We all left Kuta yesterday and escorted by the ever faithful Yan, took a 1.5hr drive north through torrential rain that had swept away parts of the road to our next destination.
I’m now up at Ubud which I am sure must be the rooster capital of the world! Its only now, after my first night here and being woken at 2.30am by the first of a chorus of roosters that I have a vague memory of leaving Ubud after only 2 nights back in 2002 because of the roosters. How anyone can sleep in the town is beyond me. Clearly everyone in this town of population 8000 must own a rooster and they create such a cacophony of awful crowing from 2.30am til well after 8am when they must decide that everyone is well and truly awake and they themselves go back to sleep.
We are staying at homestay run by Yan’s aunt here in Ubud and (other than the rooster problem which realy isn’t her fault) its great. Luke was pretty hesitant when I suggested a homestay but now thinks its great. It is quite a magnificent place and great to be able to experience more traditional Balinese living. And in addition its lovely to meet some of Yan’s family. For $25USDeach Luke and I got a double room (with cold AND hot water) for 4 nights and a cooked breakfast each morning, which we figured was a pretty good deal.
When we arrived yesterday it was pouring rain and even cold! We all ended up a soggy, sodden mess after a walk up to the town centre so our adventuring was short lived. It was back to the homestay, beers and Scrabble to wait for it to pass. Given the unpredictable nature of the weather up here we only went as far as across the road for dinner. There is only one pub in Ubud and it’s quite a hike away so after dinner we just went to bed. Not realising the rooster rousing that was still to come…
Funny moment this morning as Luke and I lay wide awake in bed cursing the roosters: Luke was asking questions about them, why they crow etc. Then came the classic question: What is a female rooster called? I rolled around for five minutes laughing my head off before I could choke out the word 'chickens'.
Unfortunately our room is on the third floor and my knee still wont bend properly after an unfortunate diving incident (and is looking a bit festy if the truth be known), fortunately the view makes up for it.
Today I went whitewater rafting and had a fantastic time!! No one fell out (disappointing) and we all loved it. It did start to rain half way through which made it FREEZING but it was still great. Neither Josh, Luke or Kirsti had been whitewater rafting before and I had talked it up so much I was relieved it didn't disappoint.
