After a rough couple of days spent in Kuta, the armpit of Bali, trying to get our visa extension we finally landed in Ubud. Ubud is located in central Bali and it is a very relaxing place with lots of pretty rice terraces and amazing shopping. And for those of you who know me, you know the shopping has to be great for me to like it. Cuz I hate shopping generally.
My guide book said that it was a simple one day at the immigration office to get our visa extensions. They give you a 30 day one on arrival, but we are here longer so had to extend. Well, it turns out that you have to go back 2 more times, which would have meant us losing 2 more days of our trip, not to mention having to pay to go back to Kuta so I finally had to pay an agency $150 to do it for us.
Kuta is a loud touristy town with a dirty, crowded beach and really aggressive touts. Along the beach are such classy restaurants as McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks and other American pollution. Our first hotel had bedbugs and every street has hundreds of crappy teeshirt shops. Apparently 18yo Aussies love it, but for me it is my idea of hell.
 |
| Classic rice terrace |
One of the attractions here is a temple in a forest inhabited by hordes of aggressive monkeys. They steal, they bite and generally are mean. So they are fun to see but we had to be pretty vigilant in keeping them off of Jasmine. Another nice thing about Ubud is the hundreds of cheap Spas here. I got a 1 hour massage and half hour body scrub for about $11. Oh so nice, I could get use to that everyday, though I have only had 2 since I've been here.
 |
| Hordes of Monkeys |
 |
| Baby monkey |
My friend Alison has joined us for a week and we went and did some of the touristy stuff around Ubud. We visited a couple of temples and another volcano. Man I love all the cool geology here!
 |
| The Dragon Alison brought Jas in celebration of the Year of the Dragon |
 |
| Mt Batur, with the 1994 lava flow in the front. |
 |
| Temple |
 |
| This is generally how we get around. Me doing all the work and Jas watching the scenery |
We have had a relaxing week here in Ubud, but it is time to see something new. We are going to the beach to spend some more relaxing time. It's a hard life we are living!
Greetings, Becky and Jas,
ReplyDeleteI'm half of the Seattle couple (Karen and John) that shared the van ride with you and Jas from Lovina to Amed. We're back home now where we're enjoying your blog with the luxury of a full-size computer rather than cell phone. We love it. Looks like we had similar itineraries after parting in Amed. Padang Bai, Kuta Lombok, back to Bali although we avoided Kuta Beach in favor of the more laid-back and elderly crowd at Sanur.
We look forward to your further adventures. Selamat jalan!