Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

And now for our last country: Indonesia. Unfortunately we only get to spend 9 days here, but what a better way to end the trip than in Bali! We arrived at Denpasar airport on the evening of the 18th, and after receiving our last Visa of the trip, caught a taxi to Poppies Gang St. in Kuta to find a hotel for the night. Originally, our plan was to head to the Gili Islands the next morning, but we soon found out that it was too late to book a ticket. Not wanting to waste a day in Kuta (the Cabo San Lucas of Bali) we decided instead to make our way to the mountain town of Ubud. It was a painless 45 min drive from Kuta, and from the second we stepped out of the van, we were happy we came. Ubud is unreal. More than any other city we've been to, this is a town that feels like you're in a painting. Moss-covered stone statues and greenery abound, art galleries, silver shops, and restaurants are everywhere you turn, and on top of that, the sidewalks are littered with colorful offerings to the Hindu gods. It's intoxicating.

 Offerings to the Hindu Gods. These were placed everywhere, including in the middle of sidewalks and pathways... Tread carefully, you don't want to anger the Gods.

 Monkey Forest Road, the main drag of Ubud, and completely lined with beautiful restaurants and art shops. 

Inside a Hindu temple.

Statue of Ganesha.

 At the Monkey Forest Road market.

We ended up staying in two different places, but both were more of a garden than a hotel, with our own little bungalows set amid botanical gardens. (This for a mere $30/night.) We spent our first day just walking around the city, and that night we went to a Fire Dance. Trey and Whitney had told us about this, so we knew it was going to be good. Basically, a group of about 75 men dressed in traditional garb chant (and chant and chant), making cool, eerie music for dancers in incredibly ornate balinese costumes. Hard to explain, but it was awesome. (We have a couple videos of this, remind us to show you.)

Walkway of our first hotel.

Path to our bungalow at the second hotel, Dewi Sri.

 The pool at Dewi Sri.

 Entrance to Dewi Sri.

 When the hotel grounds end, the landscape becomes rice paddies. 

 Fire dance! These were the men doing all the chanting.

 The storytelling dancers. Cool costumes.

 This was where the actual fire dancing came in. They set a huge pile of kerosene-soaked coconut hulls on fire, and this guy danced in them. It was nuts!

 You can't see the guy in this picture, but he is making that light by dancing through the embers.

The next day was another of just wandering. Also on recommendation of Trey and Whitney (or their blog at least), we ate lunch at Three Monkeys. If you picture a terraced field of rice paddies, and then replace one of those tiers with a restaurant, you have the Three Monkeys. Awesome setup, and they had great pizza, too!

 Lunch at Three Monkeys.

That evening we walked to the end of Monkey Forest Road, which, it turns out is aptly named. The end of the road is a forest with stone walkways that are literally crawling with Long-tailed Macaques. These monkeys are so used to humans that they will grab in your pockets, or unzip your backpack if they think it has food in it. We bought some bananas from an old lady, and decided to try our luck.

Preston and his monkey friend.

That night, unfortunately, Preston got really really sick. We won't go into the details here, but from a certain breakfast food, Pres got food poisoning, and at around midnight, we headed to the emergency room. He had to spend the night in the hospital, but was feeling much better by morning!

 Ready to rock after a long night in the hospital.

We didn't do anything the day after Pres got sick but lay around and recuperate. The following day, Jess decided to explore the hills surrounding the city (Preston still didn't have the energy). Campuhan Ridgeway Walk starts just off a main road, but within 5 minutes you are up in the hills, surrouned by terraced rice paddies and sunshine. Yet another reason to love Ubud.

 Campuhan Ridgeway walk.

 On her way back from the hike, Jessica noticed a ton of people inside one of the temples, and found out there were traditional Balinese dance rehersals going on. The moves are very intricate, and these girls were really impressive! (The creepy eyes are actually part of the dance)

Ubud is definitely a place to come back to one day... and maybe with a bigger budget, to fully take advantage of this beautiful, artsy city.