Moving to Ubud and the Monkey Forest

Today we checked out of the lovely Kubu Rama villa and moved north to Ubud.
The drive gave us lots more to look at, including all the kids getting out of school ( we decided that school kids are the same the world over)

The mobile food carts

And the amazing things that people carry on their bikes

After our great villa we were all thinking that the next accomodation could not be as good, but we were wrong. Set in a tiny village ( Jungung) north of Ubud, in rice fields, and with only 10 rooms, this place is amazing. Beautiful wooden doors

Mosquito net canopied beds

and I even have my own little meditation room!

We had another great meal, then headed to the Monkey Forest ( Toms pick of things to do in Bali).
Tom and I kept banana free, while Kate braved feeding the monkey's

Everything is covered in moss

And the forest is filled with amazing sculptures

And everywhere the monkey's

We finished the day with a walk though Ubud, and fabulous crispy duck for dinner.

Purah Tanah Lot

After the usual morning of swim, brecky and massage Kate and I headed off to visit a sea temple, Tanah Lot. Taxis are so cheap here, we had the driver take us, wait for an hour, and then bring us home, all for abotu $12!

Tanah Lot is west of where we are staying, so we got to drive through some rural area on the way. Its quiet amazing the areas they farm essentially by hand. The only machines that I have seen are a garden sized rotary hoe.

The sea temple Tanah Lot is part of a chain of temples built in the sea, each visible from the next, built by the priest Nirartha, and is a very significant place for the Balinese. When you arrive you pass through a wonderful archway with lovely carvings

You then need to pass through the gauntlet of hawkers and market stalls, which are not very nice,

and finally another lovely set of arches and into the temple space.

The temples were bulit to honour the sea gods, and non Balinese caannot go inside. To show respect we had to cover our shoulders and knees, hence the long pants and tshirts on a very hot day.

It is a very beautiful spot, and once inside very calm, with lots of Balinese families picnicing.

Kate was particularly unimpressed by the lack of any hand rails or guards, so out time on the sea bridge was limited!!

After all this spirituality I decided on  quiet afternoon reading and swimming, while Tom and Kate visited Kuta.

We finished the day with a short stroll to the beach, and a fabulous dinner at Sate Bali, a well know cooking school and restaurant.  This was our dessert!

I had my annual alcoholic drink ( i had skipped it at xmas), a Margarita, which was delicious.

The kids were particularly impressed with the live featuring Cold Chisel covers.. must be all the born again backpackers!!

We wandered home to be greated with the usual lovely offering at our villa door

If we get any more relaxed I think we'll stop breathing!

Another beautiful morning of lounging by the pool, massage and reading.

We may be a little task focussed, Tom and Kate are creating a frangipani wall on our waterfall! It does take a bit to get used to people coming and cleaning, tidying, and even setting the mosquito coils for you at night!

Tom decided to spend a quiet day swimming and reading ( oh and catching a little cable!!)

Kate wanted to see Kuta, so we headed in there for some shopping. Its not to busy at this time of year, but you see enough people in Bintang singlets, and cheap shops to get the picture. We splashed out on DVDs, $1 each, so Kate got Eat, Pray, Love, I got The Guradians ( a new kids animation about Owls), and Tom got a few, including the rare Lord of the Rings 5!!!! Yes, its the story of Aragorn as a baby, what a collectors item!!

The drive is always entertaining. So much construction is going on, and the bamboo scaffolding is incredible. All the stone mason work is done by hand, so you walk past a temple contruction and all you can hear is the hammers thumping.

The architecture is full of statues of gods, its interesting to see how this belief is woven into every aspect daily life. The Balinese worship Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, there trinity, as well as other ancestoral and village gods.

Had great pissa at Echo Beach, and then the rain came down in buckets. Honestly I have never seen rain like it!

far away in time, echo beach

Our day started with some pre breakfast swimming,

And some bombing practice

Kate and I then lounged around waiting for our in room massages ( which were sensational, and @ $12 per hour they will be a daily occurance!)

The we had a lovely wander around our villa, were the cows are everywhere amongst the fields

The terraced rice paddies are beautiful

Its very startling to see the luxury and space in our villa, then step out the door and walk past people farming, living in tin huts with no running water, heating or cooling! We are in a remote area north west of the famous Kuta, and are really enjoying this.

Its very spiritual, with offerings made daily be everyone to the Gods, to reduce their adharma (bad vibes) and increase their dharma (good vibes). We have a fresh offering placed at our villa door each afternoon

Its interesting to see the Balinese symbol for harmony everywhere, its a swastika with the arms going the other way, apparently the germans took it and reversed the arms. Certianly makes you look twice!

We are near Echo Beach, but I can't for the life of me remember who sang that song, Far away in time, Echo Beach???

Then it was on to some shopping, and a great lunch.  You catch cabs here, and the roads are crazy, with heaps of people on bikes, and numerous pedestrians and random dogs! We are really enjoying the flavours of the local food, and the fact that it is really cheap!

Tom is working his way through the local beers, and Kate is working on her haggling! After that we needed a nice relaaxing drink at Echo Beach.

Rumu Kama Villa, Echo Beach, or "oh my god, is this all ours?"

Had a good departure from Sydney yesterday, with Tom winning the pack light award.

 Our five hour flight was good, arrived in hot and humid Denpasar mid afternoon. Then my first funny encounter with haggling, where the cab porters were saying yes tip us the blue one. Thats 50,000 rupee, which is only about $5, but I still think they got a good deal. Our sweet cabbie had a hard time finding Echo Beach so we had about 40 min of touring.

We drove to fast to get photos, but in my mind I have some classic images of a woman riding pillion on a bike, side saddle with no helmet, two storey consruction sites with flimsy bamboo scaffolding, rice paddies beside shops, and the home made alcohol in vodka bottles sold outside motorbike shops.

We were greated at the Villa by the lovely smiling family, and shown into out massive space. The outdoor pool sits beside our enormous lounge, dining and kitchen. Just that area is as big as Greghamstown!


 
Each of us has our own bedroom and bathroom ( and we have one spare!!)
 
 

The two downstairs villas even have outdoor bathrooms

So once we picked our rooms it was straight into the pool.

Kate and I  had a play with our sarongs ( thanks to Brig)

And Tom and I recreated famous paintings underwater, with Kate capturing them on my fantastic Olumpus U Tough. Tom is working on what he calls the Double Suck. No its not a drinking game, its where you hold your breath and hold your gut in...very difficult!

So we had  a lovely first day, topped off with some great local food. Even Moosie loves it....

Getting ready for Bali

Well Greghamstown is green and wet, even misty this morning,

 and Ceasar just wants to sleep on our laps.

Hillary Duffel bag, moosie and all the gear has had the dust shaken off. Don't need the down jacket, replace it with a sarong, but think the rain jacket had better stay in. Thinking shorts, thongs and swimmers will be all I will need ( and note that is thongs not thong!).

We have been preparing for the humidity with some pool work at Keith and Nessa's. Kate been using her newly acquired swim instructor skills to help me sit on the pool bottom,

And Tom has been practicing his underwater yoga skills...

Of course the kids still fight a bit, but thats normal right???

The big dilemma is which books to take? How many will I read in 10 days? I can live with only a few sets of clothes, but am still dealing with the horror of a few bookless days last trip!
We reviewed the Echo Beach villa site last night, and that got us all excited, so today is just packing.