Avoid the Bali Belly!

Ahhhh Bali. The land of orchid toting Hindus, gorgeous temples, delicious food, incredible shopping. The vacation from vacation. Maybe this sounds crazy to you, but we really needed a vacation. Traveling is hard work sometimes. I can't think of a day we slept past 5:30AM recently. There's A LOT to do in Asia. After an oddly loud Air Asia flight, we got to Bali, cabbed it to Kuta, and searched endlessly in the heat for a place to crash. Kuta was a bit much. Too much like Sea Side prom weekend for our liking. Maybe because we are no longer 18? Whatever the reason, we had to leave. We headed out the following morning without so much as seeing the beach and made it to Ubud. Ubud is a few hours north, had (slightly) cooler weather, and a ton to do! We wound up staying way longer than expected. Very Elizabeth Gilbert of us. The touts at the bus station ended up bringing us to a wonderful place called Brata II to stay. M arrived first on her moto and when P showed up to find her, she went the wrong way because clearly the gorgeous temple she was about to enter was not a guesthouse. Not a temple it turns out. Just an amazing guesthouse. Check out the pics and see for yourself. M and I discovered some wonderful nooks and corners around Ubud, took an Indonesian cooking lesson, and a silversmith lesson. Watch out for our new businesses when we return! We also hired a driver for the day to take us around the island to the incredible temples of Bali. Goa Gajah was our first stop and was set within a small river valley surrounded by thick vegetation. Tampak Siring, the spring water temple, was set among gorgeous scenery and had constantly running springs where worshipers were gathered for some ritual Hindu bathing. The Mother Temple, Besakih, was incredible. Though we were plagued by crazy downpours, the after rain photos made waiting out the rain worthwhile. Our last day in Ubud was spent shopping and shooing off monkeys. Never in my life have I seen so many monkeys in one place. The Monkey Forest in Ubud is more than we bargained for, quite scary as a matter of fact. A monkey jumped on P's lap, and began to climb up her arm as she flung her arm so hard the monkey went flying. A bit of a scare sent us running out of that Monkey Forest never to return! Over a week in Bali without seeing the beach made P more than ready to leave Ubud. Unfortunately, finding paradise in Bali was a bit more difficult than expected. We heard rumor Sanur was beautiful so we hopped the bus, walked to the beach with our packs, then turned around and waited for the next bus. Nice beach? Yes. Paradise? No. Off to the edge of Kuta where we heard rumors of gorgeous beaches. If the rumor was gorgeous garbage then Kuta was where it's at. Left Kuta due to the strip of garbage separating the sand from the water and next headed to Pandang Bai. Normally Pandang Bai is only known as a travel hub to catch the ferry to Lombok. And we wondered if we should even spill the secret or keep it to ourselves. But dear friends, we will share the secret. Up hill, through the woods, and down the steps leads to Blue Lagoon. AKA: Paradise. A gorgeous secluded beach, flanked by trees, rocks, and coral, with white sand, clear water, a handful of tourists and handful of sarong sellers. And thats all. Now shhh. Go visit yourself and keep it quiet. We stayed at a wonderfully fancy hotel called Padang Bai Beach Bungalow, though we are not sure why the word bungalow is in there. This was probably the nicest place with the fanciest swimming pool we have ever stayed. We did nothing but relax for 3 days. A vacation from our vacation. Can it get any better?