TOURIST TUESDAY: DAY FIVE PADANG BAI

After little to no sleep, we were dressed, and out of our hut as quick as we could. This time Jarvis had no hesitation getting on the scooter. After a breakfast in Ubud, where we used their Wifi to book new accommodation, we were happy just to ride around, stopping for snacks, and to take photos of the locals.

Even back at our hut, we just wanted to wander and take photos of our surrounds. Avoiding our rat hut? Possibly. I did love Ubud. Even with the rats. There was a calmness to the place, that encouraged me just to breath. Normally I would have totally lost it over the rat, but I just accepted that was life in the mountains.

Plus I cannot find the words to express how nice the people of Bali are. As we were walking around Jarvis needed to go to the loo, with no public toilets anywhere in sight, I asked a local if she knew where one was. She indicated to follow her, and before we knew it we were inside her house? Village? And she lets Jarvis use the family toilet. Cannot image any Australian opening their house to a complete stranger like that.

Thank you Ubud family, for the use of your loo.

But, soon enough it was time to pack up and leave. A driver picked us up, and followed Justin into Ubud, where he returned the scooter. Then, it was another few hours in the car, with another viewing of Avengers.

Padang Bai, wow. Beach side accommodation, and a pool with a swim up bar. 

After been in the car for so long, we went for a walk along the beach on to the next beach. Blue Lagoon. It was grey and overcast, so the beach was not blue, plus the neat freak in me got/gets so sad at the amount of litter on the beaches.

Temples on the beach

A not very blue, Blue Lagoon Beach

This is how they dispose of their rubbish, plastic and all.

Lots of photos from this day, but lots of things that I do not want to forget.

Jarvis ended the day his favourite way, at the swim up bar. 

TOURIST TUESDAY: DAY FOUR UBUD

We all woke with excitement, as we were on the move to Ubud. We had organised a driver for the trip, so it was an easy check out and travel. For the car ride to Ubud out came my old, old laptop, and Jarvis watched Avengers (again).

Side note: how many of you get excited that we dropped off a garbage bag full of dirty clothes, at a laundry just outside Ubud, and got quoted $3 Australian to wash and dry the lot!

Our accommodation was in a rural part of Ubud, even our driver had trouble finding it. With no road access, we had to carry our luggage, and Jarvis, over a narrow walkway through the rice fields.

I was impressed as soon as we got there. Jarvis and Justin equally so. The pool, the hut, the surroundings. All looked amazing. We sat around the pool deciding our next options, and thought we would hire a scooter. This is when we discovered the whole place had no internet. The young kid running the place said, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I wasn't bothered, but Justin was.

So we hiked it back up to the road to try our luck at finding a taxi to drive us into Ubud. In Ubud we sorted out the essentials. Scooter hire, check. Big yummy meal in a cafe with internet, check.

At first Jarvis did not want to put the helmet on his head, and was a bit cautious about hoping on the scooter. But, I found if I got him to sit on my lap, facing me and wrapped him onto my body he loved it. So much so he did not want to get off, after going for a ride through the mountains.

We found a grocery store, and did some basic shopping for food for the rest of the night and breakfast.

Back at the hut, we discovered fault two with our accommodation. No hot water. Okay, so for me who loves a very hot shower, this was uncomfortable, but again like the internet, I thought it comes with the territory of being so rural.

What I did not cope with was strike three against our accommodation. We all went to sleep okay, but an hour, or so, after I heard a noise, yes I know we were in the middle of a rice field and animal noises are common. However, this was above my head. I dove out of bed grabbing Jarvis with me. Unfortunately, Justin was not so lucky and ended up with a rat crawling across his forehead. Gag!

So the rest of the night I stayed awake holding Jarvis in the middle of the room on the day bed, and Justin slept at the end of the bed. I amused myself by reading and counting just how many rats I could see roaming our room... Was not a rest filled night.