Thursday 7 May 2015

Indonesia - Day 10 - Ubud

Our day got off to a slow start with us sleeping in, grabbing a late breakfast and lounging around until our check out time. After check out we stashed out bags in the departure lounge and got the shuttle into Ubud. Our first stop was Starbucks for an icy beverage. Turns out there is a Temple behind Starbucks... Saraswati Temple which has a moat out the front full of Lotus flowers.





From the temple we headed deeper into Ubud to a place I'd looked up online called the Fair Warung BalĂ©, the Cafe is run by a foundation that provides health care to people who can't afford it for themselves. A meal and a drink at the Cafe provides for 2 medical checkups. Anyone wanting to read more about the work they do at the foundation can check out the website at http://www.fairfuturefoundation.org

After lunch we strolled back along the main road of Ubud and visited the Ubud Palace.






From the Palace we did some last minute shopping in the markets then headed back to the hotel to relax and wait for our transfer to the airport and then home!

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Indonesia - Day 9 - Ubud

We had what we thought would be a pretty full day booked for what is possibly our last full day in Bali...

We woke early and jumped in the car with our driver/tour guide from the hotel and were on our way to the first stop of the day the Pura Taman Ayun. Having seen A LOT of temples while we were in Thailand, we thought we'd better see some in Bali too. Pretty sure Taman Ayun is our first Hindu Temple.and all I'll say is compared to Buddhist Temples... they're a bit lack lustre... no giant Pagodas, no amazing murals in the temples, just multi tiered shrines.



Kristen is compelled to pet all the furry animals! She named this little guy Squirrel


From here we then headed to another hindu temple. Pura Ulun Danu Beratan on the coast of Danau Beratan.




From the Lake we headed to the Git Git twin waterfalls.


The first waterfall



The 2nd Waterfall, the drop off under the water is around 8 metres.
After the waterfalls we were back on the road again this time heading to the north side of the island to the tourist area known as Lovina. Lovina was a big tourist area in Bali before the capital moved to Denpasar, now its a lot quieter. 





We had lunch at a little restaurant in Lovina, worst food of the trip! From Lovina we jumped back in the car for the 2 hour trip back to Ubud... Kristen was asleep within 20 minutes!

Pig on a Truck!


Monday 4 May 2015

Indonesia - Day 8 - Ubud

Sleep in! (Until about 8:30) We got up and took our time getting ready this morning, before catching the hotel shuttle bus into Ubud (about 10 minute drive). Our plan was walk down to the Monkey Forest, have a look around walk back up to the art market, grab some lunch and look around a bit.

We got directions from our drop off point from our driver. To the left, then right at the intersection. Ok easy, we thought. The directions weren't wrong, but he didn't mention that it was at the very end of the road he told us to go down. It took around 20 minutes, which isn't long but it was very hot.

When we made it to the forest, there were literally monkeys hanging around out the front. We walked into the forest (it is all paved and there is a temple there and stuff) and there were a ton of monkeys everywhere. It was way better than the monkeys we saw in Thailand, they were just free to roam around, do their thing. You could buy bananas if you wanted to feed them or just watch them do their monkey stuff. We decided not to buy the bananas, we just wanted to look around. We walked around for a little while and a worker offered to take our picture in front of a valley. He then encouraged a monkey that was sitting on the bench next to us to climb onto my lap. The monkey happily ate corn out of Matt's hand while the guy took our picture.

On our way out we decided to stop in the main area near the temple and just sit and watch the monkeys for a little bit. They decided to include us in their games, jumping and climbing on us, chewing on Matt's hat & shirt, playing with my hair. One decided to steal the empty water bottle out of Matt's hands and took off with it. The cute little fella thought it was the best toy out.

We caught a taxi back up to the markets because I just couldn't be bothered walking. The markets were all right, I picked up a couple of things, but there didn't seem to be as much variety as I had hoped.

It was after lunch time and we were getting hungry, so we walked along until we found a cafe we liked the look of. After a long lunch and a little bit of a walk around we headed to the shuttle pick up point to wait for our ride back to the hotel.

It started raining just as our bus showed up. Thankfully it eased of when we were walking back to our room. There was this terrible song playing in the van on the way home. It just kept going on and on like it wouldn't end. The guy next to the driver started humming along, not knowing what it was. And then he kept on humming it only just because...

We spent the afternoon doing a pool crawl. We decided to test out the three pools available to us at the hotel. We started with the one furthest from our room. An adults only infinity pool above the river. It was divine. You have to take an elevator just to get to it. Some of the best views in the hotel are from this pool (although the whole place has amazing views). We stayed a while, talking and taking in the ambience. After a while we got out, headed back up in the elevator and went to the pool nearest the lobby. There were a couple more people using this pool, probably because it is more convenient, compared to the two people that were laying by the other pool. This pool is still pretty nice, but has nothing on the bottom pool. Our final pool was our very own private pool, which is nice just because it's all ours.

First Monkey of the day!








Just snacking on a raw potato

Timor Deer

Weird Temple Statue



Chewing on Matt's new hat!

Checking my head for nits!