Day 9: Lady Boy and Fire Dance

As you walk down the streets of Ubud, there is a simplicity and peacefulness that resonates with every step. Shop keepers sweeping off their steps as they open their Warang's, dogs lounging in the middle of small one-way streets, little leaf enclosed offerings of thanks on every doorstep, all contributing to a chill and welcoming vibe. 

Now with that pleasant introduction I will take an aside before talking about my day. I met up with Ali and while having my new favorite coffee drink, iced mokka cafe, he told me about his exploits last night after I left. Apparently they went to a club, where he met a beautiful Balinese girl, mind you he was feeling pretty good by now. Over the course of the night he made out with her a few times and traveled on the back of her moped to another bar. Finally, as the night was winding down, Sasha did her research, and Shane let Ali in on the scoop - his Balinese baby was a very pretty lady boy or as Shane put it in a thick Aussie accent, "That's a pretty man you got there, she's got cock and balls." Shortly after Ali made his exit alone. So now on with the day.

Today after breakfast, I connected up with Ali (Alasdair from Scotland) and we headed off to Shane's place. His parents Co-own bungalows with a Balinese family just outside of Ubud and only reachable by moped. We got there around 11:30 and after making a few wrong turns, found this beautiful hidden gem. LaLa & Lili's is this quaint restaurant/bungalow that is paradise among the rice fields.

We first inspected his digs which were 2 large bungalows sleeping anywhere from 6 to 12 with private pools, open showers, incredible gardens and fish ponds wrapping the whole of each. Shane lives a rough life. 

After establishing that as base camp, with his friend Sasha along for the walk, we took off down narrow alleys, through jungle lined paths to a stream. By every stream there is a temple statue with offerings laid near, a common theme with their thousands if not hundreds of thousands of statues throughout Bali.  We then proceeded down a small alley toward the rice fields. They were as expected, beautiful, lush, green. We walked down some other small streets all the while, never seeing another tourist, this was the real Bali. 

On our return, we spent the rest of the afternoon kicking back with some Bintang and lounging at the pool talking about life and love and our hometowns. Amazing chill afternoon.

That's when we decided that since Ali had a car, we will take it around the rest of the island, just like we do back in the states - RoadTrip!

That night we cleaned up, met at Bunute's Bar to hang with Ari (the mgr) and headed off for a traditional fire dance. It sounds more exciting than it actually is - you can quote me on that. About a hundred Balinese men sitting around a statue with candles chanting while a play is enacted. Thanks to Sasha, a Javanese friend of Shane's, I began to understand it half way through. Up till that point it was about a girl who was protected by a girl and then there was another girl in gold and one in blue and then some white monkey and red monkey and noble bird and bad God and other strange characters with scary masks. And that was it. Luckily at the end they spiced it up by lighting tons of coconut shells on fire and kicking them at the crowd. I'm sure it's an amazing dance ... For some ... But that's $8 and one hour I'll never get back.

After, it was back to Bunutes to drink and chat & then I made an early exit so as to get some good sleep. As I entered my bungalow, Busbee was asleep, and I was greeted by a spider the size of my hand, just staring at me near the light switch. I thought, who needs lights to brush your teeth? I quickly went to sleep and pretended it was never there, except in my dreams ... Blurgh!

Nite Nite from the Iphone blogger.