Day #118 - Stepping Out in the Morning

We decided to shake our morning routine up a bit today. We had both woken about half six and dozed for a bit and when we got up we saw that it was a beautiful morning - and so decided to go for a walk before breakfast.

We took the path that leads down to Ubud but headed in the opposite direction. This took us further into the rice fields and the number of little businesses along the side of the path grew fewer. 

As you would expect in a hot country, many people were already hard at work, trying to get the bulk of the work done before the hot sun appeared. This meant that the path was busy with scooters whizzing past, often ladened with goods or materials. One guy passed us with two wheelbarrows balanced on the back of his scooter!

It was also cute to see all the ducks congregating together in the rice fields. The ducks help to keep pond weed down in the water and also enjoy the fallen grains, help to control pests, all while fertilizing the soil for a happy harvest.

We knew the path loops back down towards town, the question was, how much further was it to be? At one point the paving of the path ran out and we were following a dirt track. 

Before long, the paving returned and we walked through a cluster of properties, some that were hotels or hostels, others workshops. Then the path ended and opened out onto a main road. 

We followed this road down the hill back to the main central road in Ubud. By now the morning sun was at full strength and it was getting hot. We passed a school that was in full session (they start early to avoid the heat too) and also a college which had a car park crammed with scooters. How anyone could find theirs, let alone maneuver it out, we couldn't figure out!

Views along the path and then into Ubud

The road through Ubud was familiar and we walked through the centre of town to the other end so that we could pick up the other end of the path and head back to our hotel. 

All in all, we walked for just under two hours and covered 8km in 11,000 steps. So we felt quite virtuous as we sat down to breakfast. 

Later after a cool dip in the pool, we rested and chilled in one of the day beds and enjoyed a lovely, refreshing minty drink.

The rest of the day was spent in lazy eating, drinking and conversation. It was our Scottish friends' last day and so we bid farewell to Janice and Ann as they headed off but not before sharing more stories, tips and laughs.