Reading Ubud

It happens occasionally. The blah day when there's nothing serious like BaliBelly but just a I-don't-feel-crash-hot day.

There's nothing for it but to take it easy and read. No swimming, no walking, no eating. Just reading. Reading about Ubud mostly.

And the first on the list was Balilicious, by Becky Wicks. English journalist but citizen of Asia, Becky spent her own six months in Ubud and documents her story with honesty, humour and insight. She tries all the things a 30-something, single traveller should, with the right amount of curiosity and questioning. I have learned a lot more about Ubud in the past day, and I thought I knew a bit. It's not difficult to stay in touch with your inner 30-something, and although Becky is ever-so-slightly disparaging about some older women, especially those at the Yoga Barn, those of us who have reached, ahem, maturity, understand that one day every young woman will be one of us. They just don't realise it, and nor did we. Becky has now moved on and continues to write about her travels in other parts of the globe. The list of charities at the end of her book has encouraged me to create similar links on the right hand side of this blog.

Thanks to Amazon's disregard for geography, at least in this part of the world, I have also downloaded Bali Daze, Cat Wheeler's observations. Ibu Cat has been an Ubud resident for more than a decade and is a highly regarded expat, so I am looking forward to reading her story next.

I will start adding charity links soon, so if you are heading this way and are looking for a cause to help, it will be a starting point.