Bali - Beaches, Beers and Bustling Streets

We can't go anywhere in Indonesia without some kind of volcano related drama. Here we are in Bali with Gunung Agung threatening to blow after 50 years of inactivity. This meant that almost 150,000 people have been evacuated from their homes with no idea as to when they can return. For tourists like us it meant that Bali was slightly less busy, not that we could tell!

Our plan is to come back to the east side of Indonesia next year so our time in Bali was short and sweet. We stayed by Legian beach so we could experience some of the crazy Kuta life, but also escape to some quieter beaches up the coast. What we weren't prepared for was the Australian version of Zante with tacky bars and loud music everywhere. It really wasn't our thing and despite one fun night drinking on the town, we wished we were somewhere quieter. One day we visited the beach town of Canggu which we'd heard some cool things about. The huge waves crashing onto the long stretch of sand looked perfect for surfing, although after watching one guy snap his board in half we decided it wasn't our day to learn quite yet. 

We're going to have a whole section for the wonderful food we had here! It began in the Happy Buddha Vegetarian restaurant that served delicious tofu dishes for next to nothing. Ubud was amazing for veg food, in fact you can even get super healthy raw vegan food if that's your thing! We visited the Sawobali Vegan Buffet more than once and enjoyed their varied selection of tasty food which included jackfruit, tofu and tempeh. Another enjoyable meal was at Moksa, a fancy vegan restaurant where we had the yummy tofu curry and seitan ribs you can see below. 

Ubud was not what we expected as the streets were busy and clogged with tourist traffic. On our first day we went to visit the Monkey Forest where you can see the cheeky Macaques but watch out, they will definitely try to leap all over you. The Monkeys are so mischievous, it is their forest so enter at your own risk, and it was lovely to watch them scampering around and occasionally stealing things from tourists. It was also interesting to see their intricate social bonds including groups of mothers cuddling with their babies. 

The Balinese people have such a unique culture as they are Hindu whereas the majority of Indonesians are either Muslim or Christian. Canang Sari is a daily offering of flowers in palm leaves as a thanks for the peace in the world which you can find scattered all over the island. We visited some intriguing ancient temples which were fun to explore, to my amusement they also made Josh wear a skirt so he was sweating too as we walked up the steep steps. It's not a trip to Ubud unless you go and see the rice fields which were beautiful in the sunshine, if not a little overcrowded. Lastly was a visit to the magnificent waterfall which on that day was sadly too fierce to take a dip in but beautiful nevertheless. 

Can you go to Ubud without finding yourself in a Yoga class? Definitely avoidable but we had a fun time attending classes at the Yoga Barn with a few cringe worthy moments. Overall we were a little disappointed by Bali and although we'd like to see the north coast, it's not on our list to return here any time soon. One thing we adored were the happy, friendly local people who are coping with the influx of tourists to their island. Now on to our next adventure, some world class diving in Borneo!