Bali

When we got back to Bali we went straght to Ubud, which is known as the cultural capital of Bali. We were only supposed to stay for 2 nights, but we fell in love and ended up staying for 4. Our first day we stumbled upon a rice field on the outskirts of the city centre. It was so beautiful and green!

A small rice field

 

Later that night we went to a traditional Balinese dance performance. They did both the Legong and Barong dances - so interesting! The music is so intricate and it sounds so random, but there is an obvious beat to it. And the dancing...they use every inch of their bodies to perform with. Their eyes are so expressive. Their fingers move like I have never seen before and it continues right down to their toes. It was amazing!!

Legong

On day 2 we went on a tour around the island of Bali. We started at a coffee plantation in Gulingan. They make Balinese coffee, tons of different teas and chocolate there. But they are most famous for their Luwak coffe. So, Luwak coffee is apparently the best coffee in the world - and probably some of the most expensive. And the reason is..........it is made from Mongoose poop! Hahaahha. Okay, but seriously, the mongoose eats the coffee bean along with the rest of its diet, but it doesn't completely digest the bean. There is something about what the digestive enzymes in it's stomach do to the beans that apparently make the coffee much more smooth and intense in taste, but a little less caffeinated. They collect the poop, clean the beans, roast them, peel them and grind them by hand. A very involved process! So, obviously, we had to try some. I really liked it. There was no bitterness to the taste, but it tasted like strong coffee. Dave liked the traditional Balinese coffee better.

From the coffee plantation we made our way to a monkey forest in Sangeh. It was a beautiful spot and it had over 600 monkeys roaming around it (a whole troop). They are desperate for food, but very uninterested in you if you have nothing to give them. But they do warn you not to wear your sunglasses on your head or have anything hanging from your bag because they can be destructive little things. One of the guides got a monkey to jump on Dave's shoulder, but otherwise I was happy to watch them from afar. We then made our way to the Royal Family Temple in Mengwi, which was a beautiful temple. We finished the day off at the Tanah Lot temple for sunset. Unfortunately, it was a very grey and rainy evening so we didn't get to see a sunset but the temple was beautiful. It is unique as it was built on a little island just off the coast. At low tide you can walk to it, but at high tide it is impossible to get to.

Our last 2 days in Ubud we spent exploring the town, bartering at the markets and eating our faces off! I also managed to make it to a yoga class. I was interested to see if there would be a difference between one in Indonesia, especially in Ubud , where it is very popular, and one in Canada. There wasn't, but it was nice to do it outside surrounded by gorgeous nature. We also managed to find a fitness centre. We weren't sure what it would be and we were prepared for a hilarious space, but it was actually a really nice, fully equipped gym - mostly frequented by ex-pats. We were sad to leave Ubud because we had such a great time there, but had to start explring other areas of Bali.

We made our way back to Kuta, with a stop at the Uluwatu temple on the way. Uluwatu is a temple in the southern most part of the Bali, built right on the coast. It was a beautiful setting, but the temple wasn't as grand as we were expecting. It was neat to see. Unfortunately, there were monkeys at this temple too. As we were walking back to the car, we slowed our walking pace to watch the monkeys. I saw one walking to towards Dave and told him to watch out, but before he could react the monkey had jumped on his shoulder and stolen his sunglasses right off his face! I couldn't believe it! We stood there watching the little bugger tear them apart right in front of our eyes. Luckily it was just a cheap pair of sunglasses. We spoke with a lady soon after who had a monkey steal her prescription glasses right off her face and tear them apart!

Scheming

 

We finished our time in Bali off at Kuta Beach. This is like the tourist capital of Bali. Tourists  and very annoying street vendors everywhere! Kuta was definitely our least favourite spot in Indonesia, but it was convenient to the airport. We managed to find Dave some new sunglasses, hit the beach and relax a little before we hopped on another plane to Vietnam.

We really loved Indonesia - it was so gorgeous and the people were so nice (except for the annoying, pushy street vendors). We are excited for our next country....Vietnam, here we come!

Thanks for reading

xoxo