Okawati Hotel Ubud

If I though my breakfast was bad yesterday, this morning it was absolutely abysmal. A different bloke from the hotel made it, and not only was the bread size even smaller but the toasted chocolate spread sandwich was hideously soggy. I ate it in about two bites, and washed it down with coffee, the only redeeming element of the repast. I planned to fit in some surfing before midday check-out, but not having consumed sufficient carbohydrate, I was forced to head over the road to the mini ...

... Out in the Western world, one can become numb to life as work, stress, and pointless societal worries begin to weigh down on a person. Here, one cannot avoid the inspiration that emanates from the people and places...it simply catches up to you and you can't do anything but learn from it. Inspiration here comes in many forms. It can come in the form of simple admiration of the physical landscape. Rice paddies etched out in the land create amazing patterns and designs; palm trees ...

... we were going to Ubud he offered us a taxi price. A small amount of bargaining persued and we managed to get 40,000 each, rather than the 50,000 we would have had to pay for a coach; it was also quicker, more comfortable, and we got the bonus of listening to Metallica during the journey.

Everybody in Bali seems very friendly, and genuinely interested in talking to you. Like most Bali folk, our driver tried to engage us in conversation ...

... but it was all pretty much over when we arrived. We walked a little outside of town just to get a feel for the area and the majority of the land is covered in farming veggies due to the fertile land. We had hoped we could get some normal priced water to drink since all the water in "town" was super inflated but even the small shacks on the countryside charged high prices. After the trek up the volcano we found a small shack on the lakes edge and got some ...

... for the local representatives. I find this bizarre as presumably everyone voter Joe knows who the candidate for the island is without a big billboard poster reminding him. She was picking seaweed with him earlier and only lives around the corner. The island is a true snap shot of balinese life and culture outside of the tourism and rice industries on which Bali survives. It's baking hot and there are little sheds of people tending to the seaweed ...

... Actually, Erin shopped the rest of the day away. I just watched....... LoL! Day 32: We went for a walk through the monkey forest. There is a temple located in the middle of forest and tonnes of Macau monkeys hang around to get fed by the tourists. They are pretty charismatic. They were jumping all over people with food. Trying to steel their bags and there was definitely a lot of frolicking going on (nudge, nudge, wink, wink ...

... moment...but she decided to give me a sample of her ability to show that she knew what she was doing...not that I doubted that. But she said to me..."I will give you good massage...if not, it's my karma, not yours". Like it would come right back at her if she was a phony. Living a life based on karma is a powerful act. I was talking to Dewa the other day, asking him about whether the rats were a problem in the rice paddies. And he says - of course...and I ...

... hydrangea fields were particularly beautiful because they were very low growing, and more like wildflower fields. We drove up Mt Batur and had a view of Lake Bratan with its very popular temple. We have had to revise our idea of what a temple is...my thought was a statuary-thing. Bali temples can be simple statuary at a home, or it can be a village temple which is made up of buildings, statuary and beautiful grounds within an ...

... pink sash around my waist, and led me to the inner temple where women carried stacks of offerings on their heads and placed before the altar. A group of men and a young boy sat weaving decorations that flew high in the sky like kites off bamboo poles. During our drive through the countryside, art blended seamlessly with the landscape, and sometimes completely dominated it-old temples wreathed in vegetation, artisans' shops ...