Ubud kind of Love and Rain

I hear some temple music in distance somewhere further away. The noise of the city and the scooters driving up and down the street plays in harmony with the drums and hundreds of bells. The night also brings along some exotic birds and locust that create their own sound world. As well as people who likes to spent their nights like us - talking, laughing or enjoying live music and the warm air in a hookah lounge. The big hookah rises above us and towards the roof that makes the whole place look like a huge tent. Local live band is playing everything from Coldplay to sfpsfnkasdölasd. I sit on the pile of cushions and feel the warm breeze that comes through the open window and plays gently with my brown curls. Arno leis his head on my lap and blows strawberry-mint vapor to my face, managing to make circles every now and then. I stoke his cheek and smile. In that moment I wish to be nowhere else and it almost feels like the whole world is still for a moment.

We left to Ubud after the New Years eve, driving with the same car that took us up to Lovina in the first place - all bundled up with the luggage. And this time we wanted to drive a little extra to finally see the twin lakes that Arno and me were hunting through the rain a few days earlier with the scooter. And this time when we arrived up there, we actually saw down. And it was beautiful. From there we headed down to valley where there was this famous temple by the lake. Also known as the temple in the 50 000 IDR bill. The whole thing was a lot smaller than I always imagined it...

Hope it is not the time of the month...

Moving on it started raining when we were to leave the temple (as it always does in jungles) and that makes up a perfect excuse for ice cream. What comes to the rains in the jungle they are usually very heavy but pass fast - the raining back home in Northern Europe is nothing like in the tropics. So this one passed too and we continued our way arriving to Ubud and finding our hotel in the middle off all the hustle. On the end of a narrow road one could not drive. A very nice house with a view over trees, fields and other houses. Serving very nice, tho small breakfast. And two pools we never ended up trying out with Arno.

Here is a typical Indonesian gas station...

Vodk... I mean gas for sale!

The first night we crossed an old wooden bridge where an old woman sold me the most beautiful piece of fabric - which made the most beautiful dress. We had dinner in a restaurant that had a nice open view to the jungle and a-ma-zing food. Had some interesting desserts we have to try to make now that we are back home. Afterwards we walked into the "center city" witch is nothing like you might be imagining right now. Not talking about skyscraper and stuff, but small houses by narrow streets, tiny art shops and cute little restaurants. Ubud showed us its' best by being this little "backpacker hideaway" in the middle of the jungle. Very hippie, urban, artsy and cozy. We fell in love with it in an instant and when everyone else were a little worn out from the drive and wanted to go rest, me and Arno continued exploring as the sun set. It wasn't long till we found that hookah lounge that became our favorite place in the whole city - XL Shisha lounge, in case you ever visit. I don't get paid to advertise but it really was a dream come through to all of us and we came back several times to listen to the live bands, smoke shisha with Luukas and have drinks and play billiard with my parents and Arno's dad. Even my mom tried sisha! Let's say she didn't like it THAT much, but hey, the most bad ass mom ever, right?!

After we had smoked our first sisha there and had a little taste of Ubud we decided to head back to the house. But Ubud had something else in mind... We had left the center part of the city behind us and were walking down a road that had tons of lianas and trees hanging over it. And all the sudden there stood a dog in front of us. Just a white street dog that blocked our way when sniffing the walls rising on the other side of us. I said hi to the dog, told that he was blocking us just a little, then we went around him and continued. All the sudden we heard a loud noise from above and stopped to look up. I heard Arno who was walking in front of me saying "Oh no..." and then a hard hard jungle rain hit us. It literally came out of nowhere and in a split second. I started screaming over the rain that I have my camera on me and it can't take water. Arno ripped his shirt off, wrapped it over the camera and put in in the plastic bag I had gotten when bying the fabric from the lady. Then he threw his money, wallet and phone to my little purse that barely had room for them. And ten seconds later would have been too late since we were completely soaked. The rain was flushing down the road and there was no way to hide from it so we made a decision to rush to the closest location we could get under something waterproof. And all of a sudden I happen to look down and saw this little white dog stand there next to us, all wet and sad, staring at us to take him with us too. I scratched his ear and we started hurrying down the road, the dog following us just a step behind me always.

Above the road. Before the rain.

Trust me, you don't wanna see my bloody legs, but look at that fabric!

And after some uncounted minutes we made it to the closest mini market. The dog still running by our side. We stayed under the shelter to try out a little. The dog shaking his fur. We both pet him and waited, he for sure was happy to have some company. I decided to check if I could find something for the dog to eat from market, but as we had discovered earlier, there is no pet food or meat sold in stores - poor doggo. So I just asked for another plastic bag to cover the camera with. And then we kept running. The dog again following our footsteps. All the way until we got to the road that would get us to our hotel. That's when the dog stopped and watched after us. I called him and told him he could come sleep on our patio but he just stared into my eyes, turned and ran back to the storm. Arno said that maybe it is better so, the dog survives and has his territory in the city. But I just felt so bad... So we went back to our house just the two of us and right when we arrived through the gates into the garden, the rain stopped as fast as it had started. We were soaked and squeezed water from our hair and clothes but at least my camera had made it safe.

We came across another storm like that later on too. One morning we had booked a driver to take us around to see the rice terraces, temples and Mt Batur (a mountain where lives a tribe that doesn't berry the death). The morning at the terraces was nice and warm, so nice and warm that me, Luukas and Arno couldn't keep walking around them for a long time (heat + big, hard to walk steps + my feet injuries from the scooter accidents didn't make it that comfortable) and we ended up just buying cookies and soda while waiting for my parents. Then our driver took us to this spring temple where people where washing themselves under falling water. There we experienced a little rain but the sun came back and we drove up to a mountain next to Mt. Batur to have lunch. I got a few pictures of the mountain but that was about it because after we had sat down to eat the heavy rain fell upon everything. After our lunch we waited for our driver inside with everyone else that were trapped in. Luckily our driver did pull just a few meters away from the door and one at the time we ran for our life to get into the car without getting wet. But of course by the time we had ran the 5 meters to the car, every one of us was all soaked up. That's just how heavily it rains there.

Mt. Batur

But we did enjoy some sun too. One morning after breakfast me and Arno rented a scooter for the day with 3 euros (I know, crazy!) and hit the road, Arno driving and me being afraid of crashing on the back. We wanted to explore and find this hidden white sand beach. And after driving through the jungles, highways, little villages and the countless countryside views we came to a stop by this tiny road that seemed like nothing. There was tons of little chicken running around our feet, a lady grilling one and just this little path that went up a hill where a few cows enjoyed their day. Arno wasn't that sure if the cows wanted to eat us or not. I and my parents on the other hand have been in Austria on a pasture with a cow and its' boyfriend who wanted to kill us (credits for that shortcut goes to my mom) so these guys didn't scare me that much. We walked under the hot sun up and down these little paths that took us through the woods into an open area. The white sand beach that was in a quiet bay. Totally hidden from the other world. Just a few families and two little outdoor restaurants that made rise, noodles and fresh fruit juices. We left our stuff on the beach and ran to swim in the waves.

Bad ass alert

After we returned from our very nice day trip we went out to have dinner with Arno's dad. I ate the most amazing ginger chicken ever and from there we continued to the hookah lounge to have these merciless billiard games. I will some day win Arno's father and when that miracle happens, he will hear it for the rest of his life. So Dieter, be aware haha! During the game my leg started to hurt a lot for just standing still and back in the hotel we figured there was this bump. And the cuts were so painful I couldn't even use any shoes.. My dad gave me garlic (yes, in my family we have always used a lot of natural medicines) but in the end we just had to jump on the scooter and drive to the Ubud healt center (which you should definitely turn to if there comes anything. recommending). I walked in barefoot and got the nurses to jump their eyebrows. I am cool with walking barefoot, it is my favorite way and I am used to doing it. I grew up in the countryside and kids didn't tend to use shoes that much when being outside in the summer. My feet got used to hard surfaces and shoes have always been a little uncomfy for me. In Africa I walked a lot barefoot and used to go run my morning runs without shoes until one morning I accidentally hit my toe to something and it split open so that a big piece fell off and I had to run 2km back home with a bleeding leg. Oh, poor Oili and Seppo had to put up a lot with me... Wasn't my only cut that spring in Zimbabwe...

But back to Ubud. The doctor was very good, the nurses cut my cuts open and took some infected skin of. We drove home through the dark and quiet Ubud with some pain meds and antibiotics.

And in this point everyone must thing nothing good happened in Ubud but yeah, we had those not rainy moments too when we went to watch some traditional dance or just walked around checking out different crafts and markets. One morning we left for a run with Arno, around the rise fields and the jungle. And one day we visited the famous Ubud Monkey forest which is full of monkeys. I definitely am in better terms with the monkey kind nowadays that they tend to leave my camera gear in peace. So I actually enjoyed that day. Afterwards me and Luukas got a 3 euro haircut (wash, dry, cut) and Arno took a 4 euro massage and aloe vera treatment which he said was heavenly for his burned shoulders. We ate well and I spent countless moments in between the meals running to random restaurants' bathrooms, but that's a whole another story.

If the monkey would be holding a Cola can, I couldn't tell the difference between him and Arno ;)

Love,
Linnea