Ubud

Ubud was a touristy city with lots of charm and culture. During our time here we were able to explore, venture out for a volcano hike, and walk through several beautiful temples and rice fields.

 

We first went to the local markets that offered everything from clothing to instruments. We were able to practice our bartering skills after searching out asking prices and comparing the ones from the central markets to those on the outskirts. Quite often the central ones were ridiculously overpriced, but with confidence and firmly insisting “this vendor offered this to me for this much cheaper”, we were all pretty successful. I really enjoyed talking with the market vendors and seeing how low they would go.

 

With Steve being a pretty avid climber, he and Danielle had already done their fair share of volcano hikes. He found us a good one that was at our skill level, and we left to hike it at 1:30am. We anticipated seeing the sunrise from the top, so we thought that leaving early would be worthwhile, but unfortunately the clouds blocked the sunrise! However, we still got to see the canyons that had steam coming out, and the wild monkeys that were running around all over the place.

While Alex went his first Asian massage with Steve, Danielle took me for a Birthday pedicure! What a great friend 🙂

 

We also planned out a tour to see several ancient temples. We were all required to wear sarongs as we walked through them, so that our knees were covered. My favourite one had a holy water bath, where tourists were allowed to soak in the holy water. This temple also had a huge koi fish pond, that was full of hungry fish you could feed. The temples were surrounded by beautiful jungle scenery, which is exactly what I pictured Asia to look like.

 

Ubud was home to thousands of stray dogs. You could not walk down a street without seeing one. They tended to gather in packs at night, and you could often hear them howling or fighting. We found a place called BAWA – Bali Animal Welfare Association. In the midst of all the animal neglect, it was nice to see that someone had started a positive place for animals. Luckily we found this place, because the day we found a kitten that we thought had been run over by a moped, but was still alive, we all didn’t know what to do. Steve suggested we ask the person at BAWA, and they asked us if we could try to grab the kitten with a blanket or wait with him until an animal ambulance arrived. When Alex ran back to get him, he realized that he was just severely malnourished, and his matted fur had made him look squished. Anyways, long story short, we brought him to the office and bought a couple cans of food for him. This is literally the only place we have been where there would have been anything we could do for this poor little guy.

 

Finally, I think it needs to be said how saddened we are by the flight to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down. After reading about how some of the younger victims were on they’re way to Bali to explore after a stopover at KL – the same itinerary that Alex and I just had – it really put things into perspective. Our thoughts are with them and their families.