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I'm still fretting and faffing. When will I relax? I'm driving myself crazy with worry that I'm out of my depth over here, not planning my travelling well enough or watching my budget closely enough....

Anyway, I jumped on the shuttle bus upto Ubud to escape the mad-touristyness of Kuta and am settled in a nice-ish hostel (losman), "Brata 2". Quite why I've been given a double bed and a single I don't know, but for 3pounds per night I shouldn't complain.

Gamalan-alam-a-ding-dong

Ricklivesey
2006-08-31 11:07:20

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/>Pura Taman

and climb either Gunung Batur (1717m) or Gunung Agung (3143m), the latter being Bali's largest volcano and sounding the most challenging and fun however I'm being held back because I haven't got an International Driving Permit and although I could hire a bike without it, if stopped by the police they'd be a steep fine or necessary bribe on the cards, so I dont think I'll risk it. Tomorrow I'm going to get a lift to Denpasar and sit a test in order to get a Tourist Bike Licence for Indonesia, however since I dont even have a UK bike licence and know nothing about bikes let alone how to ride one I'm not sure how it's all going to work, but still, I'll give it a go...wish me luck!

28th July

Licence Aquired and there was no test! yipppeeee! Although the price has jumped to 350,000, which the local waitress says is more than her salary! So tomorrow I'll do the two temples and then the day after try and get transport from Ubud to either Selat and Duda (to climb G.Agung) or Toya Bungkah (to climb G.Batur). The latter is probably the easiest to begin with, since I can get a connection from Ubud to the Kintamani region (12,000rupiah, 2.5hours)

8:49pm
I've been lying in bed thinking about an early night but decided there was no way I could sleep through all the music echoing across the town.

It's a good 12 years since I last played in a Gamalan musical group, (ok, so it was only an afternoon field trip for GCSE music, and I haven't really reached maestro status...), but I figured I could quickly pickup the gongs, drums and nipply-pans that they play so got dressed and went to investigate.

I found the group at the local temple playing their soft, lulling tunes and although one of the bystanders said I couldn't go in without sarong and headscarf, I stood by the split gates enchanted by the gilt costumes, rhythmic drumming and children playing chase around the Hundu Gods' offerings. Magical. The apple strudle I bought from the old toothless woman outside wasn't bad either.