Bali

We have been in Bali for almost a week already and have spent most of our time on the beach. After all the traveling of the last couple weeks, we were happy to sit back and just take in these awesome views:
We started our trip in Kuta and Legian which is one of the most famous surfing spots in the world (the waves looked more impressive in person than in the pictures!) The area was pretty touristy and filled with surfing schools, Australians and clubs... Needless to say, we felt a little out of place but still had a great time. We saw some awesome surfing just lounging on the beach, tried tasty seafood and Indonesian specialties and watched a couple great sunsets.

After the beach, we headed to Ubud in the center of Bali. Most tourist brochures call it "the real Bali" and it was in stark contrast with the surfer crowd we had just left behind. The whole area is surrounded by rice paddies and the houses were much more traditional. They are built around beautiful gardens and look like a mix of hindu temples and beach cottages. We found a cheap guest house and were amazed to see it had this awesome garden out back despite its dingy entrance:
Our time in Ubud was spent exploring the town, getting the best massage yet in our trip (for only 7$) and visiting the famous Monkey Forrest where we made some new friends.We both look quite calm on these photos but I was actually pretty freaked out. The monkeys were very comfortable climbing on you and stealing bananas from your hands. The picture below is from the "attack" Matt suffered a few minutes before. Wish it was a film instead of a pictures because it was pretty hilarious to watch.
We are now in Sanur for our last couple days before Thailand. It's another beach but much more quiet than Kuta. We are hoping to take a ferry to one of the neighboring islands tomorrow to go snorkeling and see one more beach before heading back. In the mean time, we will be relaxing here today...