More About Ubud, Bali

I was going through photos and thought it was worth posting a bit more about my Bali trip...maybe even one more posts after this.

 We relied on our driver, I Wayan, for more than just chauffeuring us around...he cooked dinner for us one night! He had some help from one of the villa's staff, A Wayan.

Stir-fried veggies...yum!

Rice and stir-fried chicken in a mildly spicy brown sauce.

The next day we had a driving tour of some areas near Ubud. I was so thankful to be riding in an air conditioned car. We started out hitting "tourist" stops...huge shops that sold silver jewelry, batik clothing and artwork. We let I Wayan know these were not the kinds of places we were interested in seeing...but when we asked to do some batik and silver shopping...these were the places he thought we were talking about.  After those disappointing stops we headed to an old Buddhist temple...boy was it hot walking around that place!

These laddies were the first part of this temple that was discovered. I guess the forest/jungle had reclaimed it at one time.

 This was a small cave/room in the side of hill.

We headed down the mountainside...

Then we could see parts of a huge rock sculpture...

Since this was a temple it is considered sacred ground and we were required to wear "sarong," covers over our bare legs. At the temple entrance we were given these lovely...but horribly hot...squares of fabric to cover our bare legs.

Apparently this stone temple had fractured from the side of mountain over a thousand years ago. I felt a bit like Indian Jones.

For lunch we headed farther  up the mountains where it was very lush with vegetation.

In the middle of nowhere was this funky, outdoor restaurant.

I went for the traditional dish of fried rice with an egg, veggies and shrimp toast.

Here is a fried, half chicken with lots of hot condiments! The green cone is steamed rice wrapped in a banana leaf. 

Then it was back down the mountain and a view of terraced rice fields.

Our stay in Ubud was my favorite part of our trip...and there is more to share about it and two other places we stayed in Bali.