Zaid's Blog http://www.zaidali.com Random geekery, Provoking thought and Travels Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:08:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Ubud and first impressions http://www.zaidali.com/2010/01/01/ubud-and-first-impressions/ http://www.zaidali.com/2010/01/01/ubud-and-first-impressions/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:08:49 +0000 zaid http://www.zaidali.com/?p=43 There is no doubt that Ubud is the art capital of Bali. Every where one walks in Ubud they cannot escape works of art, you will see great paintings, amazing wood carving, perfectly chiseled stones depicting gods and goddesses and eye grabbing textiles. Almost everywhere is of some walking distance but you have to be brave enough to walk amongst cars and motorcycles, they move at low speed so it is quite safe but you just have to be aware. We took a long walk yesterday trying to find a yoga studio and along the way we discovered many interesting shops and residences of wood carvers and stone masons. We eventually found Amber’s yoga studio but no class due to the full moon.

Art for sale in a typical Ubud store.

The monkey forest sanctuary was an amazing find. The cool and dense jungle known as Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana houses three holy temples. The monkey forest sanctuary is home to a band of grey haired and greedy long tailed Balinese macaques who are not innocent and cute as one would think. They sway from statue to statue looking for offerings to fill their appetite. Hinduism is very large in Bali and if you know Hinduism there is a belief in reincarnation so the offerings eaten by monkeys is revered as gods and goddesses accepting the offerings in reincarnated form. The tourists carrying food however is probably not mistaken by the macaques as statues but they are quelled by their earthly desire to get the food from your hand and even run up to you and search your pockets for food, they are not shy about this.

Monkey bitchslap, stay away it's mine !

]]> http://www.zaidali.com/2010/01/01/ubud-and-first-impressions/feed/ 0 Taipei airport, great food and free wireless ! http://www.zaidali.com/2009/12/29/taipei-airport-great-food-and-free-wireless/ http://www.zaidali.com/2009/12/29/taipei-airport-great-food-and-free-wireless/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:41:16 +0000 zaid http://www.zaidali.com/?p=36 We landed in Taipei international airport around 6:30am. China Airlines entertainment facilities include only a large projection screen with an A/B system which was popular in the 80’s. I slept pretty much throughout the flight which is one good thing about leaving SFO to Asia at midnight. For future travelers I would suggest forgoing the Chinese style breakfast because it is quite bland. Taipei international airport is wonderful. It has a lot of cool stores and a large array of restaurants, as I am writing this post I have lost Amber to some duty free store. We found this tiny place in C3 which served authentic Chinese food and I got a serving of amazing dumplings (USD$6 with tea) while Amber got her noodle fix. I am off now to explore some electronic stores to see if I can find any cool gadgets.

Dumplings for breakfast at Taipei International Airport

]]> http://www.zaidali.com/2009/12/29/taipei-airport-great-food-and-free-wireless/feed/ 0 Can’t wait to be in 84F weather http://www.zaidali.com/2009/12/28/cant-wait-to-be-in-84f-weather/ http://www.zaidali.com/2009/12/28/cant-wait-to-be-in-84f-weather/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:16:38 +0000 zaid http://www.zaidali.com/?p=21 I haven’t been blogging for a while now but I think its time I get back into it so whats better way to start then my 2009-2010 vacation. Every year Amber and I have a tradition to leave the US and bring in the new year at an exotic foreign location. We have done Mexico a couple of times but this year we decided to stretch the distance further by going to Bali and Java. We are leaving SFO monday 29th december 2009 and arriving in Taipei as the first leg. I hear that noodles at the Taipei airport are really good and I hope to have a real Chinese breakfast with Bao and dumplings in our 5 hour layover. We then leave for Denpasar, Indonesia and then to Ubud where we will be spending most of our time. Stay tuned and I hope to be writing as I get time on the internet and posting pictures also.

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