Ubud Bali - Day 1

We woke early unfamiliar with the early sunrise and number of strange jungle noises, so from 5 am to 7am we generally chilled and enjoyed a catch up on wifi etc. after that we headed to breakfast a sumptuous a la carte affair with mostly local dishes and some western ones too.

As we had time due to our early start we both went to a Yoga class, me for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised how hard work it was and enjoyable too. It was a bit sore and too hard in places though! After this we caught the shuttle into Ubud and started exploring this famous setting high in the hills of Bali. Our first stop was the Enchanted Monkey Forest, a strip of jungle that is home not only to a number of temples but also a large group of monkeys, which of course draw the tourists in. The Monkeys were very cute but were very animated in trying to get any food, which some tourists had bought bananas off the locals to get better photos. Their anger was also seen when an Aussie lady inadvertently stood on ones tail when taking a photo. Said monkey went berserk and went at her. Luckily she was wearing a flowing dress and all he did was bit this for a while! We enjoyed the walk although at one stage there was a commotion and around 20 Monkeys were running at me, a bit of a brown shorts moment if truth be told!

We then had lunch in the Three Monkeys a nice wee coffee shop restaurant with views over the rice paddies. Food was a bit pricey for the area although tasty and big. We finished our walk through Ubud and then headed up with a driver to Gunang Kawi a famous temple with aspects carved out of the rocks. It was a walk down 300 steps with a number of hawkers including those renting sarongs (one was very rough with Amanda) but it didn't ruin the experience. The walk up was a bit tougher though!

We then retuned home for a wash and a rest but managed to experience a wonderful sight when about 20 Monkeys enjoyed the last of the evening sun in front of our room, just magical!

We then headed into Ubud to Naughty Niri's for dinner, succulent BBQ ribs which were finished nicely with some Bintang. Naughty Niri's is famous in these parts and it was lovely (a bit strangely is built like a shack!) although my ribs had a large piece of cartilage that ruined it somewhat!

Spa day tomorrow!