in a place where 1 USD = 10,000 Rp, what more is there to talk about?

we arrived in Bali and headed to Ubud, a central town about 45 minutes from Denpasar. Ubud has a ton of good restaurants and a ton of shops, but none of it feels overwhelming. there's charm to spare everywhere you look! the architecture was awesome, the wood carvings on EVERY corner are amazing (but too big to carry in a backpack for 6 more months...). really there isn't anything wrong with Ubud! we rented a scooter and drove to Gunung Kawi, a temple of 7 meter high stone carvings in the side of mountains created for some 11th century royals... maybe doesn't sound that awesome, but i promise, it was pretty unreal to be standing beside these things!

from Ubud, we headed northwest to a coastal town called Lovina. pretty sleepy little town, but PACKED with touters... we opted to stay outside of town at a place called Kubu Lalang which was the best decision we've ever made in our lives. for $17/night we got a two story bungalow complete with a daybed porch (2 of them actually), a fridge, an open air ocean stone bathroom and a private beach! let me repeat, FOR 17 DOLLARS A NIGHT!!!!!!!!! i thought i had died and gone to cheapo heaven. we were then addicted to Lovina and ended up staying for quite a while. one morning we took a boat out for the sunrise and breakfast--saw some dolphins!

after we decided that our lives could not be permanently set up in Lovina, we packed up and headed to Lombok for the Gili Islands. we took a ferry for about 7 hours, but it was very much worth it. the Gilis are three islands with distinctively different attitudes. we spent the first two nights on Gili Trawangan (the "party" island where EVERYWHERE offers multiple dishes/drinks with "magic mushrooms"). we celebrated matt's 27th birthday there by renting bikes and circumventing the entire island. that night we had some delicious sushi on the beach and birthday ice cream! a bit different than the normal Fern Lake birthday celebration, but festive nonetheless... the next day we hopped over to another of the Gilis--Gili Meno... we got a large bungalow there and set up camp for the next few days... Meno was much quieter and smaller than Trawangan with gorgeous beaches, which was a nice way to end our short summer....

we're headed to Australia in two days where we'll be doomed for the cold weather until mid-October when we head to Tahiti... hope all is well on ya'lls side! update us when you get a chance! until next time.... love--cat (& matt, who is an old man now.)