Lovina, Bedugul, Ubud: Breakfast; tourist traps; police
We had a hard time finding breakfast in Lovina this morning. The baker tried to sell us yesterday's bread at yesterday's price. The only other shop open was a convenience store where we bought cornflakes and milk. We ate the cereal with bananas and milk.
We left the hotel for Ubud after a swim. We rode our scooters up a windy road over a mountain pass.
On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a touristy overlook to view rice paddies near a lake. Vendors sold peanuts and bananas, which monkeys ate from tourists' hands. We broke out some Sultana crackers that attracted a monkey. When my dad chased it away, a vendor said, "Please leave the monkey. If you chase it away, I won't sell anything."
We stopped at a terrible tourist trap named Bedugul at the lake by the rice paddies. Motorboats pulled parasailers on a lake and vendors sold souvenirs and snacks. Everything looked tacky and commercial. We had bakso (rice noodle soup) near the trap.
As we descended the mountain, we passed bus after bus of Balinese tourists climbing to Bedugul. I later learned that many passengers were children on school trips.
Police stopped us and demanded our license and registration at a road block outside their station. The officer didn't know what to make of my California driver license but he waved me through after seeing my license and the motorcycle registration. My sister didn't show her license or registration. She drove through the road block, stopped when an officer whistled to her, then inched forward until the officers lost track of her.
We asked for directions at almost every major intersection but we still managed to take the long way home. We meant to enter Ubud from the north but we somehow drove around Ubud and entered from the south.
We napped upon arriving at Nyoman Sandi's bungalow. This bungalow feels like home since we keep returning to it on this trip.
My dad and I rode our scooters through the rice paddies at sunset. We saw a man herding a group of ducks. I didn't know that ducks are amenable to herding. I laughed when I saw them waddling nervously along the road.
I downloaded Picasa onto my laptop and spent the evening organizing this trip's photos. We viewed a slideshow of the photos and discussed the trip.
posted by Li at 6:00 PM
