Bali, Cambodia, and Thailand: September 14, 2009

All material including photographs are ©2009 Ronald Dunlap / Doglight Studios

I’d had a bad night. There was a tree frog loose in my room, somewhere up in the cathedral ceiling. Not only was he loud (making a parrot-like squawk), he was an expert at camouflage. Even with my trusty flashlight I couldn’t ferret him out and finally gave up trying just before dawn.

I dragged my ass out of bed at seven and into the shower, trying to revive my ancient bones. Once my toiletry was done, I set about making sure my cameras were recharged and reloaded. I had to make sure my equipment was in better shape than I was.

We had company in the dining room this morning, a couple in their late twenties from Paris. They both kept coughing and sneezing, so I stayed as far away from them as possible. (Travel Tip: My number one rule in budget travel is to stay healthy, avoid the sick, and don’t eat anything you aren’t sure of; you might feel a little bit unadventurous, but being sick on the road is no joke — it will drain your experience and your pocketbook).

Two Diet Cokes along with breakfast helped pump a little caffeine into my system. Being older, I am used to not getting much sleep, but in this latitude the humidity can exacerbate any weakness you might have, so I was fortifying myself as best I could.

While Ann finished her morning cigarette, I went over to the hotel lobby to check email and make sure the hotel shuttle was leaving on time. This was our day to explore Ubud, and we wanted to get started as early as possible.

We were the only ones using the shuttle this morning. Dewa was our driver again. He’s very conscientious about seeing that we have a good time and loves to point out attractions and historical points of interest. He dropped us off in the center of town: the corner of Jalan Raya Ubud and Jalan Suweta. The Ubud Palace is on the northeast corner and the town meeting hall is across the street. On the way in, he’d pointed out a path through the local villages and rice fields. What he didn't mention was that it was a long walk.

Walking west along Jalan Raya we passed a shop selling very nice wicker place mats next door to the Lotus Cafe, which is in front of Ubud's main temple complex, Pura Taman Kemuda Saraswati. The sun was in the wrong place to do the temple justice, but I took some shots anyway, knowing that more than likely I would never be there in the right light.

Continuing west we intersected the road that leads up to the path Dewa had described. It was a steep uphill climb until we arrived at the trail head, which was just a narrowing of the road. We couldn’t walk abreast, so I took the lead and continued west. After a few blocks the trail seemed to dead-end into a farm house, but an Australian gentleman coming from the other direction said that we just had to walk around the house and the path would resume. We thanked him and went on our way, but I should have known from his sweat-soaked shirt that it wouldn’t be a short journey.

The fields here are flat and spread out in a large meadow-like area. The walkway was one used by the farmers to haul things in and out, so it was pretty well maintained. The area was beautiful and almost deserted except for the waving fields of grain. We took lots of shots in the beginning, but then the beauty was becoming monotonous, almost too idyllic.

One klick (kilometer) in to our trek an elderly lady walked out of the fields and asked if I would like to take her picture. Of course I would, and I did several shots and then paid her my usual dollar fee. A little way further along the path another lady who had been watching my first encounter asked if I’d like to photograph her. Not wanting to be impolite I agreed and took several more photos and paid her a dollar. She started to argue and yell that I was cheating her, but I just smiled and waved goodbye, wondering what Ann, who was a couple of hundred yards behind me, would walk into. Ten minutes later a young man in his early twenties wanted us to photograph him climbing a palm tree. I’d learned my lesson on this path and agreed upon a fee in advance, and up he went.

The path went on forever. It was after 1pm when we came across the first refreshment shed. A man even older than I was had located his stand in a grove of trees and had several large ice chests depleted of most of their ice, so the sodas and water were just lukecold. These were all guarded by his pet rooster, who was literally the Cock of the Walk.

A German couple accompanied by his mother and a guide walked up. They'd come from a different direction and the guide mentioned a shortcut back to Ubud. I was up for the shortcut and willing to take a chance that it would be shorter than another three hours in the rice paddies.

We finally got back to our starting point around 3pm. The hotel shuttle was going to be at the town hall area around 3:30 and we had to be there to let the driver know that we’d be staying until 5:30. I was starving and needed to find a place to have lunch. It seemed that most of our fellow travelers were also looking for a late lunch. We finally found a table at an outdoor restaurant and sat down with a weary plop. The spaghetti was passable but nothing to write home about and the water situation was a little disconcerting. I ordered a Diet Coke and a large water, but they had no large bottles of water, just little green bottles that were 2 bucks for 8 ounces of flat water. What a rip-off.

We cruised the main streets looking for something interesting enough to photograph and some handicrafts that would fit into our suitcases. Thank goodness we were walking; the streets were jammed with vans and motor scooters all vying to get to the other side of the city, and it looked like an exotic parking lot. Even though this section of the road was one-way, it was still very difficult to cross without being flattened.

The shops had nothing really unusual except for some beautiful carvings at one of the high-end art galleries. I loved a couple of statues but nothing I could afford.

We were dragging on our return to the meeting hall. The place as awash in tourists waiting to be picked up. It was a leisurely ride back to Alam Sari Hotel. The air was pleasant and the skies active. Ann and I talked about returning that night to the Ubud Palace to view the Balinese dancing show. But once we got back it was decided to make a quiet night of it, enjoy the hotel amenities, and put off the dance show until tomorrow night.