Location: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

First things first! Rabies shots!

Max scooted off to the clinic up the road to get his second shot, and met back up with me afterwards. We ventured up the street to a wildly popular art market in an old section of the city that both of us wanted to see. At first when we rounded the corner we saw this quaint little square of stalls with colourful umbrellas overhead. There were wood carvings of all kinds, brass figurines, spices, paintings and a massive selection of clothes.

Then we saw the stairs.

They led up to what was clearly an extension of this cutesy little market but it turns out it was a giant maze up there. I swear it felt like we stepped through a portal into another world. Confusing halls that twisted and turned every which way led through an extremely old apartment block that had many of its walls knocked out to make this all possible. In every single inch there was stuff for sale that we sifted through. The paint was peeling, and often walls or even floors were just plywood boards. Stone steps (that reminded me of Chernobyl) led further down into a courtyard and basement where spice and food stalls had been set up. Unfortunately there was an overwhelming smell every few meters as we passed by open sewers or huge compost piles. Despite this it all felt magical and totally run down at the same time. I had a picture of a chase scene in an action movie happening here the whole time we were walking around.

When we returned out into the daylight it had started to rain. Once again this wasn’t a tiny bit of rain – this was the ‘drench you in ten seconds’ kind of rain that we experienced when we first got here. I’m gonna have to come up with a name for that kind of rain since I have a feeling we will be experiencing it a lot in the coming months! We still had other things to do in the neighbourhood, so we shacked up at a restaurant nearby and ordered a pitcher of iced tea to wait out the downpour. The roads flooded and it lasted quite awhile, but suddenly the clouds parted and we hopped up at the break.

Across the street was Ubud Palace, a complex of Balinese halls, stages and gardens that was the residence of the last king of Ubud. Only the front section is open to the public but it was so well preserved that Max and I had a hard time believing it was over 200 years old! Red brick structures topped with black stone carvings of dieties or intricate designs dominated the courtyard that was full of statues of creatures and gods. two red cushioned thrones sat on a stage to the side of the yard.

It started to rain again just as we were ready to leave, but it didn’t seem too bad. A little rain never hurt anybody right? Turns out it was another storm like the morning with thunder and lightning and water we walked through well past our ankles on the road! I have never walked so far in such intense rain before and we were both laughing and one hundred percent soaked. Imagine walking two kilometres while also having a shower. So. much. water.

The rest of the evening was spent eating our last Balinese dinner down the street, watching shows and packing up for our departure tomorrow. Goodbye Bali!

Sav