Breakfast early and on the road again with Wayan. We arrive in Ubud, the cultural center of the island, around 10:30 and headed straight to the Monkey Forest. First, a bit of (tasteless) ice cream, and someone wanted some of Lance’s:
We walked into the forest/park, and there are monkeys everywhere. There is a well-known temple here, where already-cremated remains are brought to be cremated once again in a holy ceremony that is held every 6 months. We wander through, and check out some sistas hanging with their babes:
and then we’re about finished. We drive further into town, and Wayan parks to wait for us. We walk along the streets, which are jam-packed with stores of all types for shoppers. We walk up and along the Royal Palace, over to get some babi guling (roast pig) at the famous warung that Anthony Bourdain praised. They now have 3 restaurants, and we enjoy sitting in the largest, right by the jungle, and I gobble down the yummy food (with some of the super hot peppers from that bowl, of course! And yes, Valerie, that is an avocado juice I’m having. But not nearly as good as ours (they added coconut milk and – ooh – chocolate syrup):
Further meandering, right into the Lotus Cafe, which has a stunning temple and lotus ponds in the back:
We head into the cultural musem and are astonished that the first building exhibit is entitled “Marketing 3.0”, after a book of the same name that was co-authored by a famous Indonesian. Information about triple-bottom-line businesses and profiles of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc, seems so out of place in the old building. The other two buildings were filled with Balinese paintings, wood carvings and a crafts hall where we could practice those arts (but did not). Stopped for a drink in the cafe and waited for the rain to pass.
Out on the streets again, the rain started up as well. We ducked into a coffee store (why not buy local?) and it is just pouring buckets. We are supposed to be at the car at 3:30 to make it to the airport in time for our flight and it’s either be late or be soaked. I dragged Lance into choosing the latter. We did have an umbrella, but it was of little use from the waist down. We finally did make it to the car, pants soaked, and headed out of town. Not only did we pass about two dozen furniture stores (and some beautiful slabs of live edge wood that would look stunning at suwarrow), but the amount of flooding at some points in the road were amazing:
We made it out fine and arrived at the airport right on time. Of course, our flight was delayed by 2 hours, so we had plenty of time for a surprisingly good dinner and an episode of 6 Feet Under. Finally took off and arrived at our transit hotel in Manado about 2 am. Sleepy!