Bali Blog 8 - More of Ubud's Rice Fields

Wednesday 11th February

Today we had another lie in and got up at around 10 am, we enjoyed a banana pancake, fresh fruit and Bali coffee for breakfast. It was great! I will have to learn how to make these pancakes for when I get home! :) 

After we had eaten breakfast we watched a frilly necked lizard climb up one of the trees near our room. It was fun watching it puff out this little yellow frill on its neck.
We also learnt that the English people we had met a few days previous had left and moved on to their stop in Bali. Not to worry though as more had a arrived to replace them. :).
Today was another day exploring Ubud, taking a walk around the rest of the rice fields surrounding the town. 

Rice fields! Yay!

We set off walking down the main street in Ubud and a little past the Starbucks (on the same side of the road) there a turning off the main street to a fairly dubious footpath. Don't worry it's sign posted, so it must have some degree of safety. 

The weather was great and the path was easy to follow (for the most part), as I think somehow we veered from our original route and ended up in the forest watching a family bathe! But we did see some nice things along our walk. We saw lots of butterflies and many, many lizards, most of them were fairly large skinks but a little too quite for me and my camera, as I didn't manage to get a photo of them. Sad times. :(

Rob in the sun!

Anyway, after interrupting a family washing in the stream we were back on track as we climbed out of the trees and back on to the rice fields. At the end of the rice field we spotted the restaurant Sari Organik, which our hotel owner had recommended, so we stopped for lunch there. But just before we arrived we saw a man in a same hut selling coconuts, he looked so happy and Rob took his picture.

Rice fields, the view from Sari Organik.

During our lunch at Sari Organik, we enjoyed the view over the rice fields and just relaxed after spending a couple of hours on our feet in the midday heat. We got to chatting to the couple on the table next to us, who turned out to be a German woman and a Dutch man. They were somewhat older than us, possibly in their sixties and had spent the last six weeks in Ubud, they were due to leave Ubud in a few days time to spend a few days elsewhere in Bali before returning home. 

Lunch at Sari Organik.

After we had been chatting for a while and Rob had taken their photo, they offered to walk us the scenic route back to Ubud. We thought this was great as it meant we would have to keep walking down the main street and it could hopefully be more excited. However as we left the sky suddenly darkened but we thought we would chance it anyway, as the older couple assured us it would be worth it to walk this way home. The rain held off most of the way home, which was great as we made to Nick's pension (a set of fancy villas) before we had to stop and take shelter. The guy at reception was kind enough to let us sit for about 15 minutes until the rain eased off enough for us to carry on. The older couple left us near Earth cafe, as their hotel was nearby. 

Sheltering from the rain at Nick's pension. :)

The route which we had just followed was much nicer than the usual way we go and there wasn't much of a time difference so I would definitely recommend it! 

Once we returned to the center of Ubud, we didn't really feel like returning to our hotel, so we stopped at Warung Sopa (our favourite place! :)) for some coffee and cake. I got a vegan coconut chocolate pie and it was awesome! Rob had the carrot cake! :) After eating and chilling out for a bit, we took a short stroll in the rice fields behind our hotel, which was nice but these were somewhat smaller than the ones we had explored that morning. So the walk didn't take too long and within no time we were back at our hotel drinking more coffee and making use of the free WiFi.

Here are a few photos from our walk in the rice fields: 

Funky path.

Kitty!

Umbrella.

Coconut monkey man!

At our hotel there is a little black dog that waits for us to return and he is never very happy when we do. He always barks and make a lot of noise when we enter the hotel, but this evening he went crazy! Tagel had to come out and shout at him! Scary! I think we must have frightened him or something this time! Eeeek! 

During our chat with Dutch man and German woman earlier today they told us that at night fire flies can be see in the rice fields. I had no idea! And this I had to see, so we decided that after dinner we could go searching for fire flies. We ate dinner at the Terrace Bar, on the main street of Ubud. This is an Italian restaurant but we ate Indonesian. I love noodles, what can I say! :) We had a great view over the town but it was very dark, so wasn't worth me taking any photos with my little camera and no try pod. :(

After we finished dinner we returned to the rice fields and we saw fire flies! Yay! They were just small green flashes of light in the dark. They were fascinating to watch but not much to photograph, but at times many little green flashes could be seen in the trees or in the sky. It was magical! :). I was happy! :)

Later, when we return home Tagel told us that you could see them in the rice fields behind the hotel and there used to be a lot more fire flies, but due to the increased use of pesticides their numbers had declined. This is such a shame as it was so magical watching the little flashes in the sky, I felt like I was in a fairy tale.

Tracking fir flies!

It must be said the main thing you notice about the rice field at night is the noise! It is so loud after dark, the fields just come alive! The constant buzz of crickets and grasshoppers accompanied by the intermittent sound of conversations between frogs and toads gives this place a quite an eerie feel. This feeling is not helped when a cat jumps out the long grass on to the path in front of you! I nearly died!

Enjoy yourselves and stay safe.

Sam x