Coffee, feces, and physical exercise

The sun is shining, a mini cloud flies by, the taxi arrives ... and with it the first heavy rain. The taxi stops in front of the yoga studio, the rain stops. Super timing! But for us the acid test whether European raincoats hold up against Balinese showers. We have different opinions, but let's just say our creations had different qualities. Phine was bad, Caro was good.

How often do you have the opportunity to practice yoga in an airy jungle-like (attention - neologism ^^) environment with a view of rice fields?! The beginner's course at Ubud Yoga House ended with the crow pose - not necessarily for beginners, but so charmingly packaged in familiar exercises that we tried it for our instructor's sake. At least.. two seconds.

During our subsequent walk through the rice fields, we discovered a paradise-like café called Dragon Fly with countless vegan options. There was a vegan fruit bowl and vegan chocolate ice cream to go with our black coffee and café latte - breakfast on vacation!

Back at our hotel: a simple wash. The days here are short, the sun sets already at 6:15 p.m. The romantic notion is thrown overboard, at least in the city the sunset lasts just a blink. The day must be used effectively. Our brilliant idea, for the sake of variety, is to borrow bicycles and ride to Teba Sari Coffee Plantation - a demonstration plantation, but even there - in front of tourists' eyes - enclosed civets and captive owls, bats, etc.

The free tour of the grounds went quickly, past vanilla, turmeric, cocoa, coffee, coconut, ginger, pineapple, etc. We got an insight into the production of Balinese coffee (photo 1: coffee with civet feces - dominant because of Caro's red nails, image 2: washed, image 3: freed from the skin) and of course we were allowed to taste all the teas and coffees of the plantation at the end of the tour, from vanilla, ginger, coconut and ginseng coffee to lime, hibiscus, and lemongrass tea. We could buy individual products afterwards (no cheaper than in the store). We left the beans eaten by the civets, freed from the feces and roasted - after all, it's the most expensive coffee in the world; and yet too unfriendly to animals.

The bike ride of 10 km - note, 1. no one rides a bike in Ubud, which gave us amused looks and motivating shouts (after all, it's hillier than expected), 2. all (bike) pictures were taken in side streets as an example, so as not to be a suicide mission between motor scooters and tourist tracks for a photo opportunity. After all, there is always the smog ^^ (the desire for a mouthguard, actually reserved for the Chinese, arose) - we interrupted at Sage - vibrant vegan cuisine. The well-deserved animal-free meal (highly recommended and, as always, barefoot in the restaurant) marks the end of the day: a plunge into the ice-cold pool.