Bali, I think I love You

Yes, it's raining - in the "Dry Season". It's still hot but there are many newspaper articles saying that because of climate change there may not be a definitive difference in the dry and the wet seasons anymore.

In fact, it just about rained every evening whilst we were there. Sometimes it was most welcome but it did cause a couple of blisters on feet because of slipping sandals!

I have never experienced an island where a third of the population ride motorbikes - in thongs, high heels, no helmets, sitting sidesaddle with three kids and mum and dad. The young pillion riders are all busy texting their mobiles and I even saw one guy smoking a cigarette whilst steering himself in and out of the traffic. There is beeping all the time but it's not road rage, it's a courtesy. They're telling you that they are coming alongside to overtake - even though they may well be on your inside lane - and usually are. One way of describing it is organised chaos. I never saw an accident and everyone seemed to get to where they wanted to be. At the beginning of the holiday I was nervous about crossing the road but by the end I seemed to have worked it all out.

The pavements are atrocious, bumpy and rough with holes (large ones) everywhere. The step up to them is usually quite high and there's only room for two so there can be quite a lot of side-stepping. But that's okay, we're all operating on Bali time now. We'll get there eventually.

We didn't stay in the town of Ubud, we stayed at Bentuyung where Julia Roberts filmed the Bali section of the movie "Eat, pray love". This area is still quite rural and there are rice paddies everywhere. In fact, we had to walk the last five minutes to the villa as the lane way was only large enough for two walking people - or a motorbike. Hence, the villa was private and quiet. Just us, the swimming pool, the lovely host family and gorgeous views.

Anyway, I'm off to an election night party with my Balinese food we made. I'll talk more about the cooking class that we did later.....

Go the Greens.......

J