I ate a quick breakfast at my hotel after the dolphin outing and then hired a driver to take me south to Ubud. It cost an extra 5 dollars to stop for photos along the way but we all know how O'Reillys are such big spenders, so I didn't worry about it too much. My driver, Made, was very helpful and stopped at the Gitgit Waterfall and at a monkey hangout. He was also very patient with me as I stumbled through our conversation in broken Indonesian. After having studied French in a formal setting for so long, it's quite fun to discover a language like Indonesian, by just interacting with people and noticing words during day-to-day life.
"...just stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to..."
Distant cousins
We pulled in to Ubud and quickly found Dewi Antara Homestay. I thanked Made and said goodbye to him for what I thought would be the last time. (More on that later). I was staying in a traditional Balinese family compound, so all three generations were living there together. Nyoman, the grandmother, was very sweet and wouldn't stop complimenting me on my blue eyes. (Thanks Dad!) Kadek, her grandson who did most of the work and spoke English, showed me to my room and I was stunned. For a mere 150,000 rupiah a night (roughly $15 USD), I had a private room with hot water, a marble porch, Wifi, and breakfast. If the whole grad school thing doesn't work out, then I think I might just move back here.
Who wants to come on vacation with me now?
I dropped my stuff and went out for a walk to get myself oriented with Ubud. I stayed here for three nights and could easily have extended it to a week or more, but you can't always get what you want. Here are some of my favorite random photos from around Ubud.
some offerings to Ganesh
breakfast on my porch
Wayan Esa, Kadek's son and Indonesia's cutest baby
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