Ubud, Bali

We met Sam at the airport. He was quite nervous we didn't make it because we picked the wrong line to get our visa and took three times as long as everyone else. It was great to see him! Mr. Bowo was waiting for us with our local plane tickets, as well as our driver. We were quite popular. We made the hour drive from the airport to Ubud and arrived at our favorite hotel to date, Alam Shanti. It was so peaceful and lush with a huge terrace attached to our room. Ubud was a wonderfully quiet town. The first night our hotel drove us into town for an Indonesian style dinner. Our table was set back in a garden type atmosphere, very well landscaped. We sat on pillows next to a low table and had a "Pass the Plate" style dinner with Sam.

The next day was very rainy. We did not realize that this was still the rainy season. Later on in the trip we were informed that the rainy season started 2 months late and thus will end two months later, bummer for us. We took a walk through the Monkey Forest, got massages and browsed town, despite the rain. The Monkey Forest is a small stretch of the road through town with hundreds of monkeys that protect the temple. Upon entering, we bought bananas and fruit. The monkeys were not bashful! Within seconds, Trevor had four monkeys climbing him and reaching for fruit. He threw a couple pieces to Sam who got bombarded as well. Luckily Rebecca video taped the attack. No longer holding food, we walked the rest of the forest watching the monkeys. We saw no other attacks other than ours even though everyone else had fruit as well, weird. We ended the day with tea and cake at the hotel. Our relaxing evening included a nap, a bottle of wine with cards and a final Indonesian style dinner. Trevor and Sam ended our Alam Shanti stay with a nighttime swim. The next day was an early wake up and off to Lombok.