Bittersweet day today. While we are looking forward to going home, we will also miss this place and the people here so much. It has been a wonderful 2 weeks full of adventures and friends new and old.  Such mixed emotions.

One thing is for certain, we will make this last day count.  We are up and out early again, to beat the people and the heat and the scooters on the Sari Organik walk.  And as before, the strategy works and we have a fabulous last walk.  The mountains are even out today – perfectly clear without a single cloud in the sky.  Obviously they have come out to say goodbye – which is a lovely Balinese gesture! 

We take our time, enjoying the views, watching the farmers working, the ducks working and the building that is going up at the back of the rice field toward the end of the path.  Is it locally owned?  Foreign? We’re betting on the latter.  It is monstrous and, well, just looks sort of foreign-ostentatious, you know?  At any rate, it is at least providing tons of jobs, there are always a whole bunch of people working on that house every time we’ve walked by – so there is that.

This morning our luck also holds out in that our painter friend, whose name is Tari Painter of all things (yeah, I’m thinking that’s the English name he gave himself to be remembered!) is there and open for business.  He greets us as he always does – so friendly and welcoming, exclaiming over our exercise regime!  We stay and talk for a while and look at his paintings, actually finding some small ones that will fit on our corner walls perfectly – which was exactly what we were looking for.  We don’t have a lot of wall space left for any artwork- just the narrow corners where the two pieces of our house meet (hard to explain).  So finding a slew of options here was just serendipitous.  There are enough choices we really can’t make up our mind.  And as this is middle of our walk, we tell him we will go to the end of the path and then come back and make our decision.  He will wait for us – of course!

So off we go to finish our walk, and by the time we make it back to him have decided to buy both of the 2 we really liked – one of Ganesha, god of wisdom and understanding, and one of Saraswati, goddess of art, knowledge and education.  They are beautiful and colorful and show off Tari’s talent beautifully.  He wraps them up with a board to protect them so we can get them home safely, then allows us to take his picture while he is painting his big huge traditional style goddess painting.  He is so kind and warm, and gives us a heartfelt goodbye and wish to see us again.  We love that about everyone here – how sweet and kind they all are.  And seem to be genuinely so.

Then it is back to the walk. With ducks. And ducks. And more ducks. They seem to be out everywhere today.  Working their field.  Or parading around.  Or just making noise out while playing in the water in the fields.  They are totally fun to watch!  Whatever they are doing.

We pass the totally bizarre and out of place Motor Taxi stand.  I mean really!  It is literally out in the middle of nowhere.  Who is going to use this place to wait for a taxi? And how exactly would they know to come here?  It is just crazy funny.

Today we have timed our walking and art buying right and Pomegranate is open and the coffee machine is still working.  Hurray!  We take our seats and order iced lattes and one last banana juice.  So refreshing and yummy.  We sip and enjoy, basking in the breeze (there always seems to be a nice breeze on the rice fields) and the beautiful view.

And then it is goodbye to the rice field walk as we head toward the narrowed walled end of the path, passing the piles of construction material at the end of the walk, where all the scooters come to load up and haul their loads to their building sites along the path and making our way out to Raya for the last time this trip. 

After a refreshing dip in the pool, we head out to lunch at Shrida, a white tablecloth restaurant (gasp!  I know!) at the end of Bisma that we pass by every time we do our Monkey Forest walk. It’s lunch so no white table cloths, but it is still a classy joint where they bring you a “healthy” juice drink and refreshing towel (whole real towel, not water created) to begin.  As well as sweet potato chips to snack on with our drinks.  And the chips are really good – who would have thought we’d like sweet potato anything?

Lunch is excellent as well – Soto Ayam soup, filled with chicken and noodles in an excellently spiced broth, then Gado Gado for Ed which is the upscale, gourmet version of Gado Gado.  Typically a sauteed vegetable dish served with peanut sauce, this version is served inside a cabbage roll, sliced just so, then plated with a drizzle of peanut sauce and little teeny slices of lime or tomato or tempeh to go on the top or the cut sides of the roll.  Elegant!  I ordered, of all things, a beet and orange salad.  I haven’t had any roughage in weeks and it is nearly killing me, and well, beets?  I never say no to beets.  This salad does not disappoint and rivals anything we would get at home.  Absolutely perfect.  And while definitely not cheap – as in how other restaurants are cheap – comparatively to the States, it is cheap as dirt for what they produce out of that kitchen!  Radically different than how we’ve been eating while we’ve been here (Hujan notwithstanding), this was a great treat for our last lunch here in Ubud.

The afternoon progresses as planned.  Dip in the pool.  Packing. Organizing.  Then a long last walk down to Monkey Forest road and back up to Raya.  Our afternoon drink today is at Miro’s because, well, just because!  The garden is so pretty, and while it takes forever to get those drinks (there is only one girl who has another table in the back and it is just slow today) we’ve nothing else to do and nowhere to go.  It’s Bali island time for us!  We’re good with that today!

Back at the villa, last dip in the pool and we actually found a blender and have 4 bananas left so we try our hand at making banana juice. (We bought the bananas from Ning earlier in the week, I can’t remember when, and I know I didn’t blog it – couldn’t believe we’ve been so dumb as to not look there for fruit!  She was so sweet, giving us a banana to sample then adding one back into the bag because we ate one off the bunch we bought, and also letting us sample these furry things we’ve seen all over that have amazing juicy balls of goodness inside – can’t remember the name now – but they were delicious!) We need to work on our technique, but it is still totally yummy!  And then it is off to dinner at Warung Ning, where there are a lot of people there!  We went early because we want to have an early night, and never expected this!  Both tables are taken, as well as the good seats looking over the rice fields.  Oh well.  We’ll just sit near the fan and the cement wall then.  Who cares – we’re here for the food.

The husband owner comes over to take our order, then sees the people with the rice field view have left so he tells us to move over there.  It’s a better view he says!  So sweet!  So, move we do, and it is a better view – looking out over the fields, and at all the banana trees! We wonder if this is where they get their bananas…..could be!  Our food is delivered – now this is traditional, no fuss food, right out of their own little communal kitchen!  Traditional Gado Gado – vegetables with peanut sauce on top (although this comes with rice – and I thought mama told me it didn’t – turns out I was supposed to ask for extra veggies no rice – but I didn’t find that out until after I was done and mama came over to chat!) and Mie Goreng for Ed.  Now that is a perfect last meal!

Next up, the perfect last drink at Hideout – where we are greeted like old friends, have a lovely talk with Citah, the sweet waitress I adore, chat with Pika and spend a nice time just soaking up the atmosphere and slowly sipping our last drinks out for the evening.

Telling everyone goodbye, we get hugs from Pika and friendly waves and shouts from the guys and Citah, as we walk down Bisma to our little soi and our last journey down those bloody stairs to the safety of our villa. 

What a fabulous time we have had here, full of memories and adventures and good times and good friends.  I won’t lie and tell you the heat hasn’t affected us – me more so than Ed.  I really felt like I was going to just collapse a few times.  But, all in all, it was manageable – we’ll never stay anywhere without a pool – a private one, that is – we aren’t sharing with anyone!  And the experiences outweigh any discomfort.  An excellent end to an excellent trip.