Padang Padang

Padang Padang is just one of the famous surf breaks in Bali, it is also one of the most beautiful and unique beaches. There was no swell the day we went so people were just sunning on the beach and enjoying the calm waters. You have to hike down this crazy narrow stairway through the cliffs to get to the beach. Its a little adventure!

We heard about this new restaurant/bar called the Rock bar at the Ayana resort which happens to be close to Padang Padang. If you have reservations for dinner they will let you go enjoy sunset on their private beach and we took full advantage of that. We ended up going back a second night with Coco because we had such a great time. The perfect place to enjoy a sunset. Beautiful!

The Ayana Resort
Exploring the rocks and cliffs on the private beach

Sunset & the Rock bar at night as we were leaving

Hiking down to Padang Padang through the narrow cliffs

Coco making friends where ever she goes

Back to the Ayana for the second night, perfect place for sunset

Surfing Canggu

Table with a view?

We heard this little restaurant had a great view but you would have never known it from the street entrance! We ate lunch and sipped fresh watermelon juice that looked like art itself while watching this hardworking man in bare feet, hand trim the grass/weeds on the terrace to feed his livestock. This man had to be in his mid to late 60's and Ben wanted to see how heavy his baskets were.... probably 50-75 lbs. Impressive.

The REAL Bali...

I am so behind on our blog but I feel like I have to finish a couple posts about our Bali trip before I can move on!

Ben LOVES riding his mountain bike and he searched high and low to find a tour company or bike company in Bali to take him on a REAL mountain bike ride. There are lots of tour groups claiming to offer bike rides through the "real Bali" but with names like "Happy Bike" offering bikes with baskets on the front, they weren't going to cut it. Ben found a group that had actual mountain bikes and sounded like they had scouted out some amazing single track trails so we decided to give it a shot and were not disappointed! It was one of the coolest things I have done and a highlight of this trip for sure. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to the starting point, a remote village high up in the mountains, these villagers rarely see tourists and were very interested in who and what we were doing. I was sitting in the truck trying to braid my hair before we started and had 3 villagers right next to my open window watching my every move, all smiles and they would say "hello" (the only english word they knew) every time I looked up. These were not kids, they were grown men and women, native Balinese. We were at around 11,500 feet elevation and it was nice and cool when we started riding. Over the next 4 hours we traversed down these amazing foot paths that have been used for centuries to get from village to village. We rode through fields of flowers grown to be used in the offerings the Balinese make and give several times a day. We rode through the most amazing bamboo forests, the villagers were hard at work harvesting the bamboo to sell for building material. We came upon a group of villagers roasting a pig, they were all sitting around chatting and watching their soon to be feast cook to perfection. We saw women hard at work beating their rice and brushing it onto tarps to dry in the sun. We rode through the rice paddies and watched a group of villagers dressed in there best clothes going to a ceremony at their local temple. These women of all ages were beautiful and carrying a huge assortment of food in amazing arrangements balanced on their heads, again offerings for the ceremony. Our final destination, a serene white sand beach of course.

I won the bet...

Ben thought Coco would LOVE Santa.... he was wrong. At least not this day!

More Ubud

Ubud's Dirty Duck Diner... I sampled the specialty. Probaby won't try it again :)
This restaurant is surrounded by rice fields and lotus ponds, beautiful!

Taking a frozen yogurt break on a very hot day in Ubud

Ubud

Ubud is an amazing town in the middle of the island of Bali. For more than a century, it has been the island’s preeminent centre for fine arts, dance and music. Ubud is arguably the best place to use as a base if you’re visiting Bali; if you’re looking for culture, comfort, nature and inspiration. Ubud is surrounded by most of the things that bring people to Bali – scenic rice fields, small villages, art and craft communities, ancient temples, palaces, rivers, cheap accommodation and unique luxury hotels. And it’s central location makes it easy to get from Ubud to the mountains, beaches, and major towns.

I LOVE Ubud. It is really everything I love about Bali. I tried to talk Ben into staying here for a week of our trip but since it's an hour drive to the surf it was a tough sell! So I settled for 3-4 day trips instead.

We took Coco with us this first day and went to the Sacred Monkey Forest. It is an ancient temple in the village of Padangegal. It is really a beautiful forest but I find it a little creepy! There are HUNDREDS of monkeys (long-tailed macaques) running around. Old Grandpa monkeys, brand new baby monkeys, naughty teenage monkeys, so many! The village people sell you a bunch of bananas for a few cents when you enter and you better beware if you are holding them because the monkeys are not shy! They will climb you, look in your bag, take your hat, glasses etc until you give them the food! Ben thinks it's a great game and loves to tease them. When we visited 3 years ago we laughed so hard. This time was similar. I wasn't sure how Coco would react but she felt more like me and wanted to see the monkeys from a distance. Coco was a star here too and we were stopped a few times by some Chinese tourists and Indian tourists that all wanted to take her picture! So funny, but those blue eyes are pretty amazing!

Home Sweet Home

Yes, we are home and have been for a week now. We flew in at midnight on the 28th and have spent the past week trying to get back on UTAH time. It was probably the most challenging thing about this adventure! Poor Coco was up at 3:00 a.m. running around and WIDE awake for two nights after we got home, wondering why it was dark outside and why we couldn't go play in the wa wa (pool). It is amazing how much she has grown up since we have been gone. She is taller and running around, talking and so much fun!

I am not done posting about our trip, it was just to much to try and do it while we were there. So, expect several more to come...