More Ubud photos

Ubud

A relaxing three days in Ubud is unfortunately coming to an end. Rice fields, volcanoes, hot springs,monkey forests, exotic Indonesian dancing,good food, and massages have all been on the agenda here. I mean how can you dislike a place that has a restaurant serving nothing but suckling pig and another called the dirty duck that specializes in ...crispy duck. The town has an extremely relaxed vibe even though it is fairly busy and the scenery around it is stunning. The shopping is good too and I am finding it excruciating trying not to shop. Tomorrow I am heading to the Gilli Islands with a Dutch girl I met in the Laughing Buddha Bar last night. Although sad to leave this little oasis, I am happy to be headed to what I hope will be stunning beaches.

More Kuta photos

This stinks!

Okay. I have just spent close to an hour trying to upload pictures from Bali and have in the meantime deleted all the ones from Sri Lanka! Urgh!

Bali - Kuta - Leagin

I am going to try blogging again while in Bali. Mostly just to keep a record of what I have done here. Feel free to have a read and look at pictures if you are interested. Bali so far has been a real treat despite the frequent downpours of rain. Even Kuta which I was advised not to go to was surprisingly relaxed and fun. I think it helps that it is fairly slow in Bali at the moment and that I stayed away from the clubs. My hotel was lovely with swimming pool, air-con and tropical garden for $20 US a night. The Balinese are lovely too. On my first day I went looking for a SIM card and found a group of young Balinese shop keepers who were more than willing to go hunt one down for me, put it in my phone, and help me call home - all for less than it would cost me to do it myself. It then started pouring rain and I sat with them for a couple of hours chatting, eating banana chips, and watching Japanese Animation on their cell phones. In the evening I went down to the beach for sunset and listened to the locals play guitar, drank beer, and took in the sunset. It all had a lovely feel to it. The only real disappointment was that their are strong currents and big waves all along the beach which didn't make it great for swimming. The hoards of surfers were happy though. I also found there to be a fair amount of rubbish on the beach despite the hundreds of signs asking people to keep the beach clean. All in all I had a good time, whether it was walking down the beach, getting a pedicure,massage, or just hanging with the locals.