Bali

We had a one week break for the Lunar New Year and decided that it should be spent in Bali with our friends, Christine, Craig, Sarah and Derek. We took a red-eye and arrived sometime in the early morning- grabbed our bags and headed out to find the driver we had arranged to pick us up. Everything went smoothly and we hoped into the hotel van and got comfy for our 1 hour ride to Ubud where we would be crashing in our hotel rooms for a couple hours of precious sleep before we explored the inland town.
Upon waking, we found that we were in a beautiful hotel! The rooms at Alam Indah were exquisitely decorated and the grounds were luxuriously overflowing with gardens, and flowers and moss covered sculptures. In front of our hotel doors there were small offerings of flowers and incense inside of green bamboo leaf baskets. These offerings were scattered all over the hotel grounds as well as through out the streets of Ubud; enticing good will from their gods.


The charm we were overtaken by at the hotel also extended into the town. To get to town from or hotel, we had to walk through, "The Monkey Forest." There were monkeys everywhere- and they were completely unafraid to walk right up to us. I had a baby monkey almost climb up my leg before I quickly moved away. Loren had a very close encounter with a monkey too. He got pooped on.



Ubud was a great town to explore- tons of shopping, yummy food and exotic sights to take in. We also walked about 10k through some rice patties and were in visual heaven. I think I nearly lost the group because I was taking so many pictures.


On the way back into town, we passed a temple and there was a procession of ladies dressed in traditional clothing carrying food on their heads. It was truly a National Geographic moment. And, my cameras batteries were dying. Oh well.


The next day was spent shopping!! and relaxing! You could get a 1hour GOOD massage for about $10! So, while us ladies spent our time in the markets, the guys were getting massages. Pretty good trade I thought because we got our massages later too!

In the evening we all went to a restaurant that has free dinner shows and watched an amazing traditional Balinese dance. Here's a snippet.


After 4 blissful days in Ubud, we headed to the beach for some more relaxing. It turned out the beaches, the ones that are said to be the best in Bali, were filthy! We didn't spend anytime in the ocean or on the beach but the town was interesting and full of more great places to shop and get massages so we didn't complain too much. I think I also exhausted my desire to take a tons of pics, because I don't have anymore to share. Loren has some great pics and videos from the beach so he'll be posting those later!