Ubud is full of seekers — those trying to recreate the experience of the author of Eat, Pray, Love, although that very novel and movie of the same name led to a flood of tourism that would make such an undertaking impossible; and an equally large contingency of vacationers seeking to max out their Zen and their credit cards. As Alexandra puts it, Ubud is a shopper's, spiritual paradise.
Still, the overabundance of visitors and upscale shops can't diminish Ubud's charm. On the contrary, in some sort of surreal way, it seems to intensify the charm.
On our way to Ubud,
we stopped at a coffee plantation, where we sampled several varieties, including Kopi Luwak, one of the most expensive coffees in the world. There's a reason why it sells up to $600 a pound in some areas.
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| Image from Wikimedia Commons free media repository |
A small animal called an Asian palm civet eats the coffee cherries but they're normally only partially digested. The beans are then collected from, as our guide put it, the animal's "poop." The digestive process supposedly leads to a more flavorful brew, but we couldn't tell much of a difference between the "poop" coffee and regular.
During our tour, the guide assured me the civets run free, but animal rights groups say some plantation owners, in an effort to keep up with the rising demand for Kopi coffee, capture the animals, cage them, and force-feed the civets a diet of coffee cherries, so it's buyer beware.
Hinduism permeates Ubud's architecture and
the daily lives of the Balinese.
Here, we came across a procession ...
... whose purpose was to gather holy water for sacred rituals.
Central Ubud can be a bit crazy, so we decided to stay in a villa several miles outside of Ubud, adjacent to a rice field.
I'm still a backpacker at heart, but I could get used to a few luxuries occasionally
and a few decorations on the walls of my indoor/outdoor bathroom.
Although I'm not a shopper, I did enjoy a visit to the John Hardy jewelry production facility. Alexandra tells me the brand is recognized worldwide. The company has made a commitment to eco-friendly practices, such as constructing their showroom from bamboo, and
the company is known for ethical business habits and paying just wages, which isn't always the norm in this part of the world.
We went to the facility, as part of a mission for Alexandra's mom. The tour gave me a much greater appreciation of the amount of work that goes into creating handmade jewelry.
On the following day, I also gained a greater appreciation of something far more serious — the dangers of interacting with wild animals.
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