Update from Ubud

Today was another wonderful day,hot and sunny, not so humid (thank heavens!) We spent most of the day touring the town, walking forever in the heat. One can only hope that some of the pounds will be lost in the effort! Interesting to note that so many of the tourists that are here are Japanese. Many of the Balinese that we know from past visits have learned to speak Japanese to sell their wares. Even the women in the marketplace seem to be able to communicate on at least a basic level. Wow! You certainly can’t say that they are not doing everything they can to earn a living!

This morning after breakfast on the deck, about 8am, we noticed 5 women come to work in the rice field beside our room. It was harvest time and we watched with interest as they set about cutting the rice stalks and setting up a huge old drum to beat it on. We took some video and photos and were amazed at how hard they worked! The next time that I eat rice, I will do so with a new respect for the effort it takes to bring it to my table! At 5pm, when we returned from our day of exploring, Most of the field was done and they were still hard at it for almost 2 more hours. It took two of them to lift each of the many sacks that they had filled. Again we watched and filmed as they beat the rice out of the stalks, then sorted the chaff, then sifted the rice before putting it into bags. We have noticed many times that it is the women who work the hardest here in Bali. Jim thinks that I should take better note of the local custom. He seems to think that there is something to learn from it! We watch women carry cement, work in construction, run most of the shops, harvest and do most all of the jobs around. The men seem to appear for brief times to check on the progress, or supervise. Ummmmm??
We will hire a driver in a couple of days to take us to the beaches in the south of the island. Want to explore some of the areas south of Kuta that we have not been to before. . Tomorrow will be a lazy day I think. Book time! Only have one left so better start looking for a book exchange.
By the way, if you notice typos in these updates, kindly ignore. Often typing so fast that I cannot get it all right as these connections have a habit of disappearing and I donÂ’t want to lose what I have already done.
Take care all
xxx