Sat 17th - Mon 19th May (Week 35)

Sat 17th - Spent the morning catching up on wifi etc after not really having any in Munduk, then headed out for lunch. Found a lovely little place, colonial feel with old typewriters and TVs etc, and had a great tapas-style Indonesian lunch, and a slice of the most amazing carrot cake we have ever tasted ! Looked in a few shops, then went to Monkey Forest for a couple of hours. There were some lovely temples, and it was surprisingly jungley, with a river running through it - right in the middle of Ubud ! Some cute baby monkeys, but also some big, aggressive ones which we stayed clear of. Met up with Saskia - a fellow traveller we met in Halong Bay, Vietnam, and have had virtually identical itineraries all the way down Laos, Cambodia, and even Myanmar and Indonesia ! We've met up a few times along the way, and again tonight for dinner to catch up and swap stories !

Sun 18th - Headed off at 9am for our day tour, starting with Goa Gajah Elephant Cave Temple. Quite a large area, with more to explore down a jungle path, but ran out of time and had to turn back. Then onto Gunung Kawi (Rocky temple) which was really impressive - some huge shrines carved out of the rock face, again in the jungle, with a lovely river running through it. Next was Tampaksiring (Holy Spring Temple) where we were lucky enough to see hundreds of locals all dressed up giving beautiful offerings, praying, and cleansing themselves in the crystal-clear pools. Spent an hour at a coffee plantation, learning about various fruits and spices etc they grew. We then tried 7 drinks - 4 coffee, 2 tea and a hot cocoa. Considering neither Brandon or I drink coffee, they were actually really good and we finished them all ! But they do add lots of extras like palm sugar, coconut milk, cinnamon, honey etc !! Drove up to Penelokan - a little village right on the crater rim of Mt Batur for great views of the volcano and the lake below. A final quick photo stop at a rice terrace (nothing in comparison to Jatiluwih), then home at 3pm. Spent the rest of the afternoon having a late lunch, shopping (bought a rashy each for our upcoming diving/snorkelling trips), booked a massage for tomorrow, and had a nice TexMex dinner.

Mon 19th - Dropped our passports off at the agency at 10am, filled in all the paperwork and handed over our wedge of cash, and now just have to leave it with them until its done - some 2-3 weeks later ! Went to have a look around Ubud Palace, and Pura Desa Ubud but could only really see them from the outside as they were all shut for the upcoming Galungan festival, but what we could see was very ornate and beautiful. Had a quick look at the pretty but small Pura Taman sarawati (water palace) and a few other temples we came across in the area. Spent an hour wandering around the tourist tat markets which is always dangerous and ended up buying 2 tops, a sarong each (for all the temples) and a mini surfboard souvenir ! Went back for more amazing carrot cake and Dadur Galung (coconut and palm sugar pancakes) for lunch and then spent a heavenly hour having a Balinese massage at a spa for £7 each. Perfect pressure, very fragrant oil, and thoroughly relaxing - bliss.