Day Nine. Thursday, July 5th: Shopaholics Rejoice!

Well, I have already told you how my morning started! 🙂

Breakfast followed at a leisurely pace, with the group meeting at 10am at the ‘back gate’ and then heading into the markets at Ubud.

Now, I’m sure most of you are familiar with the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne. Well this place makes those markets look positively insipid. It’s an insane place overflowing with souvenirs, brand name rip-offs, manchester, clothing, you name it!

After an hour of fun there, we wandered over to the Royal Palace and toured through the public part of the grounds

We then headed to Cafe Lotus, which had breathtaking views out towards the one the main temples in Ubud:

We donned sarongs and went for a look around the temple grounds, with Pak Paul leading the way:

We then split up into groups: some skipped lunch to go shopping, some had lunch and headed back to their room for a sleep, some skipped lunch and went back, some (like myself and 8 others), had lunch (at one of the original Ibu Oka’s) and then headed back to the markets in search of gifts for loved ones and bargains galore!

At 3.30pm we headed out of Ubud and Wayan, our guide and host, took us up to his village’s rice paddies and spoke to us about the importance of rice to the Balinese,and to his way of life. We then were taken to his village, Laplapan, where we met his business partner and ex-girlfriend, Puspa.

They have been married for 14 years and they showed us around their compound, explaining the different roles of the building within it.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening, we learned about Balinese cuisine, chopped, prepared, fried, sauteed and sizzled meat, spices and vegetables for an assortment of dishes

Pak Matt