Country Road Take Me Home....

I got lost today.

It wasn't a big deal, and I guess it is good that it happened so that I could see it wasn't a big deal. But, I am still hesitant to go very far on my motorbike. Maybe that's also a good thing.

I first headed north, going straight up Monkey Forest Road and continuing straight out of town. It was the kind of country road I was looking for. The past few times I've gone out for a spin on my moto, I have found myself on kind of main roads with a lot of traffic, lined by shops selling all of the stuff you can find in the shops on Hanoman Rd. It doesn't make for a very scenic ride. Add in the traffic, other motorbikes, trucks, and people pulling out from shops, driveways and side streets, and it's not the leisurely ride in the country I had hoped to find (I was really spoiled by my rides in Sumatra - that is what I want here....)

But this road, was different. It was not lined with shops, but rather villages and village life. There were some hotely looking places, but mostly it was locals, doing the things locals do - women carrying baskets on their heads and walking down the road, men building or farming, and dogs. Dogs everywhere, but mostly just lying in the middle of the road oblivious to anyone passing in any sort of vehicle (well, most of them were oblivious). Some barked at me and kind of scared me and one had his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and didn't look too healthy. There were a lot of dogs.

I drove for a while and it became more and more rural, and poorer. I saw people washing clothes by the side of the road in a little stream that ran in the gutter. I saw people bathing in a river and thought how lucky I am to not have to do that. Eventually I came to the end of the road and had to turn right or left. That is when I turned around. I was afraid it would be too difficult for me to retrace my steps.

I didn't want to return right away to my hotel and just hang around by the pool (even though that is a totally worthwhile thing to do), so I rode by Wayan Nusuriah's place. My stomach has still been feeling a little off, though I think it is from the antibiotics I finished yesterday. Still, I thought maybe she had some potion I could drink that would help my stomach chi.

It didn't look like her shop was fully open yet. The metal gate was only partially opened, yet, she already had a crowd inside. I think she is too much of a celebrity now, so I guess I won't be going there.

Instead, I went to Zen Spa and asked for a Mandi Lular treatment. It is a royal bath that also includes massage and a tumeric rub. It was royal indeed. First I had an oil-less massage and then a massage with oil and then the tumeric rub and then a flower-filled bath.

My room didn't have a view of the garden, but it was still quite luxurious for only about $16 USD!

From there I was planning on going across the street to The Pond for lunch. I had a hankering for gado-gado, since I haven't had any decent gado2 since I've been here. But I was kind of sweating still from the massage and instead went for a ride south on my moto. I went until I found some nice rice fields, took some photos and then headed to lunch.

I really like The Pond. It feels like *my* place. Often I am the only one there. Last night, there was one table of Indonesian guys who might have been the owners or somehow related to the owners, because they thanked me when I left, but I now have learned that lunch time at The Pond is quite a different scene. TOUR GROUPS! The other day when I was there, there was a big German tour group, and today there was a big Chinese group (they could have been from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore or some other country outside of Mainland China though).

I was sitting in my favorite little seat that looks out onto the rice field, my back to the restaurant, when suddenly I heard a major commotion behind me. I turned around and saw the throng of people that had just entered. There was all kinds of shouting and negotiating about where people were going to sit. I felt like I was in a market place. The staff came over several times and apologized, but really, it was fine. I was glad to see they were busy, but it was nice that they were concerned for me, their best customer!

I hated having my back to all of the action, so I turned around to change directions, partly so I could watch them, and also because I was tired of looking at the people in Pundi Pundi across the little pond. The Chinese tour group was much more interesting.

I don't know why Chinese people take their shoes off when they sit down. A lot of my students do it too. Not only Chinese, but also Vietnamese. I'll be explaining some grammar point and look down and see all of these bare feet hanging in mid air. They hang in mid air because usually the people attached to them are too short to reach the ground when they sit.

And so was the scene at The Pond today. Lots of bare feet dangling in mid air, with very tattered and worn looking shoes thrown on the ground below.

Even though I had arrived first, their food started coming out. They all got a big tray of food with the special Balinese duck, rice, vegetables, soup, juice and a few pieces of satay. I was jealous! It looked like quite the feast!

As soon as the food was distributed, things quieted down. You could hear a pin drop. I liked that they didn't talk while they were eating, though it was quite the sight to see them gnawing on those ducks. They were really enjoying themselves.

My gado-gado was kind of a disappointment. Maybe Balinese gado-gado is different. When I got it at Nomad it was similar. This time the cabbage was rolled and filled with green beans, bean sprouts and some Chinese cabbage type leaf. I found it hard to eat. My favorite kind of gado-gado is just a big salad with steamed cabbage, green beans, potatoes, boiled eggs, etc., all covered with peanut sauce.

I will keep searching.

After lunch I decided I would try the one road out of Ubud I hadn't tried yet, and that was going East.

I headed down Ubud Main Road to the big statue and found that instead of going straight like I wanted to, I had to turn right or left. I had already turned left before, so I went right.

It was another one of those busy roads, lined with shops, only these shops were more geared to locals. Little food stalls, and other kinds of shops. I continued on, having to make a few turns when the road came to a T, until finally I passed some rice fields, stopped to take some photos and turned around and headed back.

My destination seems to be rice fields. When I find them, I document them and then I can head home.

Only, on my return, I came to a place that didn't look familiar. I thought I had to turn and I did. And then as I continued, came to a big Buddha statue that I knew I had not seen before and finally realized I was lost.

I drove into a gas station and said, "Ubud?", and they pointed in the direction that I had just came from. One guy said, "North", as if that helped me, since I had no compass on me.

And so I turned around and headed the other way. North, I guess.

I passed a big banyan tree with a market across from it. I thought I had passed that before I got lost, so I turned around and headed in the other direction, south, I guess, but that didn't look right, so I turned around again. Locals sitting around doing nothing, were intrigued, I am sure, by this guy on a dusky rose colored scooter wearing a helmet that looked like something from the British Army during WWI.

This time I continued north and came to the cross road where I made my wrong turn and this time turned the other way and soon started to recognize things and knew I was going in the right direction.

It was a little scary being lost and having nothing that would help guide me home. There are no road signs as far as I can tell, and outside of Ubud, all of the town names sound the same to me - foreign. Even though Indonesian is written with a roman script, it doesn't help when you don't know what things mean.

I finally made it back to my hotel where we now have wifi! I can't access it from my room, so I am sitting next to the pool, but it sure beats the internet cafe next to the hotel where the guy listens to the same song over and over again (it is a nice song, but 100 times can be a bit much with ANY song), or the other place that has air-con where I met Epi, but the past few times I've been there, the skittish little girl has been working and she makes me very nervous. The other day when I was there, instead of sitting behind her desk, she was walking around the very tiny space looking very distressed. She went in the back and I thought she was going to prepare the offerings for the gods like Epi usually did, but instead came out with a calendar. The calendar system is very complex here and there are good days and bad days (Made was supposed to go to his healer on his day off, Thursday, but it was not a good day to be healed, so he changed days off and went on Friday). She looked at the calendar and then said something out loud in Indonesian and smiled. It was a big odd.

Then she put the calendar back and sat playing with a plastic chair. The chair was making farting noises as she pushed it across the tile floor.

Finally, seeming disgusted, she sighed, got up and went and sat outside. I felt like I was keeping her from something, so I signed off and opened the door and said, "finished" and she came in and told me how much I owed.

So, I am glad to have internet at the hotel, even if it isn't in my room. I get to sit here and watch my hotel mates. A blog is coming about them soon.

And so, with one more week in Bali, my question remains, "what kind of treatment will I have tomorrow?" I could have a repeat, but I think I might like to try something I haven't had yet, like a four-handed massage or a hot stone massage, or an aloe facial. Hmmm.... so many choices....