Ubud

Day 51

Our private hire taxi arrived at 0800 to take us on a tour of a few places we had been wanting to see.  First up was  Celuk , a area known for silver  and gold making. Obviously this was Claires idea to visit here.  It was not long before she purchased a charm, although it was quite cheap.

Then we were off to Ubud, allegedly the spiritual home of Bali.  It was not quite what I was expecting.  Firstly it was full of tourist shops and hotels, not exactly the quiet village I was expecting. 

 Down one of the streets they were building a cask for cremation.  Nothing exciting there, however this thing was 5 storeys high!  It took about 70 men to lift it into position.  

The main task however was putting the top on. Guys were stood seriously high up, balancing on thin bits of wood. Health and safety in the UK would have had a field day.  It was amazing to watch, as the whole thing fitted together perfectly. Tomorrow the body would be put inside the huge structure and the whole thing would be set on fire  Unfortunately we would not be around to see that.

We then visited the stepped rice fields.  This place is a tourist attraction just because of the beauty of the landscape. It was well worth a visit just to get a pic

On route to our next stop, the Mt Batur Volcano we were stopped by the police.  They charged our driver 10,000 rupee.  When I asked what it was for he said it was police coffee tax.  This is essentially police extortion.  If you dont pay it they will find a way of prosecuting the driver. They were basically stopping all vehicles with tourists and pocketing the cash.  What a con!

The volcano its self was okay not that impressive, a fairly nice picture.  However we were getting hassled to death by lucky lucky sellers so we moved on.

On getting back to the hotel we a brief discussion about how much we should pay.  Essentially to hire a cab for 10 hours cost £30 (not much). We had only used it  for 5 hours so wanted a cheaper price.  Eventually after speaking to the guys boss on the phone we got it for £5 cheaper.  He basically said we had  been driven long distances bla bla!  It served us right fir not getting a set price before we left.

In the evening had another fab meal, possibly the best yet.  A Indonesian mixed food dish, delicious.