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. 

Bali Days 2-3

Day 2

They make us breakfast every morning of toast, eggs and fresh fruits. Very good and Connor loves making a mess out of his rice and watermelon. After breakfast we went walking around. Down one of the allies was this beautiful little building. 

Lots of stray dogs here. Connor loves everyone of them! When he sees one he waves his little arms as fast as he can and tries to run after them. Luckily they are all very tame. They seem to have better manners then most house dogs I've ever met. 

Three minutes walking in one direction from our villa is the ocean and the other way are beautiful rice fields. I'm looking forward to the terraced rice fields when we go to stay in Ubud at the end of our trip. Apparently that is where they filmed the last part of Eat Pray Love.

The first day here when we were given a tour by the villa owner her staff gave us coconut water. Connor loves it and I've read about how good it is at keeping you hydrated. We have been spends lot of time outside and I've worried about him so I asked if she could get us some more. I have her 1000 IDR (about 75 cents) and she came back with an actual green coconut! I honestly wasn't expecting that. She cut the top off and we all had as fresh as it comes coconut water.

The flesh tasted like coconut jello. 

After that we put Connor down for a nap and both got full body messages on the front deck of our villa. Seriously this place is one indulgence after another and when it only costs $14 you really can. 

After dinner ($5 total for fruit drinks 2 appetizers and 2 entrées- still in shock how cheap food is here compared to Japan) we swam in our private pool. 

Man I just feel like I'm bragging about everything. Sorry guys it's just amazing here! 

Day 3

Today we got to go to the turtle conservation and education center. There we adopted 2 baby green sea turtles! They were hatched at the conservation center and at one month old they were ready to be released so that they have a better chance of survival. 

We named them after Connor's favorite cousins (just seemed to fit considering they were green sea turtles)! The lighter and a bit bigger one we named Kara and the little one on the right above is Ava. You can see the names on our certificates. 

After picking out turtles out we then drove to the beach to release them into the wild! I feel like these are the best pets ever! Think about it, we can always tell Connor how he has a pet sea turtle and it can live just as long as him (100years) but we don't  have to ever worry about feeding or cleaning up after it. They said in 20 years they will come back to this same spot to lay eggs so if he wants to see them again we can tell him he can come back after his mission.

There Kara the turtle goes! She was fast and swam out right away! 

And here is Ava the turtle! 

She was a little shy at first but figured it out eventually. It was so fun to hold and release them! Probably not quite as cool as Shelby's experience but pretty close! 

Walking back to the car with our driver Made. We walked by a group of people and all the sudden they were taking pictures of all the babies! Haha. 

So many scooters everywhere! I would be so scared to drive one!

Our last stop for the day was at a temple complex called Tanah Lot. It was beautiful to watch the sunset here! 

Below is the actual temple out on the right. At high tide it is an island. 

Lots of offerings below. They are in front of almost every building including our villa. Our driver said it was part of a Hindu ceremony.

We walked down to the temple. I love this pic of Connor and I.

Watching the sun set on the other side of the complex. Connor fell asleep on the walk back. 

Just as the sun's last light was shining out from the clouds we looked over to the left of the beach and something unexpected happened! Thousands of bats started flying out of a cave just over the water! It was amazing and went on forever. I've never seen anything like it! Here is a link to the video I took. Sorry if the bats are hard to see - it all looks very small on my phone.  http://youtu.be/JfT1m94LIEg

After sunset and the bats we got some dinner and of course another young green coconut to share.