As I promised yesterday, I am going to tell you about a very strange day I had in Ubud.
Having rented a bike, I was biking up and down the hills of Ubud. Searching for the rice terraces I had heard so much off. With all my effort of biking all over the place I couldn't find a way out of the main street and past the houses where the views could be glimpsed.
After biking up a horrible hill that never stopped, I decided it was time for a break. I bike into an alley and sit down watching the jungle on the other side of a river.
Deep in my own thoughts contemplating weather to continue my search or just go back to my home stay and take a long cold shower, suddenly a man arrived next to me, sat down and started talking.
This man was very nice and friendly, he asked me if I wanted to see the rice fields and the jungle with him. Of course I said yes! Getting my own guide for this would be perfect.
I left my bike where it was and set of with this stranger. After a short walk, I was finally at the rice fields. Its amazing to see how much work lies behind the making of rice, which I found out as my new friend and guide is also a rice farmer.
After walking through some fields, we came to a jungle. trekking through this jungle, we made it to a river. " We are going to cross this river now" says my guide. Looking around there is no sight of a bridge. Then I see a woman coming from the other side of the river, a basket with good on her head, shoes in hand and shorts pulled up as high as possible. Thats when it dawns on me, we are going to be wading across this dark green/grey river barefoot!
Having crossed the river successfully, without being eaten by leeches, bitten by snakes and gnawed on my crocodiles ( I do have a very wild imagination) we continued our trek.
Getting out of the jungle we come into a nice little village. There my guide explains is a cluster of sacred trees for the Hindus. I can remember the name but I think it was something along the line of Banjo tree. The villagers even have sacred shrines in the trees as they are so holy. going through the village, I see a group of people walking along with roosters in wooden cages. I then asked what they were doing. The answer was "They are going to a cockfight". Of course I got very curious and wanted to have a look. When entering the cockfighting area, I realized how out of place I actually was. Being the only westerner and female amongst around 50 local men all betting for the best cock to win.
I managed to stay for around 10 minutes before it got to uncomfortable. After having walked for about 3 hours. Me and my guide took a taxi back to Ubud.
This is just one of my many random days...
Great pix!
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