Saturday 27 November 2010

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; Saturday 27 November 2010 בס"ד

Stood 0400 anchor watch with Astrid and taught her how to light the stove. Nothing of note, just that and a review of anchor watch protocol. Back to bed. Woke up at 0715, had breakfast, did 0800 domestics and then packed my bag for shore. Got to Bali Marina, and got together with 9 other people and piled into a taxi van that Nadja had arranged to go to Ubud, a “cultural” town more north. I was wedged in the very back with Nadja, Logan, and Michael Stevens. The ride was about an hour, and at the major intersections when we'd come to the light, we'd be swarmed with street peddlers trying to sell newspapers. They had papers from many countries, and could pull them out on demand. Yo got a Norwegian newspaper. When we got to Ubud, we all got out and went our separate ways. I walked up and down Monkey Forest Road (one of the main streets), and found a print shop to print out a picture I wanted. Then I found a small restaurant with free wifi and got lunch and went online. I tried calling the States on Skype but it was very early in the morning there and I only got one answer from a sleeper. Dapper came online, and he turned out to be in Ubud too, so I told him to meet up with me. When he did, we went and checked out the place. I got a small hotel room down one of the alleys for 110000rp for the night. Explored some more, went to a shisha lounge and had dinner and hookah. We were there a while, and when we were done we went on a search for somebody to draw for me, with no luck. The town was rapidly getting darker and quieter, but then we saw Logan, Katelinn, and Michael Stevens at a second-story restaurant/bar looking down on the street. We went up, hung out drinking a few rounds of brem arak (an acquired taste for sure), then I went back to my hotel at midnight and went to bed.