Day 4 - Ubud

Another beautiful morning in Ubud!  Today found us on (what we thought was) a leisurely walk along the river on the outskirts of town.  Andrew found a circuit from our hotel along the river, and back up through town,so we set out a bit after breakfast.  Things started out cheery - temples, tons of animals, people smiling, etc.:

Wow, look at how green it is!

What a lovely walking path!

Cool, rice drying on the street!

Awesome grasshoppers!

Neato - roosters in baskets (being saved for cock fights)!

Big smiles!

Liars.

And then, rather abruptly, it was not cheery.  We had trouble finding the correct turn to get back to town, then we almost ran out of water, then we were climbing a huge hill in the heat, humidity and direct sun…Everyone was super hot, tired, hungry (hangry) and our feet were killing.  It's probably no surprise I don't have photos of this part of the day.

Eventually we found our way onto a main road and caught a cab to a restaurant for lunch.  While waiting for our food, Sylvie snatched Andrew's guidebook that we has using to navigate the walk and discovered that we had been completely tricked!!  Andrew sold us a stroll in the park and we got a damn olympic triathlon!  Ok, not really, but it was a tough three-hour journey that we weren't prepared for.  Andrew says we're tougher now for doing it.  We don't all see eye to eye on that. 

At least we had a view to enjoy during lunch.  As we sat in silence. ;)

On our way back to the hotel from lunch, we couldn't help but stop in a few shops, but on our way out of the last one, Andrew spotted something straight out of my nightmares…

I couldn't get a good enough angle to do the thing justice, but it was HUGE.  Its web was strung between two electricity lines and it was just waiting for some unsuspecting child to stumble along for dinner.  In all seriousness, the leg-span was as big, if not bigger than, Andrew's outstretched palm.  Yikes.  I'm not sure if I'll sleep for the rest of the trip knowing these things are out there.  Maybe a pit viper will come along and save me (those are all over the place here and we even saw a dead one in the road last night on the way home, I totally forgot to mention it!).

***

All joking aside, while our trip here has been amazing, it has also been very tough to see the many sick and starving dogs and cats that roam the streets here.  You all know how much I love animals, so I'm asking: If you have a moment and a little extra money, please make a donation to BARC or BAWA.  The organizations help feed, shelter, vaccinate and sterilize Bailnese dogs.  And specifically to my family: If you are still looking for an xmas gift for me, please do this instead.  It would mean more to me than any gift.  Here are the websites and you can donate through paypal on each: http://www.balidogrefuge.com/ourstory.htm and http://bawabali.com/about-us/

***

Before dinner, we all sat on the porch area of our room and had a few beers and watched the herons hunt lizards and insects right in front of us!

on the prowl

caught a grasshopper!

 On our walk to dinner, we happened upon a large toad in the road and tried to take a photo, but it almost jumped on Sylvie, so we yelped and ran instead.  We also saw tons of swarming insects around each light we walked past.  They looked like termites maybe?

Gecko heaven

We're off to Sanur tomorrow.  Its difficult to leave Ubud, as we've had some wonderful experiences here, but it's time to move on and learn more about the next spot.  Until tomorrow!