Bali - Day 6

I know I skipped over day 5 but day 5 was fairly uneventful. We spent most of the day relaxing at various cafe’s/restaurants and got ourselves some new haircuts.

Day 6 we took off to Ubud. After struggling to order an uber for around half an hour, our ride arrived and as soon as he found out we were going to Ubud, he dropped us right back at our hotel. He said it was just too dangerous for him to go to Ubud, that the taxi mafia would beat him up if they found out he was an uber driver. So we were left with no choice but to take a local cab. We negotiated a price before getting into the car, but the moment we got in and started moving, the driver asked for more, which we thought was quite ridiculous.

Anyway, we were staying at an AirBnB with the Egyptian crowd coming in. It took around an hour and a half to get there. We had to call the owner several times to find the place and in the end, a guy came out in a scooter to greet us. And this is where the adventure began. Turns out the house was in the middle of the rice fields and wasn’t really accessible by car, only on foot or a scooter. We walked around 15 minutes to get there. The place itself was really nice and really clean, with a small sized pool. In normal situations, it would’ve been just fine. These were, however, not normal situations. I went into panic mode. The idea of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a toddler, who couldn’t even get into the pool was in no way appealing. Renting a scooter and riding on it with L was just out of the question. Neither Hussein nor I have any experience driving scooters and we weren’t about to learn now. So we did the only thing we could do. We booked a hotel in the city and left. L did actually get her wish of riding a scooter, the guy at the house drove us to the main road where the taxi was waiting, not ideal, but it was a short distance and so it was alright.

The city of Ubud itself is really nice. It has a very laid-back vibe to it, with lots of restaurants and stores lining up the narrow streets. The hotel we’re staying at is really beautiful, with two storey bungalows surrounded by greenery all around. I’m being eaten alive by the bugs as I write, but that’s mainly my fault for sitting outside.

Even though it’s a shame we won’t all be staying together, I think based on the current circumstances, it really was the right decision.

After we checked in and got settled and grabbed a bite to eat, we called the local clinic to get L’s ear checked as well as the new rash I’d developed. They sent us an ambulance car to pick us up, which was quite interesting. Never been in one before and L was exceptionally interested in the bed. We waited around for two hours and unfortunately, L still can’t go swimming. Oh well.

We went out for dinner at a cozy local place, where the first two of the Egyptians joined us, Mariam and Meda. Dinner was really good, finally decent portions, and around 11 went home and called it a night.