Ubud, Bali, Indonesia - Pt.7

This is my second-to-last day of being in Bali and Sheila and I have a tour planned in Ubud.  It is further north away from major cities and heavy tourists, so it was nice to get away.  We made many stops during this full-day tour.

The first stop was at a show that was about spirits and stuff like I think.  They had costumes and everything, and didn’t talk; just made sounds and things, so it was made so everyone in the audience could understand.

That show lasted an hour or so, then we headed to where they made silver jewelry.  They made it all by hand and it was sterling silver.  Official stuff.  92.5% silver, the rest other metals.  It was amazing how intricate the guys could make those earrings by hand.  And every other piece of jewelry you could think of.

The next stop was at a painting place.  There were these guys right there and then selling them.  I wish I could have taken some pictures of all the beautiful artwork, but the guy wouldn’t let me.  I don’t know when that has stopped me before.

I really regret not buying something.  I thought it was too expensive at the time.  But after the trip I remember converting lots of Rupiah back to Won, so I could have afforded it.  Oh well.  Can’t change it.

Next we went to where the waterfall was.  There was nothing much to do there; just look at it.  So we didn’t spend too much time there. 

But there were all these Indonesian kids trying to sell us fans.  I told them I didn’t want a fan, but they kept saying, “we need money for books for school.”  They wouldn’t take no for an answer.  Finally, I jut gave them money and didn’t take a fun.  I wouldn’t have used it.

They kept following Sheila and it was hilarious.  Hahahahah.

Then we drove just a bit and had lunch next to the volcano.  I never got a picture of the volcano because the fog was rolling in so heavily, so I never took a picture.  But I did run into this lady that I also saw at the show earlier that morning.  We started talking and right away I knew she American.  We met two Americans on this trip (Chicago Guy and this lady) and it turns out this lady was from MINNESOTA!  She did some grad work at UMD and was applying for a job in Singapore, but was in Bali for holiday.  I couldn’t believe that.  She was even wearing a Duluth T-shirt.  What a small world.

After we parted from our new friend, we went to the woodcarving place.  These guys were pretty talented too.  They had a chessboard with pieces carved from wood.  It looked beautiful.

Now we’re at the second-to-last place that was the coffee place.  Apparently, they had the best cup of coffee in Bali at this place.  So, of course, I had to buy it.  It cost just inder $7 for a cup and it tasted OK.  It wasn’t filtered, so at the bottom I had to chew the coffee grounds.  It wasn’t that good.  Glad I did it though.

Finally, we are at the temples and the final stop of the tour.  We got a little ripped off though.  Although we had a tour guide (the guy that was driving us around all day) he said we had to pay to get another one.  He said that it is just respectful to give them money.  If we didn’t do that, then we couldn’t go in.  We found that odd.  So we paid him X amount of money (I don’t even remember), so we went up with him.

There were just lots of temples, and after a while they all looked the same.  But it was all part of the experience.

After that, it took an hour or two getting back to where our hostel was.  So right across from our hostel was a bar called Brewers.  It just so happened that I was wearing my Twins T-shirt, so I had to take a picture with my thumbs down (sorry Brewers fans).

We went to the bar and pretended to be from Riga, Latvia.  We just wanted to see if anyone would notice or believe us.  We were pretty convincing.  Actually, we were so convincing that the bartender gave us a free drink.  Hahahaha.  And the other time we went out, we pretended we were from Sweden.  Someone even asked us, “What is Sweden known for?”  We said: “Duh, IKEA and Volvo!”

Look at those Latvians!