Hot!!! Hot!!! Hot!!!

It is very hot here. It's like a sauna. I felt like my blood was boiling yesterday and I was going to cook. So, I set out to find a new hotel.

Between my spotty internet connection and a bit of walking around, I succeeded. I found a place on a nice little tourist strip with lots of shops, restaurants and massage/healing offerings, that has air-con, a nice pool and a well-tended garden. It's a little more than what I am paying now and doesn't have internet, but the place I am in now only has internet if I bring my laptop up to the breakfast gazebo or the air-conditioned library that is not always air-conditioned (if it were, I would be spending all of my time in there!)

Other than the heat, I had a good day yesterday. Ubud is growing on me. I want to see more. I am going to take some tours and eventually get my own transport, either a bike or a motor-bike, once I know my way around a little better. There is no hurry to do any of those things. I have 4 weeks here!

I walked up a road I thought the Sari Spa Hotel was located on because I was considering it as an option for my new digs, but I was on the wrong road. It was interesting to see a little of Ubud beyond the tourist shops though and see how people really live. I thought the road was lined by temples, but actually they were all family compounds. Each compound is surrounded by a beautiful stone wall and at the entrance is a statue of a god - usually ganesh - the elephant god. There are little packets of flowers, rice and crackers all over the place - on the sidewalk, on steps, in front of garages, on cars and motorcycles - all offerings to the gods.

My posting this morning was interrupted by a very nice guy from New Zealand who was staying at my former hotel. Also my batteries on my computer were about to die. Now I am in a nice internet cafe across from the Dirty Duck Diner, a place I have my eye on for dinner tonight. There is a very sweet Balinese girl working here who is very chatty, so I am not sure if I can finish now, but I will try.

First, breakfast with Phillip. He was one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and he was gay. Big surprise for me. He told me he is living in Timor a former Indonesian island that is now independent (I didn't realize they gained their independence). He is an advisor for the NZ army there. He told me a lot of stories about how difficult it is there for the Timorese and how bad the UN is in dealing with issues. It reminded me a lot of the stories of Haiti. It is very sad. Things that we take for granted like running water are a luxury there. People spend most of their day going to get water and transporting it back to their homes - usually it is not clean and because it is limited, they can only use it for cooking, not bathing.

After breakfast, I packed up my things and changed hotels. I am now staying at a place called Artini Cottages. I have a lovely bungalow with a really big bed a nice bathroom and most importantly, air-conditioning!!! It also has a nice pool, which I saw yesterday but didn't think I would really enjoy. To the contrary, I spent most of the day at the pool today. I figured one way for me to help my body adjust to the heat would be to try to stay out in it as long as I can. Shutting myself up in an air-conditioned room will not help. Phillip told me this morning that he found Ubud cold! How could that be? At 8 a.m., while we sat having our breakfast, I was drenched with sweat.

So now it seems like I am all set to begin enjoying Bali. Actually, I already have. It is amazing how something so simple as a room can make a difference. I think the location is also better. The young woman in the internet cafe told me Artini is a very good place to stay and that I got a very good deal.

The people who work at Artini are also very nice (the ones at the other place were nice too). The guy who carried my bag to my room and I guess also cleans my room (and tends the garden) called me Ketut Rick. Balinese names are interesting. They are named for the order in their family. Wayan, which is a very common name for both men and women, is the first-born. Made, is the second. Ketut is number four. So, Made, my new friend at Artini, called me Ketut Rick. He even wrote it down on a little piece of paper. He put his name, Made, and his last name and then (Bali) in parentheses. And then he wrote Ketut Rick (America). It was very sweet, as I am finding the Balinese in general are. They flash amazingly large smiles with brilliant white teeth and even the guys sitting by the side of the road saying "transpor?" and making funny steering-wheel gestures, are kind of charming.

After I checked in and went for a swim, I went out to forage for food. On Thursday I ate at a place called Nomad, which is featured in Lonely Planet and had a large crowd for dinner. It's kind of famous I guess. They have an organic garden and a fusion menu and fancy decoration. The food was okay. I was really hungry, so I wasn't too picky about it. I got gado gado, an Indonesian standard, only this was not served the usual way. It was rolled up in rice paper like spring rolls and hard to eat. I would have preferred it as a salad, like it usually is served. I then sampled some Indonesian tapas - chicken satay, fish satay and martabak (which I think might be Indian). They were all good, but nothing to write home about. I finished with black rice pudding in coconut milk, which is one of my favorite deserts. It was so bad, I didn't finish it.

Yesterday I had afternoon tea at Matahari, my old guest house. It was weird sitting in the middle of this overgrown garden eating little finger sandwiches and cake. I only liked a few of the cakes. Most of them seemed old. One was warmed up, I think to hide its staleness. For dinner, I walked around a little. I had one place in mind but when I went there it turned out to be a Thai restaurant. I saw no point in eating Thai food in Indonesia. So, unable to find any alternative, I went back to Nomad. I got chicken curry. How could you mess up chicken curry? They did. It was not good. I think it will be the last time I go to Nomad.

Today for lunch I stopped at a small Warung (food stall) outside of Nur Salon, the place I had my Javanese massage yesterday. I ordered nasi campur, which is rice with an assortment of things around it. It was delicious! And it was only $2.00!!! I think what I have discovered is that the very touristy places are overpriced and not that good, and the more local places do some pretty good Indonesian food. A major generalization after only a few meals, but I'm going with it.

So, now my goal is to adjust to the heat and little by little start exploring. There is so much to do. I already found a place with cooking classes. There are nightly dance performances. I can rent a bike or motorbike and explore on my own. And of course, I can just laze by the pool and read.

I feel kind of odd spending one month in the same place when Bali seems to have so much to offer, but if I learned anything from my travels through Europe, I learned that the longer I stayed in a place, the more I began to appreciate its subtle charms. So far Ubud's charms are not subtle at all = they are in-your-face charms, but it will be interesting to see how I feel after one month. I've already met more people than I did in my two and a half months in Europe and I have only been here two and a half days!