The end of Phase I

We moved from the beach to Ubud last Saturday, after recovering from JT's birthday celebration (which was fun and boozy but remarkably tame, due to Seminyak's strangely quiet nightlife).

Life in Ubud... this place is a little inland, about 2 hours from the beach towns that we were hanging out it.. but the island is so small, it feels like we barely moved...

The big deal in Ubud is that there was a major cremation ceremony there while we were there. Apparently it was the biggest event in Bali in the last 30 years, and we had no idea it was happening! 2 members of the royal family passed away and so they were having a big cremation ceremony. It's a 5 day+ affair, where they build these huge plaster bulls (like 40 feet tall and 100 ft long) and put the bodies on floats and parade them through the streets out of town and then burn them. The actual cremation was Tuesday (the day that I left) so we watched a part of it before I sent myself to the airport. Basically it was EVERYONE from Bali on 4 city blocks of Ubud, craning their necks trying to get a view of the 200 guys carrying the bull-floats on their shoulders.

Monday in Ubud was actually REALLY fun. We went on an "eco trek," which my friend Amanda said she went on and loved. It involved a 1 hour drive, then breakfast with a view of Mount Batur (which we had climbed at 2am on SUNDAY morning during a "sunrise" hike, not-so-aptly named, as we didn't even see the sun due to fog!). Then we stopped at a model plantation, where we sampled tamarillo, passion fruit, mangos, oranges, and drank coffee from Balinese coffee beans. MMMM!!!

Then we got on bikes and road 25km (about 90% of it was downhill, which is so that the tour can be offered to all sorts of people!). THEN we did an optional 10km which was all uphill, and kinda tough at times, especially since my gears kept slipping (eventually my poor guide just traded bikes with me!) But the whole ride was SO beautiful-- rice paddies, villages, local temples.

Our guide on the eco-trek was hilarious. His nickname was Jering (which apparently means spikey hair, which was TOTALLY appropriate!) and he loves Rancid and Green Day and Blink 182... so funny. He was 19 but looked not a day over 15. But an AWESOME guide. He told us so much about Balinese culture and homelife, etc. Really interesting.

My last days in Bali were bittersweet... leaving the girls was sad, and I will definitely miss them, but I'm excited for the next phase of my journey.

I'm now in Dubai with my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin, who are showing me a good time in the 100+ degree heat! My uncle was so sweet and picked me up at 4am, even though he had to wait because the airline lost one of my bags (the one with all of my Hoi An creations, too! Eek!)

More details on Dubai (and whether or not I got my bag!) later!

(Sorry, Pictures are not uploading! All I have are some monkeys at Uluwatu temple in Bali.. Enjoy!)