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well what a wonderful country, i love bali and can definately see why the balinese call it the prettiest place on earth, unfortunately they also believe in yin/yang, good/evil, pretty/ugly and because the country is pretty they need something that is ugly to balance it out so there are millions of thin grotty dogs running round everywhere, there are also lots of motorbikes and its actually pretty impressive the balance they have with whole families of 5people and more sitting on them- including new born babies with just a sarong attatching them to their mothers, the roads are mental here and very winding. also showing great balance are the women who hold things on their head, its pretty impressive the weight they must carry up there, im sure if i did that i would either fall over or my neck would sink into my shoulders.
well ubud was a great town and i would have liked to stay there an extra day but the tour moved on to lovina after one night. we went to see a fire show in ubud that was really good, it depicted the whole good against evil thing that is so prominant here, everything the balinese do is a part of their religion - balinese hindu- which is not the same as hindu. the streets are decorated with the shrines and offerings, it is a very dominant area of being in bali and it is lovely to see the women with the offerings made of flowers, incence and foods. i have took many photos but i dont know when i will manage to upload them as there are not many internet cafes and the connections are very slow, however this beauty and culture is the best part of travelling - although i loved oz and new zealand it is so easy to slip out of western culture which is so rushed and busy, here people take it easy and everyone is friendly.
we left ubud early and headed to lovina stopping at three important temples along the way, i dont remember their names as the language here is quite complicated and there were no signs. one of the temples was by the sea and it had such a lovely setting, but the temples themselves are very ugly and not that interesting - luckily for me there is a festival on 9th (today) so they were getting the temples ready and there was a bit of colour but they were still very plain just made out of rock. it was interesting to watch the men and women getting the temples ready, with the men building huts out of bamboo and the women weaving fences, baskets and decorations it is amazing, a true talent they have over here that is seen as an every day part of life.
on the free day in lovina the others went diving as they all have their diving certificates and i had a very restful day with a fantastic massage that cost less than 2pound even with a tip! i also went for a swim in the lovely pool in the hotel, iv been so impressed with the accommodation everywhere, there are no hostels in places like this as the hotels are so cheap and i think its great! iv even had several baths along the way lol! (and of course millions of showers). i am getting used to the heat but its not very nice walking round in wet clothes so i am still showering a lot.
from lovina we went to the highest waterfall in bali which was beautiful, then to another temple with a buddest shrine next to it - the only one in bali as it is 95% balinese hindu. and then we headed up into the mountains and to a cooler climate, we passed through gunung batur and stayed the night at kintamini which overlooked an active volcano (which looked like a volcano, unlike mount eden in new zealand) and a gorgeous lake, the view was more spectacular than anything i have ever seen which is saying something as iv seen a lot on this trip. that night we had to eat in the restaurant in the hotel as we were in the middle of nowhere and it was awful, i have never seen so many bugs in one place, they were a type of flying beetle and they got everywhere, hair, legs, feet and on the food - im getting less squeemish on this trip thats for sure though still screamed everytime one landed on me! lol!
the next day we headed to the hot springs for a relaxing soak and then set off for padang bai which is a small place with a ferry port, all the others on the trip are on a two week trip heading to lombok and that is where they departed from. not much to do in padang bai and i headed back to seminyak (near kuta) this morning where i am staying two nights then i dont know where i am going, maybe to java - another island in indonesia. i fly out of bali on 16th december and i spend the rest of my trip in thailand apart from one night in singapore on my way back home.
there is a festival on today and the people are dressed very traditionally and it looks so beautiful with more extravagent offerings laid around the streets.
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