Emmy in the Rice Paddy: Taman, Bali Homestay

Annie arranged our entire Ubud trip, and I simply tagged along. She had researched a tiny little bed and breakfast homestay in a small village west of Ubud called "Taman." When we coordinated that we would travel together and split the cost on everything, she simply emailed them to tell them that two people were coming instead of one. A really nice young man met us at Annie's villa in Kuta to pick us up, and drove us the hour and a half to the countryside. When we were shown our room it was absolutely charming. So, so quaint and much nicer and more special than my expectations. The couple who runs their one-room "cottage" are named Wayan and Aiyu, and they have two adorable, helpful, happy young boys. It is so nice to be with a local family, and there really aren't any other Westerners in sight. Below are pictures of our cottage, and our quiet first day and evening in Taman. After marveling at the flowers throughout our room and open-air bathroom, one of the little boys took us on an evening walk through the nearby rice paddies.

While I'm usually not excited by rice paddies because I taught in one for a year, the walk with this young boy was SO enjoyable...definitely one of the highlights of my entire trip. He reminded me of so many of my Thai students, and he had the best English I have ever heard from a 13 year old. He was very proud of his English and wanted to practice speaking. I told him that he could be an English teacher someday. He told me he wanted to be a guide :)

On our evening walk, Annie and I took so many different pictures. I was fascinated asking the little boy questions about what school was like for him: his teachers, his classmates, his uniforms haha. Then we stumbled upon his neighbors who were climbing a COCONUT TREE! There was a man all the way in the top of one. I've seen this painted in pictures in Cambodia, but I've never actually seen anyone way up there. It was absolutely incredible to watch him cut coconuts from the tree and then throw them to his wife on the ground. The little boy was talking with his neighbors, and they gave us a coconut! They cut it open right then and there on the spot, and then they cut part of a palm leaf and folded it into a cup. They poured the coconut juice into the leaf and handed it to me and Annie. Almost an entire liter of the freshest coconut juice I've ever had. Really cool to me...especially after having lived among coconut trees for a year in Thailand. It's never too late for first experiences :)