Life in Ubud...

Haven't written much lately, because there hasn't been a whole lot to write. Days melt together into late mornings with fresh fruit breakfasts (it feels late anyway....who knows what the time is...), workouts, motorcycle wanderings around town where we shop for groceries, spend hours in cafes where Brandon uses the internet to conduct business, and take the occasional foray into the bustling open-air market to haggle for garlic or apples (from Washington- weird.)

We did have an exciting evening last Saturday, as there was a big rock-concert in the football field, right down the street from where we live. It started with Gamelan (a traditional style of percussion music) and traditional dances, and moved into a pretty cool fire-dance show (great costumes!), complete with a fire-hula-hooper. Needless to say, we were pleased. Several more acts followed, with Indonesian rock stars in skimpy matching outfits singing and dancing, and a grand finale of a punk-rock band called 4WD. We threaded our way to the front, which was a big mud pit where young men were throwing mud and jumping around..SO much fun. It definitely was a dose of the familiar, with the festival vending, blinky lights and crowds. I will say that the Indonesian folks (few of us whiteys were present) are certainly well behaved. We saw very little drunkenness or belligerence, and people were polite and patient in crowds. Very refreshing.

On Sunday we took a long motorcycle ride up to the volcano and lake in the northeastern part of Bali. It was beautiful scenery, and nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of Ubud. We checked out some hot springs, but decided not to swim, as we were plenty hot already. This week has found us back in our happy little routine of living in our comfortable little place, watching the daily shift in ant routes, listening to the geckos and watching them crawl all over the walls, running up and down the stairs (or walking, in my case), cooking food and dining at the cheap little restaurants up and down the streets. Today was a pleasant break in the routine, as I finally indulged in a spa treatment. A one-hour massage, followed by a sea salt scrub- and they mean SCRUB- and a bath completely filled with flower petals, complete with a cup of tea and some fresh fruit. Very nice. For $8, it's hard not to do that everyday...