DAY 8: Ubud is wonderful!

We are staying at a beautiful home, called Anggada in the heart of Ubud. It's about 200 feet from the famous art market, and I'm only paying $6.00, oh and breakfast is included! What a deal huh?

Free breakfast brought to your room!

This is their security dog... Not sure how much security he would be able to do, other than lick and wag his tail! :)

The homes here are really interesting. You walk through a front entrance, like this one...

Then, when you walk inside, there are lots of different rooms, leading out to a courtyard... Some of the rooms are actually outside, with beds. It's really cool. Here are some pictures from within our little compound.

This is the view from my balcony, looking to a restaurant on the main road. The black on either side is forest, and down below is a river! It's pretty awesome!

I did some blogging in the morning and then met up with Aaron and had lunch here, at Balina Lagoon, a small restaurant near the place we're staying.

There were sooo many choices, and all of there were so cheap! About 9,000 Balinese Rupiah = $1.00

mmmmm!!!!

After lunch, we decided to rent a scooter, so we could ride around and check out the town! It was $5.00 a day and came with full tank of gas! Aaron was more brave and decided we could share one!

We rode down the main road as students were getting out of school. Here are some girls... notice the uniform is all white, and they have to wear their hair in 2 braids.

Here's the boys school! Gorgeous huh?!

We read in the lonely planet book that the Sacred Monkey Forest was a definite must see when coming to Ubud, so we rode the scooter over to check it out!

There were literally hundreds of monkeys. They were everywhere!!! This one stole a ladies bag of crackers as she was getting it out of her bag!

And this one stole this guys ice cream!

What a little smooch huh?!

Yep, there's one on my back!

And there's another one climbing up my arm! They're CRAZY!

I had no idea monkeys could swim... but there was a little pond in the middle of the forest where they were all jumping in and swimming!

While we were there, we ran into this couple from Oregon. It's nearly impossible to find other Americans... most people are from Europe, Australia, or Asia. So, when you hear an American accent, it's hard not to say hello. What's crazy though, is this couple is from Grants Pass, a teeny tiny city in Oregon where Kevin and all his best friends get their tatoos done by a guy named Jeff Gogue. What's even crazier was that she had a tatoo by Jeff! I mean come on... what are the chances?!

Me and Aaron in the forest!

I'm not sure that I've ever seen a leaf bigger than this one!

Aaron near the stream that ran through the middle of the forest.

mmmm, bananas!

You'd think this was somewhere in Disneyland or something, but this is the REAL DEAL!

It was raining when we got to the Monkey Forest, so I bought this awesome umbrella from a lady outside the gate for about $8.00! Unfortuntely, I put it down at one point while we were there, and I forgot it. When we went back, it was gone. :( Guess Indonesia isn't quite like Korea where you can leave things laying around and no one touches them.

Aaron has a really funny video that goes along with this picture that I'll upload when I get back home. This monkey jumped on me and was biting my shirt and punching me in the back!!! It was soooo scary!

We especially liked rule # 5. "If the monkey jumps on you, stand still and walk away slowly." So, do we stand still, or walk away... I'm confused!

After we had seen enough of the monkeys, we walked into town and got some ice cream from a little antique shop in the heart of Ubud.

As you've seen, they lay offerings infront of their homes and stores... so during the day, when business is slow, they prepare the baskets for the following day.

We decided to check out the famous art market in the heart of Ubud! It was overwhelming, but awesome!!!


This woman had such a sweet soul and a beautiful smile, I couldn't resist buying one of her little wooden monkeys. I've decided I'll stain it and use it as a Christmas ornament!


You'd think these were Billabong flip flops, but don't be fooled... They're Balibong!


There was sooo much to look at here!


Outside the art market


This was a trash can along the sidewalk, near the art market. I guess if the dogs don't eat the offerings, they go here, in this trash!


Anyone need a basket?!






After doing some shopping, we hopped on the scooter and rode about 3 miles to a place where thousands of Heron's fly to at 6:00pm EVERYNIGHT! The locals believe they are the spirits of the deceased. It was incredible! They filled the trees down this entire road!


A Heron, sitting in the rice fields...


We rode for a while, down this narrow road, through the village where the locals live. I had gotten off the bike to take a picture of a home and Aaron said, "Hey look above you! There's bananas!"


I asked Aaron to stop the scooter for a quick second so I could take his picture...


... and this is the nice scar I'll have to commemorate the moment! As I was getting off the scooter, my leg touched the exhaust! Ouch!!!


We stopped at a little roadside snack bar to grab some snacks! 1 small bag of chips and a coke, all for the the measley price of .40 cents!!!


Which, of course, we had to toast to!

The road was gorgeous, and was covered in rice paddies!








Can you believe this woman?! I can barely steady a book on my head and stand still!


We're becoming experts at navigating around this country! Somehow we made it back into town! :)


We stopped into this little restaurant for some Babi Guling (Pig roasted on a stick!)





After dinner, we walked over to the Palace.

Earlier in the day, we had been solicited to purchase tickets for this show, inside the Palace courtyard! 80,000 rupiah (about $10.00) But, when we walked by the palace after dinner, the doors were wide open, so we walked right in! We got to watch the show for free!!!




It was a great adventurous day!! We're hoping to have just as much adventure today, mixed with some relaxation! I'm off to get my 11:00am massage! :)