Ubud-40

Eat Pray Love has a lot to answer for. As I wander the streets of ubud, getting lured into buying silk scarves at every corner, and dodging the yoga mats, I'm struck by how the town does seem a parody of itself. There are women aged 30-60 trying to find themselves though equally finding each other I hope. Every kitsch "kafe" is offering wheatgrass shakes as the perfect post yoga drink. Whole food salads and organic brownies are on most menus in all the trendy lunch spots. Yoga wear adorned with ganesh's face stares out of shiny glass shop fronts and only the uneven sloping pavement tripped me into remembering I wasn't in Islington.
It has its place in the backpacker circuit. It has the most interesting assembly of accommodation, set up like a series of Buddhist temples hidden amongst winding alleyways opening into small courtyards like a oasis behind the noisy streets. Bungalow doors are intricately carved with Hindu beauties adding a sense of magic every time they are opened to the morning sun. Breakfasts are served to your terrace, and there is hot tea ready and waiting day and night.
It's hard not to be charmed though I guess in my usual style, it's not without some cynicism as to what our tourist searches have resulted in. As the yoga fiends demanded fruit smoothies, I'm offered "detox" concoctions at London prices, something that I doubt your average Balinese citizen would ever request. The traditional warung and street side vendors with their fresh, good value fare, enjoyed by taxi drivers across the country, are no where to be seen having given way to bottled-water washed salads with 15% service charge and tax.
I do not see any recognition of the irony in the eyes of those men and women out to find peace by immersing themselves in the hills of a tropical island that they've recreated the very towns they've come from. There's a Starbucks for god's sake! As if life can't function without that daily skinny latte after a hard day's haggling over batik saris and wooden penis keyrings. [Perhaps there are sexual repression issues bubbling under the surface in this town too given the number of wooden penises that we spied on our wanderings. I even saw a giant wooden turtle with a penis for a head - that was just disturbing and completely unnecessary. Who comes to Ubud to buy that?]
As with so many other places I've been, I guess I would have loved to see the original charm of the town that made people first stop here - I don't think it was for stretchy yoga wear and silk dressing gowns though I don't deny that I enjoyed browsing for them. The place had charm, though perhaps a little less soul than I could uncover from 3 short days.