Ubud, Bali

Today is our fourth day in Bali, and we are loving it. We're loving it so much that we're even staying in a place called LOVINa right now. :)

Our arrival was seamless - all flights were on time, we had a person with a sign with our name on it at the airport, all of our luggage made it, etc. No problems at all. We arrived in the mountains of Ubud at this GORGEOUS hotel with four people to take our bags to our rooms. I will post pictures when I upload them, but my parents' room had a balcony looking over a gorgeous stream, the architecture is amazingly gorgeous, and Matt and I had a room that overlooked a huge view of rice fields. The hotel itself had gorgeous buildings, statues, streams, and of course, little beautiful offerings of leaves and flowers and incense all over the place. We absolutely loved it and recommend it to anyone coming to Bali.

The first day we walked through a bunch of villages and next to rivers and through rice fields. The highlight of our (or really my dad's) day was sitting at lunch on a balcony of a restaurant that overlooks a river just on the outskirts of Ubud. Two ladies went to the side of the river and proceeded to take a shower. My dad loved it.

The second day we joined a bike tour which took us near the north most part of Bali, and we basically cycled down all the way back to Ubud. We learned about what they grow, how the people live, their temples, etc. The most interesting part was seeing a kampung - which is where they live. All of the families live in a little compound that is surrounded by a wall, and on the inside are a bunch of kitchens, places to sleep, places for the animals, and also a space for their work if they do work. They also have a temple in the middle. Also, they bury their placentas - as they think that they're sort of the evil spirit of the person who is born, so if you don't take care of the placenta, it will haunt the person for their entire lives.

Day three we hired a driver to take us up to Lovina, and we made a few stops along the way. Basically this day is a super big prep-day for all of the people in Bali. Today (Wednesday) is a huge holiday - Galingan, where good fought evil and good won. Everyone was preparing these gorgeous bamboo poles that they put on the outside of each kampung, and they were also shopping and cooking and decorating the temples. It is just gorgeous to see. It's like the day before Rosh Hashana or Pesach at Strawberry Hills or Fairway.

We stopped in a silver village (where most things were closed in preparation!), we stopped at a temple on a lake, at a market, we had a great Indonesian lunch of fried rice, soup, chicken, vegetables with peanut sauce, etc. So much yummy food and of course tons of fresh fruit juice. We saw a waterfall that looked like it would be fun to swim in if the temperature outside were just a bit warmer. It was FREEZING up there! (for me...)

We arrived to our beautiful villa that we're renting in Lovina - and we're enjoying the total slowness of the town. Matt went diving today (I am STILL sick, so I couldn't join him), and I walked around with my parents to see all of the people in their beautiful dresses for the holiday. All of the ladies are wearing a sarong, a gorgeous top with a sash, and they are all carrying baskets filled with offerings. The men are all wearing sarongs on the bottom and a white shirt with a white thing wrapped on their heads. It's amazing to see families of four - all dressed in such fancy clothes - on a motorcycle.