Welcome to Hippie town, Ubud

Once Ali got wind that there was a yoga barn in Ubud we HAD to go there. The ride took about 5 hours in scooters, we climbed up to 9000 feet and froze for a while, but we arrived in the biggest tourist trap I have seen so far.

We went for a walk around the rice paddies in Ubud. Very peaceful and charming. 

 The you see this guy scaring birds and tourists alike. Not so charming.

 We attended the traditional Monkey dance and one of the temples. This was quite the Indonesian experience.

 The outdoor stage is candle lit and hundreds of performers come out to chant.

  

 The story, like all good stories is about greed, lust and monkeys.

This is your brain on Indonesia. 

Some of the most elaborate and colorful costumes I have seen so far. 

The show closed with a ceremony where this fella who is in a trance walks over coals and kicks them around to the audience until he get restrained and freed from the gremlin he is wearing. 

 Here we are at the entrance to the Elephant temple. Hope the mouth doesn't close behind us.

We did a sunset at the nesting area for herons. Thousands of herons came in to nest for the night. It was quite a spectacle.

 Cleared for landing!

And the sun fell, just for the mandatory sunset picture.  

 The next day we went to the enchanted monkey forest. Hundreds of monkeys running around and waiting to take anything loose on you. Better watch your sunnies.

 We produced a handful of bananas and we got charged by this guys. They literally climb on you to get to whatever they want.

 For some reason we had the urge to try Luwak coffee. Basically its coffee that has been pooped by this little guy called a civet. It is the most expensive coffee in the world and fakes abound in the tourist areas. We found the real deal to be very smooth and a little nutty.

 No its not a skirt. It a requirement to enter some of the temples to wear a sarong. No we are not going commando under the sarong.

And so we go int the temple to find the same characters from the monkey dance. This must be a popular story.

Sunset at the Buddhist temple Pura Ulundanu Batur.