Two days in Ubud, Bali

I have been very lazy with my camera during our travels. Most of the latest photos in this blog are by Jenny or Inka, but now in Ubud I decided to take some photos since this is a very, very photogenic place. Today we did our first proper tourist tour, visited temples and other places that tourists usually go to, and I took loads of photos, because that is what tourists do.

We went shopping to Ubud Market. They sell a lot of beautiful stuff and during the low season the salespeople
are SO desperate to sell that the prices are so low it's sad...

We ate curry in a tiny restaurant and it was hot.

Chinese tourists going inside a temple.

Rice terraces; one thing that Ubud is famous for.

Hindus washing themselves with holy water

One thing we absolutely had to try was the famous Balinese coffee Luwak coffee. It's the world's second most expensive coffee and it's made so that luwaks (sivettikissa) eat fresh coffee beans and they come out from their stomach as a weird coffee poop. Then people pick up those coffee poop beans and brew them... Sounds insane but it's normal here. And popular.

About the taste: earthy, a hint of chocolate. No hints of poo. Drinkable. From a scale from crap to fantastic, I'd say it was a tolerable +.

The view from the restaurant where we ate and had terrible service

The holy style. No knees or shoulders on display.

Inka and Jenny having smoothies at a hippie cafe

Another lovely accommodation, Shanti Homestay

Ubud is full of tourists, but somehow the atmosphere and vibe is still friendly and pretty and Balinese. In Kuta (Bali) there was only small signs of being in Indonesia in the middle of all the American fast food chains, but in Ubud you can see Bali everywhere, even if many of the services on offer are made for tourists. Ubud is full of handcrafts, art, performances, sights, temples and beautiful nature, so we got a good amount of touristy cultural stuff done today. Also Ubud is a great place to buy beautiful fabrics, scarfs, bags, dresses, earrings, paintings, and everything you can imagine, so I did some serious shopping here. Bargaining is a must and I hate it. How could I know what price would be fair for both me and the person selling the item? I always pay too much or want to pay too little. Never good.

After two days of city life for a change we're heading to one more island with beaches, we still need to work on our tan and get on the surf board. Two weeks left before going back to Europe - I am not ready to say goodbye to Asia yet! :(