Ubud, Bali
jungle paradise
Living down under, the chances of hearing an Aussie rave about Bali [one of the Indonesian islands for those of you w the same unfortunate lack of geographical knowledge as me] was obnoxiously high. So naturally we made this go to vacay spot the first stop on our Asia itinerary. There's a saying that goes 'you haven't really been to Bali unless you've been in a motorbike accident'. Luckily for me, Frank made us both feel v Balinese by crashing us on our first day. Despite our little scoot mishap and minor abrasions, we managed to knock off our top Ubud adventures in the v short time we had. So here they are. We also made sure to squeeze in a good chunk of time for some pool loungin, eating & shopping of course. [Random fact: fresh squeezed juices in Bali are bomb. Order the watermelon. Do it.]
We snagged a gorgeous AirBnb to crash in while visiting Ubud. I'll be honest the only reason I booked this place was for the jungle infinity pool. Like come on what could be better than that?
The Sacred monkey Forest
So honestly I rly dislike monkeys but you can't visit Ubud without making a trip to this incredible sanctuary. Besides Frank was dying to hang out with these sneaky little thieves. Yes, I said thieves. These seemingly adorable little guys will snatch up all your goodies so be careful what you bring along if you're planning a visit. We witnessed one unzip a man's knapsack and thieve his bag of chips right out. One little bugger was extremely set on gaining ownership of my GoPro and latched onto it with its impressively sharp teeth and refused to let go for a good five minutes. Thank god Frank was the one playing tug-o-war and not me or I would've screamed. [Side note: If you are visiting and say your fav pair of sunnies get jacked, don't panic. The local children supposedly know how to get your stolen items back but they will be expecting some $$$ in return.] But aside from their klepto habits, it was quite an amazing experience seeing the monkeys in the wild and swinging through the trees. The Sacred Monkey Forest is also home to three beautifully crafted Hindu temples and an incredible stone dragon bridge. For those of you wanting to get a good photo op, there are locals scattered throughout the forest selling bunches of bananas. Just be careful some of these little guys get pretty aggressive over the food and flash their vampire like teeth if you get too close. But others will happily climb on you as you can see from the photo of one lounging on Frank's shoulder. [I refused to let them touch me but Frank was all for being a human jungle gym]
tegallalang rice terrace
Unfortunately for us, our scoot crash took place on the way to finding this beauty. So once we finally arrived, we were dripping blood and hobbling along like an extra in a zombie movie. But it was beyond worth it. I can hardly describe how breathtaking the view was. Sadly my pictures do it no justice whatsoever and a proper photoshoot was out of the question given how we looked. So do yourself a favor and go see this awe-inspiring view for yourself [just make sure you watch out for the huge piles of rocks and mud while you're speeding along the windy roads -_- ].
goa gajah
Also known as the 'Elephant Cave', a historical meditation grounds from about the 11th century. Its a good place to visit to get a little taste of what ancient Bali was like. There are local women who will bless you, a bathing pool that you can take a dip in and Hindu influenced relics and carvings to peep around at. Heads up since it is a temple, there are dress regulations but they do provide sarongs at the entrance for the tourists who decide to show a little more leg like Frank.
