Aniniraka Resort Spa Ubud

... ceremonial fights during temple ceremonies as well as for gambling.
To counter the exertions of the walk, a Balinese massage and a delicious BBQ rib meal at a famous local shack restaurant (Naughty Nuri's) were much in order – Eat, Pay, Leave being their mantra.

* Ironically, the Bahasa Indonesia word for water is air. Which seems appropriate on Bali, where it is so verdant that you get the sense that water is effectively air for all of the plant life.

... subsided. Once back in Kuta I had a long Internet session on a slow Internet connection, updating my blog, checking facebook and replying to emails. After Jimmy and me got some grub, 2 chicken burgers and fries for 23,000Rp!! Amazing, this place is really inexpensive and the food actually tastes alright. At 12 I went to bed after an active day. Tommorow I head for the beaches of Tumbulen to see the shipwreck there hopefully.

... the distances are relatively short, due to narrow roads and heavy traffic transport takes considerable amount of time.
Scuba diving scheduled for the following day didn't happen due to organization reasons and I got stuck in Ubud for the day. I used the time to fill in gaps in my blog and to explore local market.
Diving finally took place my last day in Ubud. We were driven off to Tulamben, where we explored U.S. Liberty ...

... emotion on se rend dans un autre temple tout proche, et rebelote, on est pris dans la ferveur et l'enthousiasme des villageois qui fete aussi leur ceremonie. On y rencontre un gars parlant anglais qui nous explique en gros les rites. On y prend des photo des offrandes, des grands meres qui essaient de nous caser avec les petits/tes fils ou filles. Bref on en prend plein les mirettes, et on quitte la fete locale sans chichis, avec les sourires des gens qui nous ...

... The beach was absolutely disgusting. There was trash ABSOLUTELY everywhere. You could not take a step without planting you foot in some trash. We were appalled and shocked. We had seen some dirty beaches in Thailand, but they were sparkling clean as compared with Bali. We would later find out that the beaches were in a better condition now than they had been a few days earlier. We would also find out that the beaches were in such a condition because of the rainy ...

... Bin heute etwas früher aus der Arbeit abgehauen. Die 2 Nächte hintereinander mit wenig Schlaf haben mich irgendwie geschafft. Hab mich ziemlich scheiße gefühlt. Jetzt geht's mir zum Glück wieder besser. Werde jetzt glaube ich noch meine Sachen packen und dann die Augen zumachen. Morgen will ich früh los nach Amed, muß noch tanken und hoffe, daß der Verkehr in der Stadt morgens noch nicht so viel ist. Sobald ich aus der Stadt raus bin, sollte es eigentlich kein Problem mehr sein. [25 ...

... again. Later we found out that while we were at the waterfall, somebody stole half tank of gas from our bike! *******s! We still went on, and the rest of the trip up to Tamblingan and Buyan lakes was nice. The next day we went to explore the rice terraces around Jatiluwih, these were much nicer than we expected, it is a really beautiful area. Our butts were totally sore once again from sitting on the scooter, but is was worth it! PT: Volt ...

... where people along the street waved happily to us. We then continued up a steep hill to a small parking lot outside a few shops where we were greeted by a handful of locals. Due to the uneven trail, we had to leave our stroller behind for the three kilometer hike. The path followed the town's aqueduct as well as dozens of water pipes heading in all directions. I have to praise Jon-Jon and Julian who were such troopers (albeit a bit slow) the whole way up ...

... at all due to all the approaching tourist boats. However, we saw tens and tens of them, some of them jumping. The more boats reached the place the less dolphins we saw. We had small breakfast on the boat, tea and pieces of banana pancake and enjoyed, and checked out the dolphin circus. Then some packing in the bungalow and off we go. Took a local bemo to east port for ferry to Java. Cost less than 0.50eurosents and lasted for around an hour. Bali, hasta la vista! Nora

... along well enough. He studied Bahasa for four years while in school and can speak it very well, which is great - he's a chatter. Unfortunately for me that means he ends up speaking with every local he runs across and I end up sitting there not understanding a word bored out of my mind. To be honest, I've even tried to ditch him a few times but have been unsuccessful!

BUT, I'm off to Gili Trawangan early tomorrow for more beach time....alone!