But approaching the rice fields this way it seemed like no time at all before we got to the turn off to the Sweet Orange Cafe which would have taken us in a loop straight back to Jl Raya Ubud. So we chose to stay walking northwards from here, along a narrow foot track that got increasingly rough and closer to the steep sided gully that feeds the ancient (subak) irrigation channels coursing through all the rice fields.
At this point the track became a narrow ledge beside the irrigation channel. In some parts it was quite daunting as the gully beside it got really steep, and all we had to walk on was the narrow concrete ledge of the irrigation channel itself.
At this point we found a small handmade bridge over the channel and with a steep climb up the side of the gully we were back on the main rice paddy track we were more familiar with. This more familiar well made track (Jalan Subak Sok Wayah) starts from much further down Jalan Raya Ubud, a bit past Jalan Bisma, and in its early stages winds its way past Sari Organik and Café Pomegranate. Of course we'd missed all this because we'd started the track at the Kajeng rice field end.
This was a very rough climb for a pair of septuagenarians.
From this point on the more familiar, beautiful rice field vistas opened up and the walking became easy (apart from avoiding the regular local traffic of farmers on their scooters) ........
Duck is a regular feature on the menus of Ubud restaurants - and they obviously get very plump clearing all the snails and insects of these rice fields!
We walked until the track ended at Pengkolan Warung where Jl Kelabang Moding meets Jl Suweta - a total distance of over 4 klms from the start of the walk.
We chose to walk the 4 klms back to Ubud along Jl Suweta which was pretty quiet at this end but which quickly became a bit too heavily trafficked for us to find very relaxing. This part of outer Ubud used to be quite rural, but now the road is lined with luxury hotels and construction sites - in amongst the traditional family compounds. We met this lady along the way who gave us a very friendly greeting and asked us to take a photo after our little conversation (but no words involved!) about the ceremony she was preparing for.
For old times sake we stopped for a cool drink at Wapa di Ume, one of Ubud’s older luxury hotels, now getting crowded out by the newer, larger resorts springing up along this road, only 5 minutes drive out of central Ubud.
We were very hot and in need of a refreshing drink by now and it seemed to take AGES for our fresh coconut juice to be delivered - but when they arrived we could understand why it had taken a while, given all the detailed handwork on the shell!
Back in central Ubud - crowded as ever - and approaching 1.00pm we decided it was time for lunch, at an old fave Casa Luna on Jl Raya Ubud - as beautiful as ever.
We enjoyed a (well deserved) lazy afternoon then back in the pool at Cendana .....
We had the thrill last night of catching up with our dear friend Haruko, over dinner at Cafe Wayan which is only a few minutes walk from her hotel (which just happens to be next door to our old stomping ground at Sri Bungalows (now named Sri Aksana). We had a lot to talk about after four years absence but we'll have plenty more to share too before Haruko leaves on Sunday evening, back to Jakarta where she works for the Japan Foundation. We have some lovely things planned to do together today.
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