Ubud

We said goodbye to Tanah Lot this morning and headed of to Ubud. The drive took a little over an hour, passing through some interesting little villages and nice scenery. One particular thing I’ve noticed here is that they grow rice everywhere. From other stops in Asia, we’ve seen terraced rice fields, but here, there doesn’t seem to be a free acre of space they haven’t put them. It’s one of the harvest seasons, now so a regular sight on the edges of the roads (the few flat spots that haven’t been converted to rice paddies) are big blue tarps covered with rice drying in the sun.

Pulling into the hotel, we quickly realize that we’re not at the Meridien anymore. The description online of this place was that it was “eclectic”, but that doesn’t even come close. Some pictures may help, but these can only provide a taste. Looking around, there doesn’t seem to be a surface that isn’t covered with broken or mirrored tiles, all with no discernible pattern. Each room has a theme, like an Asian version of the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton. We started off in the Chinese Room, but they decided to move us to the India Room so we wouldn’t have to hear the construction by the pool (I’m guessing they got a good deal on another load of broken tile, so are clearing a new surface to put it).

Size-wise, it’s hard to complain about the India Room. Its actually a two-stroy, two bedroom apartment, so we’ll only ever really use part of it. Did I mention it was eclectic though? In case I didn’t, here’s a representative shot of the bathroom. Because of all the mirrored tile, I’ve come to affectionately call it the Dirk Diggler room, although that probably applies equally to any of the rooms here. Ang, on the other hand, hasn’t quite made the transition from Starwood mode, but I’m sure with time the Diggler Room will win her over.

After checking in and spending an hour trying to get Internet to work (unsuccessfully, so if you’re reading this it means we hauled the laptop into town and found an Internet cafe), the driver took us the last few miles into Ubud. The town’s reputation as the artistic center of Bali is well-deserved, as street after street is filled with galleries and we spent a good part of the afternoon just browsing through. The styles are mostly Balinese (go figure) which doesn’t really hit home with us, but fun to look at nonetheless.

We closed the day off with a fire dance show at one of the local temples. No matter how many times we see one of these “made for tourists” events and swear we don’t see one again, we always sign up for another everywhere we go. This one consisted of 100 chanting Balinese men grouped around a fire where a handful of very elaborately dressed dancers acted out a story of some sort. It actually made for an interesting 30 minutes, which would have been perfect had the show not been an hour and a half.

The hotel driver picked us up at the gate and whisked us back to the Diggler, where in the absence of Internet, it was time to turn it, secure in the knowledge that the snake head above the bed would keep us safe.