Ubud is just lovely

18.2.16
We have breakfast included here and both opted for pineapple pancake with caramel sauce and fresh pineapple juice.

After breakfast a staff member came to ask if everything is OK in our room.
I said it was great but there’s no bath plug. He came back with an electrical adapter, second time he came with a plastic bath plug. The bath plug was too big but Johns managed to file it down to fit!

He then discussed trips and we’re going to do an all day trip tomorrow.
Its only 400,000 rupiah, about £23 excluding entrance fees for the whole day. Brilliant value.
We can stop where we like and stay out as as long as we want.

We got the 10am shuttle from Villa Mandi into town.
The first stop was the market.
A little hassly and pushy but some lovely things and we wish we had massive cases.
The market apparently starts around 5 am for locals and becomes a tourist market around 9 am.

All the stalls were saying ‘morning prices’ and ‘very cheap’
They have a ritual for the first money of the day and run the notes across all the items they’re selling.

We bought some very cute painted metal elephants, the larger one holds tea lights.
Before coming away I crocheted a lightweight cotton bag for this trip. There were loads in the market!! Sadly the button has fallen off mine already.
I bought a cotton non crocheted  bag and a vest top with the Hindu elephant God Gunesh on it.
Haggled relentlessly and got both for £3.
John later bought a t shirt with the same Gunesh elephant on it.
We’ve agreed to wear it on different days although twice this trip we’ve ended up going out in exactly the same colour tops.

Outside the market area are numerous stalls selling similar items without as much hassle.
Unlike Vietnam they do seem to accept no is your final answer. Everyone seems very friendly and it feels very safe.

We stopped for ice coffee and pineapple juice and enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle and listening to some nearby caged birds that were having lots of banter with some locals.

I must have tried on about 10 different styles of cotton dresses during the course of the day.
There are literally 1000’s, all different styles and colours.
They say one size, that may be true but although they fitted they’re not designed for my particular shape. I felt quite despondent.
I either need to change shape or stick to UK clothes.

We had a wander around a few side roads, so many little temples you hardly notice them after a while.

The whole area has so much character, atmosphere and beauty.

Stopped for lunch, ridiculously over ordered, rice, noodles, squid, sweet and sour chicken and chicken satay. It was lovely but we may not want to eat again for a long long time.

A bit more side road exploring and we decided to get the 4.15 pm  transfer back.
Once back we had a swim and chilled for a while, so lovely, beautiful little yellow finches flying around and the pool area to ourselves.

I sat with a lemon vodka catching up with my blog.
Somehow my Penang mainland post crashed and vanished so I redid it on the flight and journey yesterday but haven’t been able to upload as the internet kept crashing.
The signal is better outside and it’s just uploaded. 3 more posts to try and upload now… people don’t realise the dramas that accompany these short updates.

We decided to go for a stroll to find food (can’t believe we’re going to eat again ) and set off to the left of our building. The people from Chile said there was somewhere that way and we double checked with hotel staff who agreed.
After a lot of walking round a small rural bendy road we gave up and went back to Villa Mandi and ate there.
My pizza was perfect, Johns curried chicken in coconut sauce was a dry chicken leg and rice.
He queried it and they must have just dissolved a stock cube and poured it over! He couldn’t eat it which was good as he helped me have less calories by having some of my pizza.
We weren’t charged for the ‘curry’.

Went back to our room and caught up with Happy Valley which we downloaded a week ago.
Sadly can’t get next episode to download and the suspense is killing us! The internet is not good!

We’re really looking forward to exploring the wider area tomorrow.