Notes from Stephen, Wan, Kweilin, and Li

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Ubud: eels; rain; dance practice; sushi; herons; rice planting; Tiga Rumah

I watched Nyoman Sandi's wife roast eels on burning coconut husks this morning. She bought the eels from the rice paddy farmers, squeezed them dead, and then threw their writhing bodies onto the burning coconut husks. She grilled them twice, removing their innards between grillings. I tasted one fresh off the grill: it tasted like fish.

We experienced rain showers throughout the day. I'm sure the farmers are happy. Those rice paddies need water.

Between rain showers, we rode our scooters to Pondok Pekak, the english library, and spent a good part of the afternoon there. We checked e-mail, read books, and watched girls practice traditional Balinese dancing.

The girl dancers were between 6 and 13 years old. I recognized some dancers from the performance we saw a few nights ago. The girls danced to recorded music as their teacher corrected their arm position and posture.

The girls got a lunch break between lessons. They crowded around the teacher with money to buy the best snacks. Today's most popular snack was kutupat (rice boiled in coconut leaf) with curry sauce.

We ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant named Ryoshi's. The sushi tasted great. The set menu (miso soup, daikon, chicken skewer, and sushi) was 35,000 rupiah or US$3.50.

At sunset, we took an evening scooter ride to a nearby village to see herons fly in to nest for the night. These white birds have colonized a few trees in this village: just about every branch had a bird on it. One tree was so full that arriving birds had to fly around several times before finding a perch.

A young man asked us to pay to see the birds when we entered the village. He couldn't force us to pay though, since we were driving on a public road, so we just continued on. I bet lots of tourists think one must pay to enter.

On the way to see the herons, we stopped to watch farmers planting rice. What a back-breaking job! They stand almost knee-deep in water and mud, shuffling backward as they bend at the waist to plant tufts of rice, one tuft at a time. As we drove on, I looked at the beautiful rice terraces and realized that every tuft of rice in all those paddies was planted by a human.

We need visors on our helmets to shield us from bugs. I had to squint so much during the drive home at dusk that I could hardly see. My dad said that his glasses didn't help.

We stumbled on a beautiful house for rent on our way home. It's called Tiga Rumah. It's surrounded by rice paddies and a brook. An American who lives in an adjacent house says that it's peaceful and that the mosquitos only come out when the farmers flood the surrounding rice paddies. The house has two storeys, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. It's super-spacious and has an unbeatable view from the second floor. Jay deems the house "awesome possum." It costs US$500 a month or $150 a week. Below is a card advertising the house.

Houses for rent in Ubud

http://tigarumah.tripod.com

2 storey house, 2-3 bedrooms, big master
bedroom with ensuite marble bathroom
(hotwater) fully furnished, open air dining
area with lotus pond, equipped kitched,
laundry room / washing machine, wide
veranda with uninterrupted view of
rice paddy; garage/carport (if required)

Bright and very peaceful

Contact: Agus
HP.: 081.753.2710
Home (0341) 569301
E-mail: "gusmo" followed by "@telkom.net"

Location: Sriwedari Str. (on one corner "Lippo Bank")
Off Ubud main road, 3 km north till end of street, near
Junjungan Village (Banjar Junjungan)

posted by Li at 3:29 AM