So much to tell.....here to start

I left my surf buddies (self indulgent photo at the end) yesterday including the dead cow and the poisonous snake and head up to Ubud via  lovely silver jewellery store....my bank balance is getting a hammering!!!

Ubud is a very different place to Padang Padang and today I feel like I have done and seen loads and walked miles, with quite possibly one of the best discoveries being that it is famous for its crispy duck and suckling pig - though pork sells out quick! Where to begin is the question.... as with all good movies theses days it seems only appropriate to begin at the end, go back to the beginning and then waffle around in the middle and leave you slightly at a loss!!

I have just come from a Balinese dance that ended with a massive fire (planned) and a barefoot man dressed as some bizarre creature running through the fire and kicking the embers towards the audience though a few people got more than they bargained for. It wasn't quite as spectacular as the shows I saw in china but interesting enough mainly as there was no music just the noise created by the 100 odd half dressed men!

But this morning I rose early (it is hot an daylight early!) and strolled around Ubud - I set off to the market quite early and caught the change over from the local food market to the tourist market - it was carnage! After that experience I strolled around some random streets found myself getting a manicure and asking the two lovely ladies what I should do- they recommended Suri Organics as had many people.

Suri Organics view at lunch

Suri Organics is a restaurant a short stroll, probably 40-45mins from where I am staying, in the middle of the Padi Fields and all there food is obviously organic!! a great setting and you can see the fields being worked and rice being harvested. I also tried a rather strong cocktail with wine and strawberries - I think the strawberries were just for colour


Before that however I had visited the Palace, the Lotus cafe, Starbucks (ooops- free wifi though most places have that) and even done some shopping.

crazy monkeys

As the day came to and end and my Balinese dance was approaching I still had a couple of hours to kill and so I set off to the Monkey Forest. The result was basically getting attacked by the monkeys - on many peoples advice I had bought a bunch of bananas and strolled into the forest unsuspecting with the only piece of additional info being give one banana at a time. If I hadn't had my finger over the camera lens I might have uploaded the video footage of me yelping and trying to remove- without flinging across the forest (like some crazed tourist) a couple monkeys who thought they would just climb right on up and take the bananas. I quickly distributed my bananas and went on to stroll around the forest in a considerably less nervous state. The Monkeys, when not holding bananas, are funny, friendly and very tame and you can get plenty close enough for a good picture.

The more I walk around this country the more I realise that it is al quite striking, lush and green much like I found many parts of New Zealand- though the traffic here is carnage and it is shame about the amount of rubbish that blows in on a windy days but the people are friendly and helpful

self indulgent surfing shot - my best wave