Bali, Indonesia

I think Bali is my new, absolute favorite tropical place in the world... which says a lot since I love tropical beaches and have allowed myself to travel to quite a few. While Molly was here visiting, we went to Bali for one week. Bali honestly has one of the richest cultures I've been around, the people were so smiley and friendly, and the landscape was just so bright and beautiful. I loved the hot humid weather, too, and the cheap food (cut me some slack--I've been living in Australia on the flailing American dollar!!) and Bintang beer just sealed the deal on winning over my heart! My deep love for the Balinese culture, landscape, and people actually surprises me because I unfortunately got my purse stolen from under my table while at a pretty nice, seemingly safe restaurant... I was afraid the bitterness from that would accidentally ruin the trip! However, the Balinese beauty still won out. These photos below will definitely help you understand why!

Markets of Kuta Beach, Bali 

Our first delicious, authentic meal in the Kuta food court!

Mt. Kintamani--Look familiar to anyone from the movie "Eat, Pray, Love"?? 

Bike riding tour through 1000 year old ancient villages (can only get to them by foot or bike) and through the greenest, lush jungles you've ever seen!

Oooooh my god, that's a huge spider. 

Learned about rice paddies and how to harvest rice!

 

Cute local kid showing me up with his motorized bike...

Ancient temple outside of Ubud

We got to ride Sumatran elephants!!! One-tusked Rahma was the best one of the whole elephant park!

The elephants were my favorite animals, by far.

 

Up close and personal.

Jimbaran Bay 

Watched the Barong dance--it's like an opera/play more than dancing, but the costumes were so ornate and colorful. The moral of this specific tale is the triumph of good (the barong) over evil!!

We went on a great driving tour with Wayan, whom we met on our bike tour the day before, and he took us to someone's house to see true Balinese culture! 

 Beautiful temple

Wayan taught us the Hindu way to pray... Indonesia is the #1 country with the highest population of Muslims, but about 75% of people on the island of Bali practice Hindu.

Lunch over a gorgeously green rice paddy 

 Lunch by the Ubud Palace

Trying Lewac coffee right by a lewac! (A lewac is a little fox-like animal who eats coffee beans and Indonesians make this gourmet coffee from the coffee beans found in its feces... sounds gross, but it's pretty tasty PLUS naturally decaffeinated, thanks to the lewac's digestive system haha!) 

Learning how to make Hindu offerings 

In Ubud, we stayed RIGHT by Monkey forest! They were everywhere! 

Shopping for silk scarves in the Ubud markets

The Sacred Monkey Forest was straight out of an Indiana Jones movie! SOOOO cool!

These monkeys were quite friendly and curious... I was very happy this purse had a zipper!