Traveling a lot has ruined the allure of seeing cathedrals, temples, buddhas (no matter what position he’s in) & cultural performances for me, and interesting rock formations are about to be added to the list. However, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing rice paddies, especially when marbled with jungle foliage. Ubud (the town in the Bali portion of the book “Eat, Pray, Love”) offers heaps of scenery of this type. You see sites like the pic above within five minutes of walking out of town, and there are endless paths & trails through the countryside, and I spent days walking them. Ubud itself is a little disappointing, as it’s extremely touristy, and the touts are incessant. There are great street food carts, though, and I fell in love with the Tipa Tahu – a bowl of sliced bananas, fried tofu, bean sprouts & chili peppers, doused in a spicy peanut sauce and smothered with prawn crackers, all for just $1.
Ubud is considered the cultural and religious center of Bali, but I apparently stomped all over that. In an annoying attempt to get me to purchase an overpriced tour from him, my hostel owner spent fifteen english-challenged minutes explaining the Balinese form of Hinduism to me. I had no interest in the tour or hearing about the ridiculous religion, so it was extremely painful. When he was done with his speech:
Him: “What is your religion?"Me: "I don’t believe in anything"Him: jaw drops "Wha – why?"Me: "No proof"Us: we silently stare at each other for 30 secondsHim: "Do you want to purchase the tour?"Me: "Sorry, no, and I’m moving to a different hostel tomorrow” (one that was much nicer, with a pool, for the same price)
I promise my tone was not that of a boorish American, I was just being honest. However, the conversation essentially finished our relationship, as he again stared and then didn’t say another word to me for the next 16 hours.
Let’s finish this post on a lighter note – pond-jumping monkeys in the Ubud monkey park!
eyeintim 
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