Ubud!

I made it to Ubud!  I’m staying at this adorable place called Matahari Cottages – it’s RIDICULOUSLY cute, and I have my own tiny cottage.  It’s decorated in tons of antiques – there’s a chair I’m afraid to sit on because it looks so delicate.  Also, the shower?  Is in the middle of the bathroom.  I already almost destroyed an entire roll of toilet paper by waving the darn thing around.  I’m going to have to work on that.  The only downside is that there are looots of bugs around the area.  I have mosquito netting and all, so that helps, but while I barely saw any bugs in Kuta, there’s an abundance here.

My hotel serves afternoon tea, so I had that this afternoon, around 3pm.  It’s served on more antique china, etc. – unbelievably cute.

Ubud is a really artistic community – there’s beautiful artwork and crafts everywhere.  The vendors are also less aggressive, for the most part.  I’m also inclined to believe that Ubud has seen its share of crazy cat ladies – on a brief walk around the center of town, I saw several shops selling an array of carved wooden cat sculptures.  I’ll try to get a picture if I can, without anyone insisting that I come inside and buy one!

Ubud thankfully has a slower pace than Kuta.  It’s more laid back, less frantic.  It seems that there’s a special temple ceremony going on at the center of town tonight.  And watching the dance is free!  So I’ll be doing that, but it’s not until 9pm, so I have some time to kill.  I have lots of time to explore Ubud, and I plan to do some day trips from here.

Right now I’m at an awesome little internet cafe – the computers look brand new, there’s beautiful art on the walls, and the staff is very helpful and attentive.  And it’s less than five minutes from my hotel!

One thing I haven’t mentioned – there are a LOT of stray dogs in Bali.  They’re all pretty mangy – literally, they have mange – and not well cared for.  There are a couple organizations that exist to combat this problem, like Bali Adoption Rehab Center (www.freewebs.com/balidogs), but they alone care for over 100, and the dogs are never ending.

Another thing – it’s great to wander around, but the sidewalks are treacherous, if they exist at all!  Haha, it’s hard to look at all the awesome stuff around you and also keep an eye on your feet.

Enough for now!