Ubud and Nyepi

We arrived in Bali at about 12:00am and were met at the airport by Nyoman, our host for the next few days. He drove us to Ubud, which is in the northeastern part of Bali, and its cultural center. When we got to the house we were staying at we all freaked out because it was so beautiful. Definitely a treat after staying in smelly, dirty rooms everywhere else. Thanks to Jamie's mom for putting us up there for a few days, we had an incredible time! We got up early our first morning there to do some grocery shopping and to prepare for Nyepi, a day of silence in Bali where no one is allowed to leave their houses or be loud. Even tourists in hotels are forced to stay inside. We went to a village ceremony and then saw the procession of ogoh-ogoh monsters, giant creations made by the villagers that are paraded down the street through yelling people and firecrackers. Lots of noise is made to frighten away evil spirits.











The day after the monsters we spent the day at the villa, just laying by the pool and watching movies. Bali is still in its rainy season so we've had a good amount of rain.

Our third day in Ubud we took a small tour of the area and visited Nyoman's cousin's stone carving shop and drove through a local rice paddy. We went into town and tried to go to a class at Yoga Barn, but it was a partners class, so we just walked around the shops. Later at the villa, we watched girls do a traditional Balinese dance for us. We all went to bed really early because the next morning we were picked up at 2am to do a hike up the Mount Batur volcano for sunrise. It was cold and dark and extremely hard to climb a volcano when all you have is a penlight to guide you. The view from the top was rewarding, although the sunrise itself kind of sucked since it was clouded over. We ate boiled banana sandwiches and hard boiled eggs that our guides cooked in a hot pocket of the volcano. The climb down was just as hard as the climb up since it was so sandy. Later in the day Nyoman drove us to Padang Bai, a port town on the eastern side of Bali so we could head to the island of Lombok. Goodbye Bali!

Thanks again Jamie's mom and Nyoman, the villa was incredible!