March 23: Ubud - Day 2

Jet-lag reared its ugly head. I was up at 5am today. A nice western brekkie later, and onward with today's activities. We had planned to take a half-day cooking course today. Unfortunately, only a few cooking schools are running now (off season in Bali). The ones that are running were fully booked by yesterday. So plan B was hitting the Ubud Botanical Gardens, which panned out quite well. I'm not one to get too excited about flowers, but this place was stellar. It is basically jungle-land, with bamboo forests, exotic flora, and an Indiana Jones-type feel to the place. Terri's highlight were the carnivorous flowers. I'm going with the undulating landscape, great photo opps, and "cool" temps under the canopy. Probably 80-85 degrees when we arrived at 8 am.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around town, shopping, a nice foot massage (for $4 each). That's right. 60 minute massages can be found in Ubud for anywhere from $4-$6. This was my first venture with foot reflexology, and probably my last. My brain couldn't decide if it was feeling tickles or intense pain. Sometimes it was both at the same time. At the very least, it was a great respite from the heat. And I did sleep through half of it.

On the way to lunch, we walked by an open lot where about 40 Balinese men were huddled in a circle, all yelling. It took about 3 seconds to figure out what was going on. Yup, cock-fighting remains alive and well in Bali's culture. Terri abstained, but my curiosity overtook me. I will not post any details here, but ask me if you're interested. From a cultural perspective, the subsequent events were fascinating. From a personal perspective, it was rather barbaric and it'll be the last cockfight I attend. And no, I did not take pictures.

Lunch followed, and we finally found Three Monkeys. It was strongly recommended in Lonely Planet, and the food delivered. Terri had a noodle beef dish, and I had an avocado/spinach/pinenut/bacon salad for starters, along with shrimp ravioli in kaffir lime cream sauce. Not exactly traditional fare, but nice nonetheless.

By the way, we're millionaires in Bali. Many times over. One dollar buys you roughly 10,000 Indian Rupiahs. It took a couple days, but I actually think I have a good handle on this currency. It feels quite strange to tip someone with a note that says "10,000," but that's actually a nice tip here-- $1. Five bucks will buy you a pretty nice lunch and a drink. Cab rides are around $1.50. Everything is negotiable. They start pretty high, but we can usually knock them down to 50% of their starting price.

Dinner was a quick dish of Nasi Goreng for both Terri and myself. Then it was off to the fire-dance show. Bali and Ubud in particular are well known for these shows. Naturally, our show was not in English. So all I can tell you is that it involved a golden deer, beautiful Balinese female dancers, 100 men chanting crazy-cool tunes, and two princes fighting before a man dressed as a horse ran MANY times over burning coconut husks. NO, they did NOT hand out hallucinogenic drugs with paid admission. Nonetheless, it was one to mark off the list...

So it's time to retire. I should note two interesting facts as I write this letter:

1. The power cords of the computers in this internet cafe are all tied together with bamboo husks. They live dangerously in Ubud.

2. Backstreet Boys is currently BLARING on the radio. For the second time since I've sat down here.

BC Out.