UBUD

Eat. Pray. Love. Ubud

Elisabeth Gilbert did more than transform her life in her book.....she transformed Ubud, Bali. Maybe even tourism for single women as well. Her wildly acclaimed book drew women from all over the world to the three places she visited in her book (Italy, India, and Bali) but from what I could see- they seemed to linger here.

I was instantly drawn to this place. Lush green moss covered the hundreds of temples we passed. Every door was exquisitely carved and so ornate I couldn't help but to say "oh my god I love that door" every five minutes. Quiet streets were lined with boutiques selling organic soaps, crystals and yoga get up. Coffee shops were bustling with people who were either grabbing their soy lattes to go or sitting for hours on plush cushions using their Mac computers. Andy was a little disgusted, but I was in love. There was a Starbucks.

The drive was about an hour from Kuta to Ubud. We took a "bus" but by bus they shoved 6 of us with all of our luggage into a 5 seater van. It was uncomfortable to say the least. Once we arrived a really nice Balinese man helped us with our luggage and escorted us to his guesthouse. Bellow is the view from our room:

Isn't this a beautiful rooster? Yes it is, until 2am rolls around and THEY ARE STILL CROWING!??? Ubud was filled with roosters and ALL of them insist on crowing ALL night long. It was difficult to get a good nights sleep- once one rooster would go they all would start to pitch in, then the dogs would howl and it was just a bunch of pathetic sounding commotion outside our window at all hours.

Funerals are a huge thing here. They involve a parade and a public cremation of the body! We saw a few different parades but were never around at the right moment to see the cremation. The traditional wear for men is a long white button up shirt and white cap with a checkered sarong. The women wear the most beautiful outfits- they do a lot of hand made lace here and their outfits feature the fabric on top with a long skirt on the bottom.

More Ubud Posts to come!
Love
Lauren

Angkor Wat!!

Hello! Sorry it has taken me so long to post this blog! (I went to Angkor Wat two weeks ago) My life has been super crazy lately and hopefully you all can forgive me :)

Friday afternoon we got out of class early and got on a bus to go to Siem Riep. The bus ride took more than 6 hours because the infrastructure here is not very good. It was really neat to get out of Phnom Penn and see what the country actually looks like. The houses were all on stilts and had no power or running water! Crazy right? The streets were filled with water buffalo, cows and naked babies. The rice patties were really amazing to see as well.

Saturday we woke up and got to go see multiple temples including: Main Angkor Wat, Bayon Temple, Baphuon Temple, Phimeanakas Temple, Ta Prohm Temple (also known as the Tomb Raider Temple bc of the movie) and on Sunday we went to Beng Mealea.

Some facts about Angkor Wat:
-Meaning City Temple it is Khmer architecture
-It is the largest religious building in the world and is a world heritage site
-It was made for King Suryavaman 2 in the early 12th century and was originally dedicated to the hindu god vishnu but eventually became a buddhist temple.
-in 1860 the french discovered the temple and the native people living in the forest didnt know who made it and thought that it was made by the gods.

Beng Mealea is actually older than Angkor Wat and was originally going to be the main temple until the king changed the site. It was really fun to explore on SUnday because you are allowed to go wherever you want and it is just falling apart.

I made a fun video for you all to watch, it has pictures from the temples, some takes of us goofing around making LAUREN CROFT TOMB RAIDER. I had a great time making it sooo enjoy.

Love,
Lauren