Ubud Day 2-3

Day 2

This morning we got to ride an elephant! I was surprised how good Connor was the whole time. He was quiet taking it all in and never tried to squirm away. 

It was fun and a cool thing we can say we did but I don't think these animals were treated very humanely. See the rod the trainer is holding? He said he uses it to keep control of the elephant. When it wasn't doing what it was supposed to it got a thump with the dull side but if he really acted up it was a spike in the head. Sad. 

 After, they had some animals we checked out. Connor loved this monkey. 

Checking out the monkey again. 

After Connor took a much needed and good long nap we went to the Sacred Monkey Forest. Connor did NOT like these monkeys that could run around him and made noise. 

We made to to have all our food packed up and out of sight but over looked a little toy tomato in Logan's side pocket of his backpack! 

It pulled it out and then didn't want to give it back - all the while Connor is freaking out and crying! The little toy tomato is velcroed together and the monkey got the two halves apart (something Connor can't do) but was disappointed it was not food. One of the staff had to come get it back and break up the monkeys fighting over it. Too much excitement! 

I liked the little babies. 

Walking around we found this amazing bridge! 

After the Monkey Forest, we saw the free part of the imperial palace. Apparently the Bali Royal family still lives here.

Then we went to the Ubud market! It was awesome! I got to bargain for the first time. It wasn't as hard as I thought. They expect it and a few times they told me the price and then said "ask me your price" "I make you a good deal". I must not be too bad at it because I think every time I got them down to my initial offer. I was advised to start with half the price. Also you starting to walk away really does work every time and they call out "ok, your price". 

I bout Connor the cutest pants! At a good deal of course:)

Day 3

This was kinda our cultural day. Started out with banana pancakes! Really good!

Our rooms bathroom door was frosted glass. It didn't fool Connor; he knew I was in there.

I love the statues that are in the center of most of the larger intersections. 

We had a new driver today. He asked if we wanted to see a Balinese home. Sure we said, so he took us to tour his home! It was really cool to see inside the little complex of houses. Several families all live together in their own houses close together. Our driver said that 7 families lived with him. First he showed us a statue at the entrance and told us how it kept black magic away. They believe in white and black magic so there were lots of things that they did daily to protect themselves. Then he showed us the family temple. There they pray and leave offerings to the 3 main Hindu god as well as several to their ancestors. 

Couple of the houses in a row.

This was the kitchen! He apologized that it was a little dirty. Can you imagine someone really cooking in here? He said they also have kitchens in their houses for prep work. 

This is our driver talking about his fruit trees. He said they planted fruit trees so that when they don't have money they can take the fruit to the market and sell it. Such a different way of living but I'm pretty impressed with their self reliance. They had jackfruit, mango, star fruit, papaya and a few others. 

After that we went to the Holy Spring Water Temple (Tirta Empul) - one of the most sacred sites in Bali. We got another guy to give us a tour and he did a beautiful job explaining the traditions and beliefs of Hinduism. It was interesting hearing about the similar elements of our beliefs. The people come here to cleanse themselves. They stand under each fountain and pray and wash themselves.

To get in you have to wear a sarong to show God that you have covered all your unclean parts.

Here is the natural spring the water comes from. 

Our last stop was the Tagalalang rice terrace fields. This was one of the things I wanted to see the most and it was not disappointing. It was however hard to get down into. It was a very steep hill and just had warn dirt/mud paths that were for the farmers but not really the tourists carrying babies. We made it anyway. It was so beautiful!

On our way back up we passed a restaurant on the side of the hill. We hadn't had lunch so we stopped and enjoyed the view. 

This is where we ate. 

View of the other side of the restaurant. 

After that we drove back towards the airport. Our flight was at 1am so we got one last hotel. It was across from the airport and you only paid for 7 hours at a time. It was nice at least getting a few hours. 

When we were setting up Connors crib we heard the Muslim call for prayer. It was interesting. I've never heard it in real life before.

Connor kept himself busy by exploring the room and he found this notepad and a pencil. I don't think he has ever seen me use a pencil so I was so impressed that he totally did this all by himself! 

Flying back was hard. Connor and me started having some digestive problems (that happens when you go to third world countries) and we all were so tired. At least Connor slept all but the last 20 minutes of our long flight! Yay baby! 

The hard part was the 5 hour layover in Hong Kong. Next time we go we want to actually see disneyland and not just the airport. 

At least Connor had a good time making friends. I think he is in a lot of Hong Kongese Instagrams now. I'm glad he is not very shy!

It was good to be home!! Connor loved seeing all his toys we were all in bed by 8:30 and didn't get up till 10 when Connor woke up! It felt so good! Connor had really bad diaper rash (traveling is really hard on him) so he is getting so air time.