not been picking them because the birds or bats or bugs have been at them and so they're not good anymore. Rather than go to the work of picking them they just let the birds etc have their way with them until they fall to the ground and are easy to pick up. On another topic but something you might find interesting....they do have sugar in little packets or in a sugar bowl here but most often when you order coffee (or iced latte) they serve a little pitcher of simple syrup (sugar water) for you to use if you want sweetener.
There's not a lot more to tell at the moment and I'm due for a massage so....maybe I'll sign off for now and leave something for next time....till then,
L & L
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