Ubud is a walker's village. We started early yesterday morning hoping to beat the humidity that builds as the day progresses. That is the time of the day when the locals are at their most industrious too. We saw this cement carver hard at work in one of the lane ways near Jalan Raya Ubud.
We were on our way to our favourite walk amongst the rice paddies on the ridge overlooking the Campuhan River to the West and Ubud village to the East.
Although there is a clearly defined path at the start, pretty soon it gives way to rough tracks formed by the rice workers making their way on the grassy ridges bordering the flooded rice paddies. After a night of heavy rain the tracks were very wet and muddy this morning. But the views were spectacular, as usual.
We walked for almost three hours - at least 3-4kilometres through the rice paddies, until we reached the next little village North of Ubud and then even longer back into Ubud following a roadway that took us back into the village from the North, where we've never explored before.
The little village, Mayan Ubud I think it was called, was a hive of activity. John had told us that it is a very auspicious time in Bali for conducting ceremonies at the moment. All the men and women of the village were dressed in ceremonial clothes. The women were happily (and noisily) working together in the village bangar (community hall) and the men were building a structure out of bamboo scaffolding and woven matting on a grassy clearing in the centre of the village. It was all very purposeful. The women enjoyed having their photo taken but I really wished I could talk to them about what they were doing.
This was our best Ubud walking adventure yet but we felt we deserved our long lunch (seafood platter at Bimbu Bali) afterwards.
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