It’s Been a Wild Few Days…

First, I should state that this post was actually supposed to go up before yesterday's post. I'll try to get the order correctly from now on. Now that you're informed, go on and read. Also, It's still too slow to post photos. I have many. I took 900 photos yesterday alone. A lot of editing.

It all started in Kuta. After spending a few days hanging around the self-proclaimed surfing mecca, I headed to greener pastures and the rice fields of Ubud. Now my last post had suggested that I would be off to the Gilli Islands to do some scuba diving. Like everything in life, things change, and so here I am in the glorious city of Ubud… the city of art. But more on that later.


I had decided the night before to go to Ubud. The place I was staying at had a shuttle service that would take me the hour or so drive to the (almost) center of the island. Things seemed to be going great. I awoke the day of to catch the 9:00 am shuttle… It never came. I thought, that’s all right; I’ll catch the 11:00 am shuttle. I waited patiently for it, but it never came. Now I was starting to get worried. I knew there was only one more shuttle to Ubud and that was at 1:00 pm.

The whole time the hotel staff was assuring me that this shuttle was sure to come. My faith in them was wavering a bit at this point, but sure enough, a man in a little old van picked me up and off to Ubud we went…. Or so I thought.

When I got into to the van, I asked the driver if I was the only one heading to Ubud that day. It was a logical question since I was the only person in the van and I had just paid 50, 000 rupiah to get me there. He told me, “ Oh no, no Sir…. I only bring you to bus station.” I thought, “Fine, at least I’m going somewhere.”

Needless to say, I got to the bus station and after an hour and half of waiting there; I was finally off to Ubud. It was a nice trip filled with many nice sights of rural Bali.

I was met by a nice young fellow named Made, pronounced Ma day, who said he had a nice bungalow nearby. I took him up on his offer, and off we were on his motorbike.

We arrived at the ‘Teba House’ and I was the only guest staying there so I had my pick of which bungalow I wanted. They were all nice and spacious, so I chose the middle one for no particular reason. We negotiated price, finally settling on 50,000 rupiah (1 dollar = 9,400 rupiah), and I settled into my new home.

I ventured out in the late afternoon to see what I could find in Ubud. Like most of this trip, I grabbed my camera and started roaming around until I found something of interest. That something was the Monkey Forest Sanctuary (cleverly located on Monkey Forest Road). By the time I had stumbled upon it, it was already getting dark out. It gets dark here really early… around six or so. I decided to forgo the ticket price and wait another day to see what was inside. But, from the name, I already had a pretty good idea.

By this point I was getting pretty hungry, so I found myself a nice place to eat. You can sit down at a nice restaurant here and eat for a little over three dollars. It’s amazing how many restaurants there are and how few people you see in them. There just aren’t enough tourists here. The accommodations are the same way and people are sitting around looking for some way to help you and make a little cash. It’s been like this everywhere so far, not just Ubud.

I finished the night off by wandering back to my bungalow only to be awakened by the all-night crowing of various farm animals and dogs. Needless to say, it was a long night.

---

Before heading out on your next trip, don't forget to look up some travel advice online. You can find a useful travel map and directions before you leave to make your trip easier. Travel health insurance is also something useful that could end up being a lifesaver.