Ubud is the town where anyone who aspires to open a spa should venture to. The village itself is the epitomy of what every spa should aspire to be, I mean this in the sense that the entire town is filled with quiet quaint spas with unbelieve service and prices. There is wonderful smelling incesence burning in the hundereds of temples throughout the village, beautiful flora and fauna in every cervice of the village (flowers and other fauna along with small pinches of food are offered to the Hindu gods many many times throughout the day so at the end of the day piles of flowers rest throughout the hundereds more likely thousands of places of worship, mind you these offereings are carried by Balinese women via basket on their head while wearing very traditional clothing) endless organic and healthy food choices, yoga studios overlooking the beautiful nature, amazing art work on every corner (yes we bought some!), so much natural beauty from the palm trees/banana trees/monkey forest , and the most beautiful rice paddies in Bali just a short bike ride out of the village and of course a great market to buy many cute odds and ends followed by many many botiques!
Our first nights arrival after touchdown in the Bali airport and a taxi with an hour of straight Balinese music we checked in to our very cute homestay (a hotel like guesthouse) it's not only a homestay but also a yoga studio and spa :)
We decided to find a good spa deal close by. We did! We both got a massage, facial, and pedicure for less than $30!! During the massage they put a cucumber mask onto our faces meaning they covered our faces in cucumbers, we tried very hard to keep the mask on but we both laughed hysterically at the thought of what we looked like. Afterwards it was time for dinner. We wandered around for all of 2 minutes when a young balinese guy approached us on his Moto and offered us a ride to a resturant. He is an artist in Ubud and quite interesting, after dinner he asked if we wanted to go where the locals go to get a drink... Um yes of course we do! We arrived at this bar where not only were we the only women we were the only non Balinese people! Haha! We drank the local liquor, Arak, and chatted with several Balinese boys for about 2 hours and decided it was time to call it a night :)
The next day we woke up early and headed via bicycle to the monkey forest. We saw about 30 small monkeys playing and cleaning each other! Then off for some market shopping! We bought art, clothing, and as much cute stuff as we could shove into our backpacks. Next we ate at a delicious adorable cafe and tried local red wine, much better than Thai red wine! We then headed for the rice paddies. About 20 minutes into the bike/walk we arrived to one of the most beautifully unique places I've ever seen. Gorgeous emerald green colored rice terraces lined by palm trees in a up hill fashion set against the darkening sky. We walked upward and ended up talking with a rice farmer, they cut us a coconut, we drank the milk, ate the meat, and even got dirty stepped into the mud, put on the straw hat and attempted to work in the rice paddy, not as easy as it looks!!! The kicker was when we were done we wondered if we should offer the farmers some money, so we did and apparently it wasent enough so she asked for more (only $2) but still I guess nothing is for free... Hahaha
That night we went to a traditional Balinese dance where the female dancers move thier eyes and fingers in such a fast synchronized way, very neat! We went to a small bar afterward and played jenga with some Balinese boys... They had never heard of it before :)
Today we made the most of our morning and took a 2 hour private yoga/meditation class (8 USD per person) where I accidentally fell asleep... Oopps not good for my shockra I guess... Haha and now we're headed via boat ride to Gili islands off the coast of Lombok the island next to Bali. Currently were laying on the sand deck watching beautiful Indonesian islands :)
Ubud was AMAZING! Next update:Diving for Christmas in Gili!
Merry Christmas!!!!!
Xoxo
Jenny and Colie
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