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Ubud - Rice Paddies


As we wandered through the fields and under the towering palm trees, we got a chance to enjoy a bit more peace in the city. It was certainly a hot day, but listening to the trickling noises from the irrigation streams and the occasional honking from the ever-present geese, it was a relaxing way to spend some time.


Our standing joke in Ubud was "look over there - rice paddies!!" Everywhere we turned, we saw rice paddies. They were squeezed in behind homes, and stretched away to the horizons. Friends of ours in Mumbai had recommended that we take a "paddy walk," and so one afternoon we did just that.


And because these are actual functioning fields, we passed all sorts of farmers doing their work.


While there are some modern pieces of equipment used, by and large manual labor is the final ingredient in making everything grow.


Watching them from the shelter of a cafe along the way gave us an appreciation of the amount of work that goes into raising a crop as universal as rice.


As the billowing clouds reflected in the fields, we headed back to town, sweaty but satisfied after our day in the sun.
We did have one other interesting view of the paddies - from a roadside cafe as we were shopping for wooden items. We'd stopped for lunch, and could see all the terraces working their way up and down the steep hills. With the Hindu swastika emblazoned on the stone tables, it was a cute vision of agrarian perfection.


And then the rains came. Pouring, splashing, soaking us thoroughly - we hurried back to the shelter and watched these same hills get the rejuvenating moisture needed to grow their crops. Time to do a bit more of that shopping..

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Local Life
Christmas
Ubud
Around Town
Temples
Rice Paddies
Shopping
Dances
Temple Ladies
Monkeys
Jewelry-Making
Goa Gajaj
Pemuteran
Sights
Surf and Rain
Turtles

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