Bali {day1}

We recently returned from the most amazing vacation of our lives {and I used to work for an airline, so I've been on quite a few vacations}.  I spent a lot of time researching and planning this trip and the only thing I would have changed was to stay longer!  This is the 1st trip I've taken where at the end I said, "I MUST return to this place".  My grandmother used to only watch movies one time, she'd refuse to watch a movie she'd already seen saying, "I already know what happens so I don't need to see it again, I'd rather watch one I haven't seen" and I have the same feelings toward most places I've visited; Spain, Puerto Rico, Australia, Czech Republic, etc.  All of those places were wonderful but I've tried the food, met the people, seen the sights so I'd rather go somewhere new and try new food, meet new people and see new sights.  Until now.  I cannot wait to return to the beautiful island of Bali!

After a couple of fairly long flights {we watched Dark Knight Rises "together" on our separate tv monitors}

 and a lay over in Seoul {where I found a Smoothie King and did a mini happy dance in the middle of the airport},

 we arrived, late, late at night and we were picked up at the airport by a driver our hotel sent.  On the drive to our hotel I was surprised at how dirty and run down most things were.  I know Indonesia is a "third world" country but I was still a bit shocked.  When our driver turned off a main road onto an unpaved dirt road just a few blocks from our hotel, I started to second guess the hotel I had selected based on online reviews.  Thankfully, upon arrival and during the duration of our stay, those thoughts were put to ease and I couldn't be happier with our my "hotel" choice.  In a quite area on a small piece of land with only 12 rooms that they don't rent to families with children, it was perfect for us.  The staff was incredibly attentive and willing to go above and beyond to insure we enjoyed our stay.

Legian Guest House

our room

the view from our room

Like I said, we arrived late at night and we only had 4 days on the island so we took off early the next morning to see the sights of Ubud.  Thanks to some advice I received on Trip Advisor, we hired a driver for the day.  I was a tad nervous to have some total stranger showing up at our hotel just hours after we arrived but luckily the people on TA were reliable.  We knew we wanted to see the Ubud market and we had reservations for a silver class in the afternoon but our driver, Dedy made some recommendations and definitely made our day better that it would have been without him.

Our 1st stop was the monkey forest, something that I thought we wouldn't have time for but Dedy knew the lay of the land better than I and assured me we had plenty of time. You could purchase bananas to feed the monkeys at the entrance but we decided just to watch other people feed them.

One of the monkeys took a liking to Jason

then started picking on him, hitting him on the head and pulling his ear

then out of no where, it leaned down and bit him on the arm!

 It even broke the skin!  Now he just has a giant bruise but I was pretty concerned when it 1st happened.

After the monkey scare, we walked from the park to the Ubud market

I picked up a few paintings and a dress while practicing my bargaining skills.  Next we stopped for lunch and a place called Oops where I had the best eggplant Parmesan I've ever eaten.  Jason had soup and a beer and I also had a Coke and our total bill was about $13 US!

After lunch, Dedy drove us over to the Chez Monique silver class we had signed up for.  For about $40US we each learned a little about silver and how jewelry is created and were able to make a piece of our design/choosing to take home.

 my hot sweaty self sawing out the shape for my piece

 Our instructor started this out for me then handed it over for me to finish.  1st swipe with the saw and I broke the blade!  Luckily after he replaced it I made it through the rest of it with out breaking any more tools! {not my original idea!  I saw something similar on etsy and decided to try to make it myself}

We were pretty pleased with our finished pieces

That night we had dinner on the beach

Since this happened to be Thanksgiving day and Thanksgiving is celebrated with a feast, we decided to have a non traditional Thanksgiving feast of our own that night, seafood!  One of the staff at our hotel suggested Cafe Jukung where we had prawn, lobster, fish, squid and mussels.  I stuck to the lobster, shrimp and fish which was all just ok.  It was good, just nothing spectacular. We still stuffed ourselves silly just like we would have at home =}

Day 2  ::  Day 3  ::  Day 4