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. 

Bali day 6

Last day here in our place on the coast. This afternoon we will drive up to Ubud in the mountains. It is more of the cultural/artsy center for the island - kinda like Santa Fe. 

Last morning walk here. 

Chickens everywhere. These were really pretty roosters. 

I feel like this was our "how it's made" day. 

The owner of our villa came by to check on us and was like oh yeah, I also own a purse factory right down the road too feel free to check it out. I'm not sure what I was expecting but this was pretty quaint to be a factory. They were working on snake skin bags! There were a coupe sewing machines behind that brink wall with people on them, then the open door to the left was the "inventory" but really just a few shelves with stuff randomly piled on. 

On our way up to Ubud we stopped at several other places. First we went to a silver jewelry store. We got to see how they were made and then check out the gallery. I wanted to get more but apparently the smallest size they make is a 6. I'm about a 4 1/2 and even though they will resize it in store, all the ones I loved couldn't be (too small of brackets). 

I felt cool cat l've totally done stuff like this before in my 3D art class in jr high. 

Then got to see how the Batik fabrics were made. And I don't mean a bunch of machinery pumping out bolts at a time. It was real people PAINTING them by hand! Sorry mom, these were much more expensive then I was thinking. But apparently this was the more expensive place and our driver might be able to take me to a cheaper one if we have the time before we leave. 

Our last place was a wood carving store. Pretty sure our driver was just taking us to the most expensive shops but these we the most amazing wood carvings I've ever seen! 

Anyone have $16,000 usd I could have for this wall piece?! It was crazy how detailed it was! 

Connors first horse ride! Haha tomorrow we are going to ride elephants and I think it is funny that the first real animal Connor will get to ride is not a pony or horse but an elephant! He is so lucky! And cute. Oh how I love him! 

Our new place we are staying was not quite what I expected. Nice shared villa/spa but I was hoping we could put Connor in the second room but there is no air conditioning in there so we will all be sharing the bedroom. Also apparently there is a common room above ours. Loud people. I hate sharing. 

See the water. It is actually filled with fish! And the overflow goes outside and turns into a water feature for the pool. Pretty cool. See the little coffee table with the glass top (that we learned was unattached)? That was the first thing we asked the staff to remove from our bedroom so Connor doesn't break it. So glad we won't have to worry about that again while we are here. 

After check in we went to find dinner. I feel like it is usually hit or miss when we are on vacation but so far all the food here in Bali has been great! The random place we stopped at tonight was no exception. It was called Food Fusion and my chicken avocado curry and fresh watermelon juice was amazing (and less then $5)! Connor thoroughly enjoyed the watermelon garnish on my drink too. He really loves watermelon! Too bad it is so expensive in Japan. 

Bali Days 4-5

Day 4

Today was Sunday so we just relaxed and hung out. Here are a few more pictures of our villa. 

Street entrance. 

One of the bedrooms. 

Living area with kitchen in back. 

Connor didn't seem to be feeling good today. Another reason to take it easy. He felt hot to me so I just let him run around in his diaper. Rocks and splashing his hands in the pool = happy boy. 

Back in the AC to cool off. I thought it was cute him reading with his dad. 

Here is some of the Balinese money we have. We pull a million or two out at a time. Just for perspective 100,000 is about $7.50 USD. The 2000 equals about 15 cents. Tonight dinner was $30,000 or $2.23 USD. 

Connor was the happiest today in the pool! He looked so relaxed and and loved being pushed around by his dad. It was a hot day but most of the pool was in the shade of that tree so it was a perfect activity! 

After Connor's afternoon nap we walked down to the beach to watch the sunset again. 

Since our main living area is open to the air we had had lots of visitors. Mostly geckos and lizards but also toads, frogs, ants (a really big one climbed into my clothes when I was going to the bathroom-literal ants in my pants) and some other little critters. One lizard that's been hanging out is nearly a foot long! 

Day 5

We went shopping! It took forever to get there (construction/traffic) but it was worth it! Maybe not for Connor and Logan but I had a good time. While I checked out the batiks and stuff Connor got a lot of loving! More then once we had to wipe red lipstick off his cheeks. 

I think he took it rather well. He only cried once when they turned away from us and got in his face but I saved him real fast so he was ok. 

Before shopping we went to the beach for our morning walk. On our way we saw rice being dried in the middle of the road because why not. 

Look brains! Actually I think it was a type of coral. It was definitely alive so we threw it back in. 

Not really any shells to be seen on this beach...until I spotted this guy! It was huge and not broken! I hope we can get it home.

I love the black sand. 

Sunset over the rice fields looking out towards the ocean.