Balinese Dance

When the sounds of the gamelan take over your body you can do nothing but sit in a trance as you watch what unfolds before you. Dancers enter the stage with the most intricate of movements. Subtle yet quick gestures with their fingers, feet and bodies. Then you will become transfixed on their eyes. The intensity is astounding, quickly switching from side to side without blinking they will have you speechless. I honestly don't know enough positive words to give this show it's proper praise. 

Ubud Palace

After a few days attempting to surf in Kuta and Seminyak in southern bali we headed north by taxi to Ubud, the cultural hub of Bali. Surrounded by rice fields and rolling hills it's a picturesque town ready for tourist. While the major sites are lovely, the boutique shoppes and cafe's will most likely fill your days here. When I had my fill of Kopi Luwak, we ventured to Ubud palace, a baliense hindu temple on the main road through town. 

A stark contast to the Hindu temples we had seen in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore these had a touch of class and style that the balinese folks do so well. While this temple wasn't huge or elaborate the relief carvings we're meticulous and had every visitor in awe. I threw in one smiley face as well since I realized our blog was missing one of my favorite things about traveling... The local people you meet. 

Bali Nights

When you're on the road you quickly realize that friends are fleeting. You share a few laughs over beers and before you know it your going your separate ways. This easily could have been the case when we first met Sarah and Aaron, but we just liked them too much to let that happen. We first met in Kuala Lumpur at a Chinese restaurant, Aaron walked by with a Seattle Supersonics hat on and it grabbed our attention. We quickly started chatting over beers and realized we had a lot in common. A week or so later our paths would cross again, this time on the Perhentian Islands. We loosely talked about meeting in various places with no solid plans, until they invited us down to Indonesia about a month later. We hopped a plane, and before we knew it we blew off half of Thailand to hang in Bali with these two crazy Canadians.

One of our first nights there we hit the clubs of Bali where the drinks are free (for 30 minutes) for tourists. This certainly is a good way to start any night, although it doesn't always make for the best way to end a night, like Aaron's suggestion for McD's. (Side note, I still ate the Big Mac burger patty that fell in the seat between me and the taxi driver). Read their fascinating blog plane life.

View all images!