Ubud was the last stop of my Bali trip, so I hired a driver on my last day there and he took me to a coffee plantation, rice terraces, and a few temples. As my guide walked me through the coffee plantation, we stopped at a small cage, where he pointed to a ratdogcat-like animal and said, "This is the Luwak. All they do is sleep, eat coffee, and poop. So sometimes, people, they can be Luwak too." Yes they can wise guide, yes they can. I am a Luwak.

The most expensive coffee in the world

Kopi Luwak is a coffee that is made when coffee cherries are ingested by an Asian Palm Civet that excretes it, then people make coffee with it and sell it for a lot of money to gullible tourists, like me, who want to be able to say they've tasted poop coffee-?the most expensive coffee in the world! So there. I win the Ultimate Coffee Snob contest. It tasted like any other coffee to me, but what do I know, since I regularly drink "dirty" airplane coffee.

While overlooking the rice terraces at BALI PULINA, you can try several different coffees and teas with infusions such as ginger, lemon peel, cinnamon, or chocolate.

Tegalalang rice terraces

The lush green paddies of the TEGALALANG RICE TERRACES are maintained using Subak, the traditional balinese cooperative irrigation system, which was passed down in the eighth century by a highly esteemed Holy Man, Rsi Markandeya. Many different hands are involved in the caring and cultivating of the rice, and they all work together in harmony. You will notice when you are entering a different farmers area of terrace land when you are asked for a "donation" to continue your walk through the terraces. One clever farmer even had set up a gate similar to those you see in parking garages made out of plastic pipes and buckets. The seemingly sleeping man didn't move an inch until he heard the jingling of coins as I rummaged through my purse. it was the least I could do- I was stomping through his livelihood, after all.

Most people I saw just enjoyed the view of the terraces from above,but since I just had to see that ancient irrigation system with my own eyes, I hiked my way down to the very bottom. I use the term hike loosely as it was mostly just me slipping through the mud, falling, and giving a couple onlooking farmers a good laugh. See those stairs in the photo below? Yeah, I fell on those and went skating across that rickety little bridge and almost ended up IN the irrigation system.

A little fruit and drink shack in between terraces.

TIRTA EMPUL TEMPLE

Tirta Empul is a Hindu holy water spring temple, and bathing in the sacred springs is said to melt all of the bad influences of the body and purify the soul and mind.