Monkeying Around in Ubud

Enjoying our breakfast
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We arrived in Ubud and found a killer homestay where we were welcomed into a very nice family home.  For $8 a night, we stayed  in a posh room that included linens, toilet paper, towels, a fan, and breakfast (all luxuries in these parts!)  We visited the Monkey Forest Sanctuary where we were able to feed monkeys bananas (Sam had them crawling all over his back and head!); Steph was all smiles the whole time!  After the Monkey Forest, we took a small side street up to an overview of the rice paddy fields.  We stopped to assist a local mason, Sam jumped right in to lay a block.  We even had Line Security!!!   Finally, securing our air tickets from Manila to Bangkok (our travel agent sent them here and they were lost in transport, it took a day to locate them!), we hired a motorbike for 24 hours for rupiah 35,000!  Yes, two helmets included! And we were off....hold on Steph!!!  We stopped at the Moon Temple in Pejang to view the oldest and largest bronze gong in the world.  Then we spent the rest of the day dodging dogs, monkeys, people, trucks, cars, and other motorheads, it was exhilarating....I am still digging out Stephs fingernails from my shoulders.  That night we enjoyed the Kecak Fire Trance Dance, which was a good glimpse of their traditional way of storytelling.  It ended with fire walking across fiery, hot coconut husks!  Ubud is a very nice and upscale, artsy town, surrounded by rice fields; a great place to relax!  4 days and now we are off to Gili Tralalala...