Indonesia

We flew from Perth to Denpasar Indonesia which was a pleasant 3:30 hour flight. As we landed we immediately felt the humidity. We decided to stay away from the busy beaches because it was Australia day weekend and we figured it would be packed. We opted to head to the centre of Bali in the town of Ubud. Apparently it use to be a quiet retreat from the tourist frenzy of the beaches, but it was made more popular after Eat Pray Love came out. We stayed at a guest house just off the main road in the city centre.

We tried to wake up early each morning to avoid the heat and walk around the town. All the sights are really close to each other which made walking around the best option. The sidewalks were really hazardous though so we always had to watch where we were walking.

We woke up early one morning to go for a hike on the Campuhan Ridge. Even at 8AM the sun was unbearable. As we were walking we could hear rustling bushes from the hundreds of little lizards roaming around. 

From across the ridge we could see resorts but also several local houses. We also heard the buzzing sound of a school nearby. The sound of their morning singing was echoing through the valley. 

Some of the monkeys that live in Monkey Forest. There were hundreds of them walking around you always had to watch your back. We saw more than one tourist lose their water bottles or papers from their pockets. Its's not the big monkeys you have to worry about, they're too busy eating nuts and fruit. It's the little ones that are curious and troublesome. 

As we were walking through the city one day a guide came up to us and showed us his guest book with all his positive reviews. We were going to ignore him but on the page he opened was a big 'Go Habs Go' from his previous guests. We took this as a sign and decided to take a tour with him. He took us to this temple that was about 30 minutes outside of Ubud. 

Next we went to the Elephant Cave. We saw a sign that lead to a Buddha Cave in the forest and decided to follow it. After walking up and down hills and ducking through trees we never found the cave. We came back to the entrance all sweaty and muddy and our poor driver was worried that he had lost us. 

A carefree dog roaming some rice fields. He was much more friendly than the dogs that chased us out of some rice fields the previous day!

A coffee tasting break on our tour. Aaran tried the famous Luwak Coffee which is made from beans that are eaten and digested by the luwak, a cat little animal that lives in the forests of Indonesia. Yes, it's made from animal poo... 

The beautiful rice terraces of Ubud. We paid a small fee ($0.50) to cross a bamboo bridge and walk up and down the rice fields. The irrigation system they use is actually a UNESCO world heritage area. 

A traditional Balinese dance. The whole thing lasted about an hour and included several costume changes and traditional music. If we didn't have a paper explaining the story we would have had no idea what was going on. 

The Water Palace in the centre of Ubud. It's beautifully maintained and a very quiet escape from the city. You feel like you're in a tranquil little forest until you turn to the right and see a Starbucks sign...

Overall we had a great time during our short stay in Bali. We were a bit apprehensive about going because we though it would be overrun with tourists. While it was very tourist oriented we found it easy to escape the main hotspots and find interesting things to see. The Balinese were all very friendly and most importantly the food was delicious and cheap!