I know this post is long overdue… we have been traipsing around having fun with friends! Which is what we’re supposed to be doing, I guess. After we got back from Gili Trawangan, four more of our friends from Maui arrived to visit. We rented a villa in Canggu for the week, which was awesome. It was called Villa Uma Girasole and we felt like rock stars there… such a nice place. Which was well deserved, since Juliana, Sasha, and Shaina all had birthdays there! It was a great week and a good mix of lounging and activity. We took two trips- one to Uluwatu and one to Ubud.

In Uluwatu, we stopped at a beach called Dreamland to watch the surf, which was pumping! We all carefully navigated the shorebreak and managed to stay in one piece. Onward to Uluwatu, where Shaina was accosted by some greedy monkeys that stole her cheese crackers and tried to take a slipper as well. After we managed to get past the monkeys, we meandered around the temple for a beautiful sunset along the cliffs.

The next day our driver was kind enough to take us to Ubud, which is up in the mountainous area of Bali, an hour’s drive or so from the coast. Apparently after the book “Eat, Pray, Love” came out, Ubud turned into a bit of a tourist mecca (since it’s mentioned in the book, and where the protagonist finds love), but we found it surprisingly not as overcrowded as we had expected. We stopped at an “elephant temple” which was really neat. It started out feeling like another tourist stop, with women waving sarongs at us to sell, but we ventured down a little trail and were soon in thick jungle with no other tourists in sight. Through the thick jungle we caught glimpses of other temples, and even a random door leading to… who knows? Maybe someday I’ll go back and find out. We stumbled upon a more approachable temple, where everyone stopped to regroup. At that point the mosquitos became an issue and we ascended some steps back into the “real world” of pavement, sunlight and noise. After walking barefoot through the jungle (it was easier than slippers) I was starting to have that peaceful, zen feeling I’d had at Kuang Si waterfall. There is something about connecting to the earth through bare feet that makes me feel like a part of nature, rather than just passing by on top of my rubber slippers.

Our next stop was the Ubud market to do some shopping, which was about as opposite experience as possible from the elephant temple. It was an hour or so of complete mayhem and chaos. Women clutching at my arm, shoving sarongs into my hands and yelling prices at me… I soon lost our group and found myself wandering aimlessly among stalls of vendors. After buying more sarongs and silver trinkets than I needed, I became overwhelmed and made a fast exit. Luckily, pretty much the same thing happened for everyone else and we beat a hasty retreat from the market of madness.

The next few days we remained in Canggu, going out for Shaina’s birthday, recovering the next, doing yoga, shopping and lounging. It was a lovely week with wonderful people and lots of laughs, and we are very grateful that everyone came such a long distance to hang out with us and keep us company in Bali.