Saren Indah Hotel Ubud

After Lombok we made our way back to Bali to spend three days up in the town of Ubud. It's a stark contrast to the beach party atmosphere of Kuta, and it's the place to really experience the culture of Bali. I had been looking forward to coming here ever since I read about it in "Eat, Pray, Love" as the place the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, spends her time in Bali. This is also where Lauren did her yoga retreat, so already being familiar with the town so she was able to take us to some of her ...

Ahh.... So THIS is what Bali feels like! We may be inland (i.e. no sea) but Ubud seems to meet my "expectations" of Bali (so far anyway!) Unbelievably lush, green, tropical, jungle-like... laid back, beautiful, kind, soft spoken people... It's a far cry from the streets of Kuta. I already love it here and we've been in Ubud for maybe six hours. We took a taxi from Kuta to Ubud this morning - maybe not the most cost conscience thing to do but split three ways not too shabby at all. For the con...

We are loving the more relaxed pace of Ubud - that is for certain! No more hotel buffet breakfasts, rather we get served (mmmm banana pancakes and pineapple juice!) our breakfast poolside every morning. We also get to enjoy a beautiful walking "commute" into town - right through the Sacred Monkey Sanctuary (monkeys roaming free everywhere!) Returing to our hotel in the evening, we find the mosquito net on our bed (more of a beautiful canopy than a net and not many mosquitos anyway :-)), and a...

Wow - I am officially T - 26 hrs to departure from Ubud. Time has absolutely flown by. In a way it is fantastic that we saved the best for last (IMHO anyway); at the same time, it does make it much more difficult to leave. I would absolutely come back to Bali in a heartbeat. We have had such a wonderful time here and I am convinced that it is due in large part to the fantastic Balinese people. As I've mentioned before, people here are extremely kind, laid back soft spoken, friendly, and go ab...

"Fresh" from our 1/2 hr free in room massages the previous evening, the three of us were psyched for our last tour together... a cycling/cultural tour. We were picked up bright and early by the most energetic, funny, and crazy tour guide ever and met up with our other three "tour mates" - a woman from Vancouver and two girls from England. Trev was feeling like quite a stud muffin in our little hen cycling party. That plus his yellow bike helmet (a la Lance :-)), I imagine he was feeling like ...