Ubud, Rice Terraces

We got back rather late from Sky Garden this morning but we had pre-packed our bags so we were ready to leave. Went down for breakfast at 9.00 and booked the eleven o'clock bus to go to Ubud. Had our rather strange breakfast which looked like a strange bagel toasted. At eleven a man came to tell us that the bus wasn't working so we had to take the bus at 1 instead. So we took our big bags and left them in his office. We then found a cafe to wait in until the bus was ready to go. Going to leave as the music was awful but they actually changed it for us! We went to the office at 1 and sat with 2 local men that kept asking annoying questions. We were so tired and couldn't be bothered with them a tall! Finally the bus came and we squeezed into the back as there was a surfing board blocking the third seat. We drove to an extremely smart hotel to drop the man off with the surf board....phew. The drivers ring tone went off and we couldn't stop laughing as the ring tone was a creepy laugh that got louder and louder. Picked up another 3 people before setting off. Took such a long drive through all the narrow streets. The 2 dutch people on the bus were so nice and we all chatted the whole way there. When we eventually arrived, the 4 of us lugged our bags around to find a cheap hostel. We found a really sweet one that wasn't too expensive and you had your entrance from outside. All of us including Ingrid and Eric went to find something to eat. We went to Laba Laba and got some Indonesian dishes. The 2 of them are a couple but are so sweet as they don't act like one in front of us. So we had a fun late lunch with them. The 3 of us girls went to book tickets for a traditional dancing show for later that evening. Morag and I then decided that we should leave for the Gili Islands the next day at 6.30. So we found a taxi man and got a good price so he would take us to the rice terraces. The drive was pretty crazy as the roads go up and down constantly. He told us the roads are dangerous as they have such big drops at the side of some of them. It was amazing how perfect the rice terraces were. We got a quick picture of the terraces before asking the driver to take us to the temple. It turned out to be a different temple from the one I meant. It was fun though because when we entered two men tied a longyi/sarong around us. They made it stay on with a big golden bit of cloth. We had no idea of what to except inside. We came across two holy springs with people washing themselves with the water that came out the fountains. It looked really cool. It was dark when we headed back to go and watch the local dancing. We couldn't see our 2 dutch friends there as we were slightly late. It wasn't very busy and we understood afterwards as to why. All the costumes were cool but the show as a whole was just bizarre. They had lots of men at the side tapping away at their instruments. We met the 2 dutch people afterwards and went to eat supper together. Had yummy duck spring rolls. Walked back in the rain. However.....when we got back to our room we had a bigger surprise. The tap that wasn't working was without a doubt working! Our whole room was flooded. Morags bag was soaked. We couldn't stop the water as it was squirting out the tap like a waterfall! The 2 dutch people found it very funny. A man running the place luckily came to help. Rung all of Morags clothes out outside. Packed my bag as we are up nice and early tomorrow as we are heading to the Gili Islands! EXCITED!