For our last day in Bali we decided that we'd like to see a little more of the countryside and according to the guide book, it's possible to drive around Bali in a day. We ended up renting a car and driver for 9hrs to take us around anywhere we wanted to go for only 400,000 Rupiahs which may sound like a lot but actually only works out to be about $40 US- super cheap when you compare that to prices in Canada. Our driver was great but you should have seen him. When he stood next to Susanne you couldn't help but chuckle. He was so short that he could hardly see over the wheel- he might have been 4'8" or 4'9"! Anyway, after consulting a map and deciding on a route we headed out around 10am.
Throughout our travels there has been no shortage of rice fields, nor rice on the menu. You can have it just about any way you can dream of: chicken friend rice, rice with vegetables, sticky rice, regular white rice, shrimp rice, pork rice, beef rice... you name, they'll make it for you! :) Rice is one of South East Asia's largest exports as I'm sure many of you already know. Everywhere you look there seems to be farmers knee deep in water planting and harvesting rice plants. The fields themselves are pretty neat- they at times appear to be endless patches of varying shades of green. Today's were extra special though- Bali is known for it's rice terraces- row upon row of rice fields that wind uphill, all at different stages of growth. You will see lush green rows mixed with yellowish-green rows and even some at the muddy water stage with tiny plants starting to sprout. It was quite picturesque, I have to say. It was also really neat to experience a bit of rural life in Bali as opposed to the bustling beach area we stayed in.
After the rice terraces we drove to the touristy town of Ubud. It is well known for its artistic small town style. Our driver dropped us off to do a little shopping at the road side shops where Susanne and I bought some neat glass bowls (hopefully they make it back to Canada in one piece). Shortly thereafter we got back into the car to head to our next stop but there was a slight problem- a parade had started in the middle of the one way street we had to drive through to get out of town! It was crazy- I can't even begin to tell you how many people were participating all dressed in traditional Baliense clothing. There was music, marching, umbrellas, dancing- at one point the street looked like a sea of white as a huge group of men walked so close together you would have been hard pressed to push through them, banging drums and chanting. Certainly an unexpected moment we won't forget! After slogging behind the parade for quite awhile we finally managed to take a short cut and head out of town for a popular market. We didn't buy much this time as we are almost "marketed-out" since they often have similar things. Susanne did however buy a big painting from this guy who started out at 800,000 Rp before eventually settling for 160,000 Rp ($100 to $20.... not bad bargining if I do say so myself!)
Finally it was time to go so we headed back out to the car to look for our driver but couldn't find him. We found the car and there was another guy sitting in front of it so we just walked over planning to wait for our guy to come back- we figured he'd just gone to grab a drink or use the bathroom or something. Next thing we knew, this other guy unlocked the doors, let us in and hopped in with us! We were a little baffled as you can imagine since this was not the driver that we had had all day. When we asked what happened to our driver he said that he was gone and we had him now- too funny! Okayyyy... but really, where is our driver?? :) Turns out this new guy works for the guy who had been driving us all day and he had to take off so the new guy came and switched him cars unbeknowst to us... worked out fine- no worries. He dropped us off at a little local spot for Indonesian food which was really awesome and cheap too- only $4 for a huge plate, fruit smoothie and package of Mentos! Then it was off to the airport where we will boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur and connecting to Guilin, China.
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