Oh, the inevitable stroll through Ubud occurred, where every other second, one of us exclaimed, “This is SO different!”<\/p>\n
For starters, the two main roads turned into thirty.\u00a0 Jalan Bisma, the dirt road that leads to Happy II that we were suprised to find on our last trip to Bali is now a paved main road (I have not found Happy II yet).\u00a0 The stalls of Bali handicrafts have turned into glass-front boutique stores.\u00a0 There are now at least a dozen restaurants that serve pizza and several dozen coffee shops.\u00a0 There are three gelato shops within a block from each other.\u00a0 The prices have at least quadrupled.\u00a0 Every Balinese man, woman, child over ten owns a motorbike (or so it seems).\u00a0 Every inch of space is occupied by a shop, a restaurant or a guest house.\u00a0 There is not a rice field to be seen.<\/p>\n
There is a friggin’ STARBUCKS!<\/p>\n
I know that change is inevitable.\u00a0 But I still like to whine a little.\u00a0 I remember taking Megan back to my childhood home in upstate NY, which had been surrounded by cornfields and apple orchards – all gone and replaced by McMansion developments.\u00a0 I couldn’t stop obsessing and grumbling about it, while Megan sighed, “Yes, I know.\u00a0 There used to be a corn field here.”<\/p>\n
That said, as I sip on my Starbucks iced coffee \ud83d\ude09 …<\/p>\n
We have had some excellent dining experiences in Ubud.\u00a0 Both Megan and I have stuck to the fabulous Indonesian cuisine, despite the nice international options.\u00a0 I think Kai appreciates the fact that many restaurants here now have a kid menu that usually includes some form of french fries or noodles (I may have ruined chances of getting her to try the local cuisine when I gave her a taste of my satay without tasting it myself and it was insanely spicy.\u00a0 Whoops.\u00a0 “Mama, stop this fire in my mouth!”) \u00a0 I, personally, can’t get my fill of satay, which, might not sound all that exciting (chicken, pork, or beef on grilled on wooden skewers, served with a thick peanut sauce, white rice, and usually some sliced cucumber or garnish)\u00a0 but however it’s made here, well, it melts in your mouth.\u00a0 Tomorrow Agung is getting us some babi guling<\/em>, or suckling pig for dinner.\u00a0 I can’t wait.<\/p>\n So, Ubud is different.\u00a0 To me, the charm has diminished quite a bit.\u00a0 The ease of perusing art and crafts down the street is gone.\u00a0 It’s a bit overwhelming, figuring out where to eat or shop .\u00a0 This is not my final report.\u00a0 Check back with me in three weeks.<\/p>\n Satay dinner 75,000 rupiah<\/p>\n Starbucks tall iced-coffee 24,000 rupiah<\/p>\n To be able to take Ubud in, in small doses at a time, and then retreat to our bungalow in the ricefield……. priceless.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Oh, the inevitable stroll through Ubud occurred, where every other second, one of us exclaimed, “This is SO different!” For starters, the two main roads turned into thirty.\u00a0 Jalan Bisma, the dirt road that leads to Happy II that we … Continue reading