Bali 2013 - Day 13

Today at breakfast we checked our list of things to do and buy while we're here.  We had already marked off the Denpasar fabric district because time and money are tight, and we already have bins and bins of fabric.  We've been able to accomplish most of the things on our list, but there is still some shopping to do so we're heading back to the market.

We enjoyed a relatively lazy morning, allowing it to stretch into the early afternoon, so we decided to get transport instead of walking.  We paid 50,000 for a ride to the market.  This price is up from the 10,000 to 20,000 we used to pay because gas prices have gone up so much and the traffic is so bad.  During the day, you can often walk faster than drive through Ubud!  Anyway, we ventured into the market yet again, this time heading to the upper rear corner where we haven't been on this trip.  Prices back here started as high or higher than prices out front, but came down quickly with a bit of bargaining.  I'm not afraid to walk away if I can't get where I want to be on price, but I really didn't have to walk away from much.  Most purchases I really wanted I was able to get my price on.  The sad thing was that here we were making purchases after 3:00 in the afternoon and it was the first sale of the day for most of the vendors.  It was getting late, so we finished shopping, ending up with a few more shop items, some gifts and a new hammock for Jake.

I bargained for transport home and was able to get a ride for 30,000 from a driver outside the museum.  When we got home, we all showered and got dressed for our special dinner at the home of Made and Kadek.  We spend a fair amount of time with the family, but it usually is in the car or at the bungalows, so visiting and eating at the village house is a treat and an honor.  They went all out for dinner.  We had pig, sausage, lawar, cassava leaf, rice, watermelon, brem, beer, soda and water.  I ate too much, but it was delicious.  Kadek had some beer with me, and explained that after eating pig, you needed the beer to help your stomach.  Well, I don't think I've ever had a problem with eating pig, but I'll have the beer!

After dinner, Made drove us to Bintang for breakfast food for tomorrow, as well as snacks and more supplies to take home, then dropped us off to go home.  Since we got home so late, I turned off all the lights at the bungalow and had everyone step out into the yard and look up.  We can see stars at home, but not like we can see standing in the middle of dark rice fields in Bali.  

So on our last night in Bali, after a wonderful meal in the company of friends, we stood in the dark looking at stars, listening to the gamelan playing in the village and some creature saying "woop" in the rice field.  The temperature was perfect, and our time was too short, but we still have one more day.