Bali by land

The 'land leg' of our Bali tour found us in the area of Ubud. It's a land of gorgeous terraced rice paddies, wood and stone handicrafts, naughty monkeys, and the quiet hum of Hindu temples. Oh, and lots of tourists in central Ubud, but here I will choose to ignore that unfortunate side effect of the town's allure. 

After wandering around the center of Ubud past countless shops selling ridiculous amounts of cheap wood carvings (all of those weird, flat cat carvings that pass for home decor at Pier One Imports must come from here...there were hundreds of thousands of those creepy things all staring at us from the sidewalks), we came to a large forest and temple complex called Monkey Forest. The monkeys were out in force, growing fat off the bananas, nuts, chips, sodas and other snacks that oblivious tourists had in hand. A few of the big ones looked just days away from cardiac arrest; others were primed for, uh, monkey business (wink, wink) among the towering trees and intricately carved temples.

Despite the number of people in the place, we managed to find a few quiet moments to enjoy the blue sky and the wind in the trees. It was a relief to have the time to just sit and relax after the whirlwind days of diving.

We rented a scooter on our second day to see the countryside that was so different from Ubud itself. It was an excellent way to see how Balinese people lived away from the tourist hordes. Pelle's expert driving skills came in handy as we found ourselves on a few deserted farm tracks and winding gravel roads.

Our final stop was Terta Empul, the Hindu site of holy springs where people go to cleanse themselves and receive blessings. We didn't take a dip in to the waters ourselves, but the sight of such devotions in the cold mountain water was quite moving.