Day 6 Ubud to Legian

Woke at 7 and finished packing. Breakfast to another glorious sunny day. Once again the cases were picked up and we met our additional driver. All the bags and I went in his car and the others got in with Yannik. When leaving we met Yannik’s mother and father, who were just arriving. Wayan Komang and the aunties said goodbye and off we went to Legian.

The drive was similar to our other drive through the countryside. Past and passing many motor bikes, stalls and shops, small villages, rice fields, flower plots, deep ravines up and down hills and everywhere green and lush. At times the traffic was horrendous and at other times it flowed smoothly. A few roads were wide- but rarely. Some were narrow and very difficult to pass other big vehicles. Double lines didn’t have the same meaning.  Scooters, as always, were passing on the inside/ outside or anyway they could. Women carrying offerings or building materials on their heads, children on bikes because it is school holidays, men sitting in “cafes” drinking coffee using their mobile phones, dogs roaming across the streets and of course temple after temple.

An hour later we arrived at our most important destination of the trip- the fabric shop, where the five of us dove on the bolts of lovely batik fabric like a starving man onto a loaf of bread. The shop was a flurry with bolts flying through the air as they measured out each precious metre.

I was VERY restrained and kept within my shopping list and colour range, so mine fitted easily into my blue back pack. But at $2.40 Aus a metre, it was very tempting to just go crazy and buy as much as you could. The frenzy was over within a relatively short time and then it was “dodge the hawkers” and get across the road to fill up the car with our bags and bags of fabric. Yannik and the other man were exceedingly patient while we completed our transactions.

Another hour of much slower traffic saw us arrive at our next hotel in Legian. It is obviously a tourist destination and most of the people here seem to be Australians. Different to Ubud – much more touristy. Less stalls and more actual shops, clean and fresh. But so many duplications of exactly the same items.

We found our hotel, checked in and went to our rooms. This hotel is “tired” but clean.  

After dumping our bags, we set off up the road to a restaurant. Lunch at 3 pm as you do on hols. By this time I was ready for a steak which I devoured hungrily. Mine was good. Sandra’s was awful. Chris’s fish was dry but nice, the roast lamb was good as was the nasi goring. Once filled up two returned to the hotel for a quiet afternoon and Sandra, Chris and I went browsing shopping towards the beach. We reached the beach in time to see a fairly cloudy and boring sunset and caught a taxi back again- $10Aus. But he did have lots of traffic and it was a slow trip back. We met the others and at 7:45 had at light dinner at the hotel restaurant- just us. No other customers. Slow service but nice food.

We returned to our sitting room, but I went up to our room, repacked the fabric into my bag and  to remove the frogs in our room.I tried and tried to access the hotel’s internet without success. Chris came up and she connected her magic box to the TV and we watched “Ballerina” a children’s movie. Bed was after 12 am!  Another lovely day.