After arriving in Ubud, which is further up the volcano in bali, I found (well the guy found me) this amazing homestay. It's only 5 bucks and includes a good breakfast, but that's far from what so great about it. It's in a traditional balinese compound (just like the one that we ate lunch at when I was on the bike tour with the carlisles and brennans the last time in bali. So it's this nice room overlooking a gorgeous little garden filled with plants, flowers, a pond, and balinese style statues. And of course in the back is the family temple area. And the family is just so incredibly nice.
That night I went to see the labong and barong traditional balinese dances. It was definitely worth it and I found it quite entertaining. They wore beautiful and over the top costumes and the women would not only dance with their bodies, but with their fingers and eyes. Really crazy.
It was after the dance that I realized some really bad news. Right before the concert I had found out how much tickets cost and realized it was time to make an atm run. I had to go quick and was in a hurry. The first atm wouldn't work with my card, so I went to the next. Got my 2.5 million rupees (which is a huge handful of cash), was occuppied with securing it into my money belt, and again for got to take the card. So now I had lost my backup card, which is no good, no good at all. Currently trying to figure out where to go from here with the money I have left and with no atm card and a country that doens't take credit card really. Yes, realize it was a bonehead move and I should have learned from the first time, but I'm still frustrated with the way the system works that they give you this massive wad of cash and then you have to go back to the screen to cancel any further transactions before you get your card back. You're there for the cash, so you definitely won't forget that, so I wish you had to take your card before you could get the money and not vice versa. Anways, as I found out, I'm not the only one who has had this problem. The finnish girl that is in the same balinese compound as me also lost her atm that way and I ran into to balinese guys today that had lost a card that way. Just a stupid system. But regardless it's my fault and now my poor mom and me have to figure out what to do. My brother thinks I should sell my body...hmm guess i hope to find other alternatives
After I figured it out, I went straight back to the bank and atm hoping they had a number or something b/c I figured I could get the card back from the atm machine if a banker could open it. Of course it was friday night which meant no bankers on saturday and sunday and then ramadan is ending so there is a public holiday monday and tuesday. Went to find the police to see if they knew of anyone or any security guard that could help. In true indonesian style, they didn't know much put they put me in the patrol car and took me to the bank where I was met with 6 other policeman. 2 taxi drivers and the next 2 people to use the machine all joined in sitting there and discussing and trying to help me. The tourists walking by gave me quite the weird looks thinking I must have really done something bad or had something bad done to me. But I guess it was comical if you weren't me with all these police there with a nearly in tears tourist and some of the police actually trying to break into the bank. Eventually a guy that knew pretty good english came by and called up the CIMB banks 24 hour number and told me that they have a new policy now that all eaten atm cards are immediately destroyed, so I lost hope in getting in back, though the police sure didn't.
Didn't get to bed until late that night as I had to go email my mom and check for any new charges on my card incase it was stolen and then of course didn't sleep very well. So I was obviously pretty bleary eyed when I woke up the next morning at 6:30am so I could get an early start on the bike ride I had planned as I had rented a bike the day before. I was sitting in a chair in the compound eating the tasty breakfast and sipping tea watching the rain when my neighbor came out. She was finnish and sat on the floor in a yoga pose. She'd come to Ubud (the cultural, artistic, an relaxation capital of bali) for yoga classes. We talked about, I guess the usual stuff that one talks about to your neighbor in a homestay early in the morning. That yes, the water turned off sometime last night before I wanted to take a shower, and yes, my room was very nice and clean with a few friendly cockroaches and hers was nice too except for the huge barking gecko (that I heard all night) living in her bathroom, but of course that we were overall impressed with the placem when all of a sudden there was a violent shaking of the building my chair was leaning against and a noise. I originally thought it was a jackhammer and someone had started repairs on the otherside of the building so early and it was shaking the building. After just kind of thinking about the shake with bleary eyes, I finally realized it was an earthquake, but by then it was over. However, not long afterward another one, a much strong and longer one hit, and this one I was much quicker to jump out to the open space with no roof in the garden. Turned out to be a 5.8 quake not far from kuta. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8264169.stm Pretty crazy to be in that!
But the rain cleared, the ground steadied, and I decided it was time to put the atm behind me, at least for now, and go off on my bike ride. The finnish gal (dad's type, tall and blonde) had seemed rather inquisitive and asked me to join her at the market once her yoga lessons were done. But in perhaps the fatal flaw of the guy brothers who always take a bike ride over a date or a ski weekend over a dance (but that's how I knew bro would end up dating mckenzie b/c when he met her he eagerly told me that she owned 3 bikes and numerous skis), I turned it down as I wanted to go on a big bike ride
The bike ride was fantastic. Heading uphill from ubud towards the top of the volcano through quiet backroads, some single track, quaint and artistic villages and past smiling and waving locals, more temples than you can count and lots of little snippets of balinese culture. A couple of the villages were having fesitivities at their temple and were all dressed up and carrying fruit in by the bushel. Of course they were carrying it in on their head as the balinese women carry everything from a glass of water to an impossible load on their heads. After being in kuta where the common phrases the locals are saying to you are: "you need mairjuana; you want transport; boom boom; i get you young lady; ephedrin; mushrooms; you look my bracelet; massage" it was great to be in an area with such friendly locals waving and shouting hello and good morning. The kids running up for high fives and chasing after the bike as long as they can. Some of the locals inviting me in to see their compound. The ancient toothless men and women giving you funny looks and then big smiles. Instead of being ripped off, they right away give you local prices (a grilled corn cost 10 cents here and was attempted to be sold to me for 2 dollars in kuta) and I even had a couple people buy me food. The sheer amount of temples is just staggering and amazing. Every family has their own temple comples and then there are the village ones as well. And all of the houses are built in the balinese style, so that mixed with the temples just gives the area a cool look and feel. And of course there are glowing green rice fields everywhere. Just like the architecture, the people are dressed quite traditionally, and even some of the old women just walk around topless, and of course you come across people just bathing in the irrigation streams buck naked. Some of my favorite moments are when the kids ask you to take their picture and when you show them the picture they scream and laugh with delight. One of my other favorite moments was when I was eating at this small warung. I asked to wash my hands and I went to the back where there was a temple nearby with about 30 old women sitting down. They were quite surprised to see me and oh did they laugh and carry on about that, especially after I waved to them. And some guys along the road let me hold their roosters and even showed me how you get them wound up and fiesty for the fight. 3/4 of the way into my trip, I met a nice gal when I was getting some bakso soup. She was 17 and in what they call university, so she new good english. She quick took her motorbike to get her pushbike and then she led me on a tour of the countryside and through her village and her compound. I explored quite a bit as I left around 8am and didn't turn around for the fun and fast descent until 3:30. I have to say the balinese culture may really be one of my favorites. It's held on to still be traditional and the architecture is just amazing.
So needless to say the biking trip was amazing and I just wish I could capture all of it and remember it b/c along the way you just have so many cool personal and cultural encounters
Finished the day by checking out the 4 seasons, where bro used to be a security guard (in jackson of course). As the esteemed brother of the best security guard on the 4 seasons force, I was given a personal tour by the manager of the villas. Talk about fancy. Bro, next time instead of spending your free 4 season nights in canada, I suggest bali!
I really, really like Ubud. Really a beautiful place with great culture, friendly people, and a myriad of activities to do. Not to mention you could bike and hike all over the place and just run into so many cool things. It's kind of this interisland tropical paradise really. I'd stay here longer if I could, but there is a lot more to indonesia to see and I'm on a timed visa.
Tomorrow I take a bus to the port a ferry to lombok, possibly another bus, then a ferry ti Gili Air a tiny carless island off the coast of lombok.
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