We’ve been relaxing for the last couple days in the small town of Ubud on the island of Bali. Bali is really beautiful. There are bright rice paddies and moss-covered gates and buildings decorated with stone carvings all over the place. Our room is more expensive than we normally would have gotten considering the choices ($6 vs the $13 we are spending) but has been nice because it gets a lot of sunlight (big windows on three of the walls), is somewhat private (on the second floor of a building in the back of a family compound off the main road). Besides, I don’t care how quaint or traditional an open air bathroom is, I did not like the idea of bathing surrounded by crazy bugs. I’ll pay more for our enclosed bath. One of my favorite aspects of the room is that there is a nice breeze flowing through the balcony and into our room. After so many rooms in Malaysia with no windows, it’s refreshing to wake up to endless sunshine in the mornings.

Breakfast is included with our little home stay, and after I get out of bed I just walk out to the balcony where a pot of hot water is waiting for me to brew some morning tea (skip the sugar, there’s a lot of ants in there…). I let the lady know we’re awake, and after a few minutes she comes upstairs with a tray of breakfast. Each day it has been different, but there’s always a plate of fruit: bananas, papaya, and pineapple. My favorite dish was on our first morning when we were served a jaffle (toasted sandwich) filled with sweet slices of banana covered in freshly grated (and still milky) coconut. The view from our balcony is just roof and tree tops, but it is still nice, especially since we’ve been spending a lot of time there catching up on writing and studying.

Each morning we’ve gone on walks, which I love for many reasons, one of which are the unannounced details. Ubud is full of details; you don’t have to do much except walk and you’ll notice things along the way—an old man up high trimming a coconut tree; ducks quacking to each other and diving into rice paddies

elaborate offerings among the paddies, and the people who drop them off

a chicken snacking from the rice drying on the road

a monkey grabbing my leg…(That detail was actually kind of creepy. Matt and I were in a place called Monkey Forest debating which path to take when a monkey came up behind me and put one hand on my leg and the other on my water bottle—I screamed and it went away. I think it wanted food. After that I tried not to stand still when there were monkeys around).

Where is the monkey expert when you need him? And how is anyone supposed to “stand still” and “walk away slowly” at the same time? Oh those silly monkeys.

We’ve eaten a lot of good food here too, which is great. I don’t really know what it is in terms of how it is cooked/ingredients, but Indonesian food seems to be hardy and flavorful in a way different from the other SE Asian cuisines. We’ve tried jackfruit curry, chicken and potatoes in kecup manis (sweet soy sauce), roasted suckling pig, and countless dishes whose names I’ve forgotten or didn’t know in the first place. But my favorite is the tempe—which is made from pressed fermented soy beans. Like tofu, it can be cooked in many different ways, but has a much firmer texture and a bit more flavor. (In the US it goes by the name of tempeh, and one brand of it is made by the same manufacturer as the tofurky. Go try some! The tempeh that is.)

The weather has been great for us, with just a quick shower one night.  But after about 10am, if you’re not in the shade it gets hot and, well, sunny.  Without a fan or a breeze, it can get quite uncomfortable.  So during the afternoon we just hang out around our guesthouse where we have both a fan and an uninterrupted breeze.  Matt has been diligently studying for his test, and I have been catching up on writing.  (I’m a morning/daytime writer, but when we’re always doing stuff during the day, it’s harder for me to concentrate and get my stuff done!)  Between our leisurely morning walks and languid afternoons, Ubud has definitely been refreshing.

At night the polyphonic sounds of percussion-driven gamelan music really get going as dance performances take place in various venues throughout town.  There’s always people trying to sell us tickets to various performances, which are actually one of the big attractions in Ubud, but we decided to pass.  Even though I didn’t want to sit through a whole performance, I still love hearing the sounds of the playful and mysterious music permeating the air at night.

Dancers practicing