Thank God for Ubud

As we eluded in our previous post, our time in the southern beach region of Bali was less than stellar and honestly, was downright bad.  Contrived, inexorably busy, dirty, and the continual harassment by hawkers and eager restaurateurs, were the themes in our visit to the south leading us to really question our decision to visit Bali.  We tried to stay positive about our experience, as we had a few good moments (all represented in our blog post) but thank god for our recent four day experience in the centrally located town of Ubud. We no longer have to hold back our disdain for the south, as we have found the true Balinese Paradise.

Ubud has always been the cultural center of the island. It is a quiet little town with meandering narrow streets, great shopping (ML appreciated this), fantastic restaurants and serves as home for most of the islands artists and craftsman.  Their workshops are set in idyllic surroundings of picturesque mountains, beautiful lakes and lush green valleys that have been transformed into the Tegallantang Rice Terraces. You can see this above, below and mentioned in our previous Celebration post.

The rice terraces take advantage of pure spring water that flows from the north and feeds the terraces.  They are then divided into sections for the growing of rice.  Rice can be grown in each section three times a year- in the first month of planting it needs constant water, then slowly over the next three months, less and less water is needed as it grows about hip high and is ready for harvesting.  AB ventured into the rice paddies, to the amazement of the locals, apparently since tourists don't typically go there and captured some great photos.

In Ubud we had some very nice accommodations as everything is set in the rice fields and provides some spectacular views. Here you can see the view out our window and where we had our meals.  Please note the scenery was magnificent, but the bug situation unenviable.

When extolling the virtues of a trip to SE Asia to many of you, who are undoubtedly reading this, a common question we received was, "What are you going to do there?"  AB's canned response was: " Ride an elephant!!!!!!!" So, at the first chance to actually partake in said activity, we jumped.  It was a great fun and while ML's elephant was quite well behaved, AB's was an inquisitive elephant and took every opportunity to venture off the beaten safari path in search of food- this was not lost on ML's as she believed they were kindred spirits.

In addition to the local art scene, Ubud has a number of ornate and sometimes lively temples, which ML highlighted earlier, when she was attacked by an aggressive monkey, which are not native to Bali and hail from Borneo and were originally introduced to attract tourists.

 
While in Ubud we decided to partake in a cooking class and learn how to make our new favorite Baliense dish, Nasi Gorang, which is the local interpretation of fried rice.  We had a great teacher and really enjoyed ourselves. ML got a healthy giggle out of the class when she delivered her opening introduction "I'm Meredith, from the United States and he (AB) does all my cooking."   We were then told that if the woman AND man doesn't cook, there is no relationship.  Hmm.

Overall, we really fell in love in Ubud and enjoyed our time there, and even discussed potentially going back if time in our trip allows, but alas, with all things in life:

"There never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know"

-Jim Croce, Time in a Bottle

(yes, we are cheesy, we know.)