Artini 2 Cottages Ubud

... a canal and surprising some poor woman taking a bath in the canal (Sunday is bath day). Compare and contrast with the Four Seasons $6,000 presidential suite on view across the valley where Julia Roberts stayed recently for the filming of Eat, Pray, Love. Our guide took us home for tea and fresh cocoa fruit and outlined his Philippino cock breeding programme – they have more fierce birds apparently, which he sells for $80 a pop. Apparently the birds are used ...

Today was a great day. We attended a
Cremation Ceremony. Cremation ceremonies are very elaborate and
expensive productions. Because they cost so much, often times when a
person dies they will be buried for five to 10 years and then when
the family has finally saved enough money the remains will be dug up
in order to be cremated.


As we were walking to the cremation
site the vendors came and surrounded us ...

... is absolutely beautiful! It's always set around crazy gardens and are just...amazing. To make a comparison, in Thailand I generally paid about $6 or $7, for a hard mattress on the floor in a hut without real windows and only enough space to put your backpack on the floor, and shared cold shower and a squat toilet. (Not that I'm complaining, I love that too!)...Here I've been paying about $8 to $10, for room with actual solid walls and space to breathe and ...

... Sandra and I got into the dark water and he handed us down our tanks and BCD's. I had never once in my life put on my tank and BCD and regulator once already in the water! I heard a leak in my air and tried to ask the dive master about this several times but he brushed me off and I finally just assumed that it would be okay. I didn't feel safe. But I continued on. We descended into the water, our flashlights in hand. I dared not look anywhere but where the light was ...

... the beach with a great relief, and I found out that thy leave all the staff but the passports and the airplane tickets on the room, then Alfredo and I had a quick run to rescue some other things. The roof of the hotel were of dry grass and the bungalows and cottages of wood, then the expansion of the fire had everything in his favour, but fortunately there wasn't even the minimum breeze, and the dive tanks were taken away on time for the staff, on the same way I do not know what ...

... corner of the island, Life in Amed is quite welcoming (yes, the name of the place is Life in Amed). This is where Jon-Jon, the recently accomplished swimmer, has had his first taste of snorkeling! The coral reef is basically just a few steps into the water just outside our hotel and on our very first venture with him, he took it all in. There's even the remnants of an old wreck. Our more traditional villa is a two-story building with an open air bathroom ...

... the surf boards off were really friendly and we decided to let them take us on a day trip to a local coral. We rode a bananboat and had a snorkel at the reef and it was cool except the current at the reef was really strong which made it hard work. The weather has been awesome and our tans are starting to pick up and we cant have many complaints with such good sun and surfing.

Ubud has been....just OK. The entire area exists to sell wood carvings, paintings and jewelry. The surroundings are pretty enough and I enjoyed renting a bicycle to see it. That said, I think I'll have a better time in the Gili Islands where I'll have nothing but the beach. I've seen lush, green, terraced rice fields with palm trees in the background HOW many times now?

I spent a few days here and in Kuta with an Ozzie named Mike and we've ...