Ubud, Bali

So my time in Kuta, Lombok went from awesome, to really really terrible in a very short time. I am not sure what I ate, but a severely upset stomach turned to fever, sweating, chills, hypersensitivity, body aches, head aches, nausea and being bedridden for three days. So far I have really enjoyed a lot of what traveling alone allows you: ultimate freedom, easier approachability, self reliance. Getting sick is one of those times when being alone absolutely sucks. Anything or any medicine that you need, you have to get on the scooter and go get. One thing that really sucks about getting sick while traveling also is there is no TV to distract you and I couldn't read so it was just me staring miserably at the ceiling fan in a 90 degree room. Horrible. Okay, enough venting about that. After being sick I realized I was out of money and had to make the hour long scooter ride to Praya where the nearest ATM is located. In the city I of course got lost because there is no reasoning to any of the street layout, but eventually got there thanks to a couple helpful locals. While at the ATM I was also approached by a guy named Dunn or something close to that. He was very excited to meet me to practice his English and invited me to his house for lunch. On the way he also brought me past the village where his sister weaves traditional cloth that takes sometimes up to a month to make one shawl. There he insisted I put on the traditional wedding outfit. I just laughed to myself while writing this envisioning how funny I must have looked getting a full tour of the village while wearing a brightly colored shawl, jacket and headdress, but he insisted even in the heat. Then he took me to his house where I met his parents and wife and gave him am hour long English lesson over lunch. Near the end it started to get a bit awkward when he started openly asking how to get a tourist wife with his wife only 10 feet away in the next room, but it was an interesting experience. Back at Kuta I spent two more days surfing, then made the 10 hour day journey back to Kuta, Bali to start working to extend my visa. The process is a real hassle. You go in the first time to fill out paperwork, then they give you a date about 4 days later when you have to pay, then give you a day about 4 days later when you have to pickup the visa. 3 trips for 14 days more is a lot of hassle. From Kuta I made it through the hassle of the first visit to the zoo of an immigration office where they hold your passport for the whole process. After getting back to Kuta, I booked the first ticket to Ubud. Ubud is amazing. Up in the lush more mountainous central region of Bali, Ubud is the cultural and artistic center (drawing a big tourism industry too) It has gotten recent fame and an onslaught of middle aged women travellers being the location of "love" in the book/movie "Eat,Pray,Love" Getting to Ubud, I found a nice homestay where an unbelievably friendly Artist named Sulendra lives with his family and rents out two rooms. I think one of the best things about traveling on a budget is staying at homestays and getting to know local families. The room I am staying in has a balcony that overlooks a calming jungle river gorge, very tranquil. The second day here I signed up to go river rafting, which was definitely a good way to see some jungle scenery. Also im Ubud, there is a monkey forest with a temple right next the the village. The excitement and exoticism of seeing and playing with monkeys is very short lived. They are aggressive little bastards. I had bought fruit at the market that morning as soon as I pulled out the bag to give a little bit to a small monkey, I was swarmed with monkeys climbing on me and showing their teeth. I just dropped the bag and had to retreat. I also made my first trip to the doctor here. My stomach was still not better after getting sick a week ago so I went to the Doctor and got all sorts of meds that have made things a bit better, but I still lack an appetite. I think I may have a parasite so if things don't get better in a few days I may have to go in for blood tests. Fun. While here in Ubud I have also gone to a couple traditional Balinese dances which most the time are a bunch of guys chanting in a circle around a storyline usually involving a king fighting against a devil or animal of some sort to protect the queen or princesses. I can't say that I am particularly entertained by the performances, but the costumes and temples which they are held at are very visually cool and its good to see more of Balinese culture. I have to say that for the first time since leaving I have felt homesick. Ubud has been great, but I haven't put the effort into meeting people and when your traveling alone and you don't make the effort in Asia, your going to stay alone because its mot like Australia where you are in a Hostel set up for meeting people. Don't get me wrong, its good to be alone. I causes you to face your own thoughts and I have had the most in depth internal reflection that I ever had in my life, but everybody needs some social aspect. Its weird here though, because there seems to be a ton of solo travelers, but its difficult to build up courage to at a restaurant or cafe to simply ask "can I join you" and there are not many bars here. I guess I just need to set a goal to be more out going this week. I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous of the snow in Seattle right now sweating in the 90 degree heat of this Internet cafe. I think the heat is finally going to force me to cut the tangled mess of hair that I've let grow. Tomorrow taking 1.5 hour bus back to Kuta to do the second visa visit, then coming right back to Ubud. Will post soon. Memiliki minggu yang baik