Unfortunately our trip to 'relaxing' Ubud ended up being rather exhausting.
Our bad luck continued when our transport didn't turn up AGAIN!! We had been packed and waiting at 9am. This time it was down to our hotel we were staying in, not the transport company! Eventually we managed to get a mini bus for 11am... Which didn't turn up until 12pm.
When we finally arrived in Ubud, our driver dropped us at the furthest point from where we were staying... Which meant a long sweaty walk with our backpacks. We were very pleased when we eventually arrived at the homestay, which was a traditional family home with lovely bungalow style rooms set around the family temple.
We now had a 1 and a half days less in Ubud than expected, and we are now actually on a bit of a schedule with time flying by, so we headed straight back out to The Sacred Monkey Forest. Samuel found it hilarious how on edge I was for the whole half hour we were in there... Although I don't think he was much better than me! One of the things we have discovered since being away is that monkeys certainly aren't our favourite animals.
When our nerves had finally calmed and our feet were sore from exploring the area (which was packed with people), we finished the day with an early dinner followed by an early night.

The next day ran a bit smoother. We booked a cycling tour, which didn't actually involve all that much cycling, but was a brilliant day...
Balinese coffee and tea tasting (Samuel stuck with the hot chocolate), breakfast overlooking Mount Batur, cycling and walking through the rice paddies and villages.
In the afternoon I did a class at the well known Yoga Barn whilst Samuel found himself somewhere to get a nice cake...They are pretty good at them in Bali.

We weren't leaving until 3pm today so we had another early morning to take a 8.5km walk through Ubud which was recommended in the Lonely Planet. I don't know what they were thinking! The first quarter of the walk was lovely and we stopped for a drink with a beautiful view. We should have turned around there as the rest of it was mostly on busy main roads and the sun was beating down. We were so happy to finally get back to central Ubud and sit down.

Despite being tiring, Ubud is a lovely place (Samuel may disagree), filled with rice paddies, temples, yoga, art and cafés. I think it would be much more relaxing at a different time of year when there are much less people around!

We are now back in Kuta for the night, as we had to collect our passports, before we leave Bali for the Gili Islands in the morning :)