Hindu Garden of Eden

Bali is famous for its beaches and surf, but I think its real treasure is a small bohemian town away from the coasts called Ubud.

I'd spent a few days on the beaches - mainly just reading, writing, and watching the big surf. My trip is nearing its end, and so my original ambitious plans for traveling all over Indonesia slid aside and I just relaxed.

Then I headed inland toward Ubud. The first thing I noticed was the smell - it smelled like a yoga studio. When I walked around I saw why, every house and store places offerings at its doorstep, which are small baskets with flowers, a dab of food, and burning incense.

Ubud is an artists' town and is full of galleries and shops with Hindu woodworkings, batiks, hand-made jewelry, masks and statues. There are lavish gardens all over, and fresh flowers on every table. I stayed at a guesthouse which brought a breakfast of fresh fruit and tea to my room in the morning.

I didn't do a whole lot other than wander around, shop and eat, which was all peaceful and relatively event-free until I got lost in the rice paddies. I followed the "Rice Paddies Walk" shown on the map courteously provided by Ubud's tourist office. It looked simple, but the trail got smaller and smaller, and I knew I was off the path when I saw a large naked bottom emerging from a stream. Oops. I was definitely not on the tourist path. Fortunately a painter who had set up camp in the middle of nowhere guided me back toward civilization... along a path which included a run-in with a cow and getting stuck in the mud. I passed a few farmers, who were staring amused at whatever the Indonesian word is for gringa.