What a fun night we had last evening. There were five of us out for dinner: Julie (our neighbour here in Ubud), Glenda (a university teacher from Hong Kong), Miranda (an entrepreneur and wanting to be coach from the Netherlands), Lynda and I. On Julie's recommendation we went to a restaurant that is about a 10 minute drive from here called Bale Udang. A bale (pronounced balay) is a small hut and udang is the Indonesian word for shrimp. The restaurant consists of several bales that are set about a foot above a large lake that is stocked with koi. It is stunning and unique! To make it even better...adjacent to the restaurant are a series of rice fields that are incredible to look out over. Last night was not a good night to see the sunset but I can imagine how beautiful it would have been had there been no rain.
Yes, for the past three days we've seen pretty much nothing but rain (which is reasonable considering we're in the peak of the rainy season!). We've been spoiled the past few weeks with mostly sunny skies or with cloudbursts that last only a few minutes and at most an hour. This past three days of alternating between drizzle and downright insane buckets of torrential downpour have been "interesting". On the upside....we've got our fingers and toes crossed that this is mother nature getting it all out of her system before we go to our beachfront bungalow in Sanur on the 7th. For the four nights we're there we'd like to have nothing but sunshine please. :-)
But back to last night....the five of us had a great night and the conversation was interesting and varied. Each of us brought our own life experience to this table of diverse women but the common denominator we all shared was our love of travel and appreciation for diversity. It is such a treat to spend time with a group who are all likeminded.....the conversation flows so easily and everything is so interesting.
Our evening was not without excitement too! During our meal the winds picked up and the drizzle turned into a torrential downpour. The rain began to blow into our little bale (it is just a roof and a floor with open walls). But not to be chased away we just dropped the bamboo screens that are on all four sides of the bale and within minutes we were dry once again and the excitement of the evening had just gone up a notch. We sat there in our little bale listening to the wind and the rain while wondering if those hanging "walls" would stand up to the wind (the "walls" are only attached at the top). At one point during the worst of the wind a small palm tree (about 15 feet tall) was actually ripped right out of the ground and the branches of it crashed into the "wall" of our bale! We all just high fived and said that if tonight was the night we were meant to go then at least we'd be going out in style. Yes....it was a fun night that was filled with excitement and adventure too! :-)
After our dinner we all fed the hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of koi that live in that lake that was under our bale. The fish got so excited about being fed that they almost jumped into our bale with us! More fun memories for us all.
When the rain finally subsided enough for us to even consider heading out and back to the car it was time for the restaurant to close and five hours had passed since we'd arrived. Luckily for us...all of our shoes were still there! We hadn't thought about it until then but considering that the winds had been strong enough to blow over a tree how was it possible that they hadn't taken any of our shoes from the platform right outside our bale?! Luckily too.....this is Bali and Jati was still waiting patiently for us in the lobby. We felt badly that he'd been waiting for that long but as he said...that is his job and it is no problem. I believe him but honestly....my hunch is that he was likely cold sitting in the lobby of the restaurant all that time! (There are no walls there either.)
You may think that I'm joking about him being cold but honestly these past few days even Lynda and I have felt the cold here. Perhaps we have become a bit accustomed to the warmer temperatures but whatever it is...the breeze is cool and the temperature outside has gone from it's usual 30 plus whatever the humidity makes it feel like to somewhere around 25 that feels a bit cool because of the dampness and the breeze. We're pretty sure that these few days are our winter and we're okay with it as it is giving us a taste of what everyone at home experienced this winter with the crazy cold temperatures that settled all over BC. Okay...maybe our +25 degrees can't compare with your -25 but people are wearing sweaters here so it's kind of the same. :-)
It poured all through the night as well and got so cold in our room that I had to get up and turn off the aircon at around 2:00 for a few hours. It gets a bit stuffy without the aircon on as the windows are closed to keep out mosquitos etc so by 5:00 a.m. it had warmed up enough for me to turn it back on again.
It's been a pretty lazy day today with rain falling for most of it. This morning Lynda popped out for a bit to get a hair cut and so she is feeling like a new woman. Feeling a little envious of her fantastic head massage (that comes with a shampoo and a cut) I stopped on the way home this afternoon to get a shampoo too. $4 and 30 minutes of my time and I too feel like a million bucks. :-)
This afternoon while out for lunch we checked out another nearby hotel to see their spa and pool (always on the lookout for "must go" places). While nice....it couldn't compete with our favourite local spot where Maryanna works her magic in a private room with private open air shower. There is also a pool there that we're free to use when we've had a spa treatment so for under $20 I can get a 90 minute amazing massage, a fantastic shower with oversize nice quality towels, and as long swimming and at pool side as I'd like to have. Oh yes....and a cup of tea and plate of fresh fruit to rejuvenate me after my massage is also included in the price of course. The other spa that both Lynda and I are anxious to try is about 10 minutes from here and it is called Sedona. There we will be dipped in chocolate! (For its antioxidant properties of course!). But that is another story for another day.
I had to go shopping for some deodorant today and while you might think that is an easy thing...not so much! The pharmacy didn't have any at all and they directed me to CoCo's (a good 20 minute walk or a $5 cab ride away). I didn't want to go all the way to CoCo's and so finally I found some at the little convenience store across the street (the Circle K). I expected to pay some exorbitant price given that it was at a corner store but no....it was only $2.60 for adidas brand deodorant! I was so happy that I decided to pick up a little bag of the most amazing peanuts to celebrate. These peanuts are vacuum packed and we had some for the first time the other day and OMG I am now officially addicted! They are crunchier than crunchy and their flavour is amazing. It might be a problem that they're available at the corner store where you can buy beer too!
The other thing I went shopping for today was a new bar of soap. We have a really nice quality store right across the street from where our little lane pops out. They carry all kinds of natural products that range from local spices to a myriad of soaps made out of coconut oil or honey etc. That bar of soap cost $3.80 so it too is a little less than it would be at home.
The shopping here is endless. There are clothes that range from high quality designer pieces in beautifully appointed shops to cheaply made garments in the too many to count market and street vendor stalls. There is jewellery everywhere and it too ranges from high end to lesser quality. Or the statues and art and bags/purses and flip flops and household goods and all things wicker and I haven't even mentioned the food places. I think the restaurants are my favourite. There are more than we will ever be able to see during our time here. There are possibly more restaurants than there are temples in Bali and that is saying a LOT! Each restaurant that we visit is special in some way. Either it is that their food is outstanding or their decor is interesting and eclectic or their view is breathtaking. All of them offer great service and although the food is better in some places than in others...even the not so good places would still rate an 8/10. The really great places score more like a 12/10! We're constantly saying...OMG! We're going to have to remember this place and come back here but honestly....we hardly go to the same place twice. There are just too many to choose from! There is even a Mexican place just up the road from us that we haven't tried yet. It is called Lemonade and is supposed to be AMAZING! Go figure!?!
But enough about food.... Right at the moment I am listening to Ketut (the guy who makes our breakfast) and Made (the guy who has the place right next door) as they talk in their native tongue. Made came over to ask Ketut for some help as he is putting in a new window. The rain has stopped at the moment and so he is taking advantage of the opportunity to get this project done.
Jati took Glenda (one of the girls we had dinner with last night) to Canggu this afternoon as she has two days there until she heads back to Hong Kong. We've met a lot of really great people here and Glenda is one of them. Speaking of meeting people....I just found out that someone I know from Summerland lives here in Ubud and has done for the past 14 years. Stephen was one of the first Assistant English teachers who went from Summerland to Toyokoro. I connected with him last night and am looking forward to meeting up with him for coffee. He owns a language school here in Ubud. They teach Bahasa (indonesian) and from what I understand are quite busy.
It really is a small world when I think about some of the coincidences that have happened during my two months here. There is the friend connection with Laurie Dillon (Itsy Bitsy Emporium) and then there is another connection that I have not yet made in person but that I will make at some point before I leave. Debbie Berry from Berry & Smith in Penticton who now lives here and who is friends with many of my friends. Now there is Stephen who I just found out is also friends with my new friend Julie (neighbour here). And then when I think of the new friends I'm making here and who at some point may connect with again in the future....yes....the world is a small place where we have more in common than we realize at first glance.
Ketut just came back and is now washing his bike. They are all really fastidious about keeping their cars and bikes clean. Even though it is going to get dirty again the first time they take it out as there are puddles everywhere....bikes are washed often. Jati is cleaning the car (inside and out) every day too. I know that is partly because that is his job but....what a lot of work knowing that it is going out into the rain right after it's finished must be a bit discouraging!
No one seems to watch TV here. A few places have TV in them but not many. The boys that work here sometimes watch something on youtube or the occasional movie online but for the most part their time is spent working on something (or going to ceremony or travelling between work and where their family lives). Cooking and cleaning take up a lot of their work time but even when those things are finished....they find something else productive to do. The only things I see them do during their "down" time is either sleep or visit with one another or sit out front on the bench in front of the little corner store where they visit or meet new people and in the case of Ketut and Ketut....look at the pretty girls. :-). Young 20 somethings the world over are the same! :-)
Well, I'm thinking mother nature might actually have gotten that rain out of her system as I haven't seen a drop fall from the sky in over an hour. Everything is so quiet when the rain stops! I never thought about rain being noisy before but when it is coming down as hard as it does here it is very very loud. When that stops...the silence is almost deafening. The birds are starting to sing again so maybe this really is the end of the rain for a while.
It's 6 pm here and now that the rain has stopped the mosquitoes are coming out in full force so I'll sign off for now and slather some more Bug Begone on me. I love that stuff...it actually kind of works and it smells okay too. It's also all natural (citronella) so we're not killing ourselves by using it either. We bought a 1 litre bottle of it when we first arrived and are almost through that so another 1 litre bottle should take us right into April. Sure don't begrudge that purchase! It's been worth every penny. :-)
Till next time,
L & L
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