Great to be back in Ubud Bali

About a year and a half ago I remember Barrie saying he had fallen back in love with Bali, after being away for more than a decade. Living in Seminyak is its own existance and there is Balinese culture there, though the western influences are doing their best to overrun it. For me being back in Ubud gives me the same feeling as Barrie. Often derided as a tourist trap and wall to wall galleries, I have to say since being here for the last 24 hours I have seen so much traditional Balinese culture, an anthroplogy proffessor couldn't ask for more. Morning in my guesthouse starts around 4.30am with the locals (the guesthouse is owned by a family of painters) get up and start preparing for the upcoming wedding of their son.

When I returned this afternoon it was a frenzy of cooking, the men sataying a pork recipe and chopping up pigs, the women preparing the banten (towers of fruit and other decorations). Any time I step out onto the street I meet friendly people and everybody is most accommodating. Checking out the guesthouses I talked to a Balinese dancer who was about to teach a group of Taiwanese ladies. The arts might be for sale, but they are certainly alive and kicking and what's more, an essential part of Balinese daily life in Ubud.

One of the trippy things about Ubud, and most other built up parts of Bali, is that behind the shops are rice fields. Sometimes the views are totally obscured giving the impression you are in a solid block of buildings and shops. My guest house is downtown in between 2 busy streets, but my room backs onto the sawah (rice fields) in between. Typing this article at the Ibu Rai restaurant downtown in Ubud, a crazy man (English and drunk) has managed to clear out half the customers. He got steadily more drunk and is now shouting 'Fuck off' to passersby. He was hollering about 'Bali's finished'.

So weird, I have had he most rewarding afternoon meeting an endless line of nice people and seeing stunning vistas on my motorbike. I think the guy's deal was that he, like most visitors was hoping for 'the island of the Gods' and instead he found wall to wall tourism and tour buses, om Jl. Raya Ubud. Too bad for him he didn't hire a motorbike and ride around, the 'island of the Gods' is still alive and kicking. Independent travel is the way to go if you have the time, the desire and the stomach for it. A combination of walking bicycling ans motorcycling in the Ubud area brings interactions and visual rewards.