Transporrrt?

It hasn't rained for a few days. Everyone was commenting on the length of this year's rainy season, predicting that it would go on until the end of June. For most of our time here we have had some rain every day. Never for long, not always torrential, and usually predictable. Mornings have started fine and sunny but by about noon banks of clouds started to gather with the downpour at about 2pm. Then, it's all over quickly, with the resultant humidity and running drains the only evidence.

But not lately, so maybe we are moving into a drier, cooler spell. At night now we even need a cover, which seems a bit odd in the tropics. June, July and August are the tourist months, because of the marginally cooler days, lack of rain and the northern hemisphere summer. The transport drivers can't wait. Each vehicle we take anywhere has a tale of woe, and we are always the 'only customers' for that day, no matter what the time. The tourists will be here in June they tell us. And the signs are that they are on their way. Unfortunately for the drivers, however, many are Chinese tour groups* and they come in buses. Big buses. Buses that barely fit in Ubud's narrow streets, and buses that take their occupants where they need to go. Transporrrt? Not for these tourists, which is a pity for the clusters of young men who are desperate for a few dollars. And a pity for Ubud. There is no place here for big buses.

*The Chinese provide the second largest number of tourists to Bali these days. After, of course, the Australians.