Ubud, Bali

First, the weirdest thing we've have seen or heard since arriving. As we came back from our rafting trip (more about that, later), walking along the garden path into our hotel we heard a haunting and eerie, moving and varying whistle sound coming from the sky; it sounded like wee, wee, wee, wee...  Looking up at first we couldn't tell what it was, then we say a small flock of a dozen or so pigeons or doves flying around and the sound seemed to be coming from them!  We watched and listened for awhile trying to figure out what it was.  It turns out the birds are someone's pets and they have whistles attached to them that make that sound as the fly. Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore

My birthday on Tuesday started out with of us moving to another hotel, this one certain to be our last for at least a week. It is a beautiful sunken garden with massive stone and brick Balinese traditional buildings with four rooms each. We got a second floor room that has all the expected hotel room features (finally!). After unloading our bags we both went to the pool and relaxed.  It is so hot, humid and windless during the mid day that walking around and window shopping becomes an uncomfortable, tiring, sweat drenching survival march. We save our walking around for the evening.  After relaxing for a while Lily got a massage and a body scrub for 70,000 Rp or less than $9 and I spent that time uploading the pictures one by one (this was the first place with decent internet so I took advantage of it.). Anyway, someone had to do it.
For my birthday dinner we went to a nearby Italian restaurant called "Black Beach" so named because the bar on the second floor has black sand from the north coast beaches for a floor. Whatever. I wanted some cake, but by the time we finished dinner it was after 10 and the place that earlier we had identified as a place to get cake was closing. We said it was my birthday and I just wanted a piece of cake so they let us order and even sang happy birthday to me.

Wednesday, Oct., 27 The raft trip: We signed us up for a rafting trip or should I say the hotel manager got us signed up for one as soon as we arrived before we even got to our room; we had seen the brochures and talked about going so we were an easy sell. Everyone is selling something or knows someone who is selling something here.
The trip starts with about a 200 foot zig-zag decent down to the river along the lush, wet, jungle canyon via a staircase carved into the wall with no railing or rope to hold on to in case you slipped on the wet rocks. That part of the trip almost wore out a couple of the other rafters.
Note about safety: no one here wants you to get hurt, but the thing about Bali and so far all of Indonesia and probably all less developed countries is that safety is your problem, not theirs. If something doesn't look safe, then don't do it or don't go there or don't eat it; that seems to be the policy. This is not Disneyland where things might look dangerous, but aren't; things can be dangerous, you won't see a warning sign and no one will caution you; you just have to be careful.
  Back to the raft trip (spoiler alert, no one gets hurt). We were issued one-size-fits-all helmets (no they don't) and life jackets and a paddle before the climb down. The rafts were the typical large river raft with seating for six and the guide. The river was moving rather fast, but not wide and with rapids and big rocks and drops all along the way. It was not possible to navigate the river without bashing into the rocks and the sides of the canyon, but the boats were pretty tough and the trip was wet, exciting, but not really dangerous. There were many spectacular and beautiful waterfalls pouring a hundred feet on to the river. One of the more unexpected and interesting things was was a long section of black rock cliff that was deeply carved depicting scenes from the Ramayana, the sacred Hindu religious text. This went on for a mile or so! Amazing! Check out the pictures on the photo site.
The rafting lasted about two hours and was well worth the $40, but then we all got to climb back up the steep canyon on carved steps again. I actually enjoy that kind of challenge and because the guides kept calling me "Papa" which is how they refer to older people so thanks to years of Marin mountain biking and YMCA swimming I was able to sprint up most of the way to the top and waited for everyone else to come puffing and wheezing up to meet me. Today my thighs are aching, I won't be doing that stunt for awhile.
The raft trip was pretty well planned as it also included showers and lunch and a chance to buy a video or pictures of the trip (of course).

Oct 28:
The hotel manager, Made (pronounced "Mawd-day") invited us to go to a wedding in the late afternoon for one of the people in the hotel staff! What an opportunity to see something really Balinese! He provided me with the appropriate outfit, a sarong, sash and hat. Lily had to buy a sarong and sash and cover blouse. The staff dressed us and then we all took off on the motor-scooters for a 30 minute ride through the countryside to the village where it was to take place. Lily and I became a source of amusement to most people who saw us judging by the looks; blonde foreigners dressed in traditional Balinese outfits and Lily riding side-saddle on the motor scooter. I was now used to it having had the mud riding experience in Kuta, Lombok
As it turned out the wedding occurred in the morning and we were actually going to the reception. Made didn't explain that; I guess he didn't know the word for "reception".   There were about twenty five people at the event and the bride and groom were still dressed in their wedding outfits. The bride was gorgeous and looked like a doll (see the pix) and they both looked very happy and graciously received the odd looking foreigners. It also turned out that we were expected, as guests to give money (equivalent of about $10 each) in an envelope as gifts to the groom.
After about an hour and a half in which we met someone that spoke English pretty well and got an interesting tour of the home compound and had a light Indonesian buffet we headed back before the sun set. All in all interesting, but a little disappointing as we were hoping to see a wedding. The motor scooter ride gave us our first chance too really see the rice paddy countryside and little villages as we zoomed by. We'll probably go on another ride tomorrow to check things out.