Ubud, Bali

I'm writing from Ubud, Bali, which is in the center of the island and slightly southeast. It's hard to believe I've been here almost three weeks now, although Lisa (my old college roommate) and her husband Alec just left yesterday for Vietnam...

I met with the town's medicine man today: his name is Ketut Liyer and he claims I'll live to be 102 years old (although he said 101 earlier in the conversation, so maybe he likes me and decided to throw me an extra year). A woman just wrote a book about him called Eat Pray Love. It's not actually about him but he's a major character. Now he' s telling me that if I write a book to make sure he's in it. Obviously, he's been getting a lot of business... If any of you write a book, I'm sure he'd also like to be in it, also.

Ubud is a really unique town, not on the water, but built around Hindu temples and rice patties. Every family has their own temple, and most of them have been converted into guesthouses or restaurants, or guesthouse/restaurants. Indonesia is still in its rainy season though, so Ubud, not the coastal towns, is the place to be. I was on Nusa Lambangon for New Years, an island off the southeast coast, and we luckily had perfect weather until 11:59 on New Year's Eve when a tropical storm hit. Although we made the best of this also, as the restaurant owner herded us into the kitchen and brought out his finest champagne.

I am leaving Indonesia in a few days, and will be really sad to go. It's an absolutely beautiful island (except for Kuta, which is overrun with tourists and gross) with palm trees and lush foliage and geckos and stray chickens and dogs, very tropical. Plus, the people are so friendly. The three of us rented a car for a few weeks (which was umm... just $5 per day) and locals would knock on our windows at stoplights to ask where we were going, and where we were from. They weren't trying to sell anything, they were just friendly and curious. I rented a bicycle a few days ago to ride through town, and everyone (old men and women, kids and babies) shouted out hello, and a few people tried to give me high fives. quite the greeting! I sorta felt famous.

The other funny thing about Bali is that every local thinks Lisa and I are identical twins. We're about the same height and both blond, but people here really get confused...