Bali, cont.

On Christmas Eve, we took a tour of Ubud, Bali's largest city, and some of the surrounding attractions. Downtown Ubud was very cool with lots of funky shops and restaurants, reminiscent of Rehoboth. There are artist villages just outside the city, so we went to a silversmith jewelry shop with a beautiful showroom and tours of the workshop. This is why my jewelry prices don't compare--look at all the workers, making very little money and in poor safety; most didn't have on shoes.

We bought a Balinese painting with a hand carved frame from this shop, whose courtyard was flooded due to all the heavy rains.


These are the famous rice terraces, rice paddies carved into the side of a mountain. It is hard to make out in this small photo, but there is a farmer standing on the field, the third from the top. It was pouring rain when this photo was taken, so it isn't too clear.

We shopped in the Ubud market. We bought many things, all of which were very cheap. We got a quilt made out of batik scraps for $12. If it wasn't for space and weight restrictions on our luggage, we would have bought more things.

We had some drinks and snacks at this famous restaurant called Lotus Cafe that has a pond in the middle of the tables. It was very beautiful.

Our driver took us to a temple--not sure about the name. It was very busy with worshipers who were there for the full moon. There was praying and bathing in the blessed water. Each family brought a small offering of a leaf filled with flowers and herbs, which you can see stacked up along the edge of the pool and on the altar. To enter the main area, we had to wear a sarong.

On Bali, there are mountains and volcanoes. We went to the top of a mountain to a famous look-out and panoramic restaurant, but we couldn't see anything, because it was totally foggy due to the heavy rain. If we visit again, we will go back to the mountains and volcanoes and hopefully do some hiking.