All Templed Out

Yesterday I decided to log some serious mileage and headed out to the city once more, fortified by a lovely breakfast at the homestay. I'm pretty sure I've been lucky up to this point, it can't be that all homestays in Indonesia have such fantastic breakfasts. Anyways, I headed out past all the shops and restaurants and spas towards downtown where the Ubud Palace is located. The entrance is free, though some parts are blocked off, and as expected it was packed with tourists. Despite the looks, this temple is not that old, having been built in the early 19th century, and as the clouds rolled in for a quick 15 minute shower, I took a spot under one of the awnings and read a book.

After meandering the streets for a bit I decided to skip the many, many, many offers for a taxi and walk a few miles outside of town to see what I thought was the Mother Temple...but ended up being the Chapel of Mother Goddess, and even that I walked right past, mistaking it for just another neighborhood temple or a house. The walk though was lovely and took me past a chicken seller loading up his truck, a rather interesting home with an old VW van of questionable function, and scores of lovely water filled rice fields. 

Hello ladies! Going my way?

They let the ducks into the water after the main rice harvest is pulled in to eat up whatever is left. They call them the rice vacuums. 

Statue in front of the Chapel, which without this looked like most of the other temples in town. 

The Balinese style is definitely distinctive and beautiful, but at this point I'm having a hard time telling where the temples end and where the regular homes begin. I passed by this one thinking it was a place of some importance, but it turned out to be just a really nice home...with a four car garage on the side. 

Being all temple'd out today I decided to take advantage of one of the other Balinese specialties: the spa. I found a nice looking one in town, opted for one of their package deals, and spent the next several hours getting rubbed, scrubbed, and pampered for the low low price of $17, including tip. A girl can get used to this!