BALI !!!

First things first...starting from the last post, we continued our trip in Sri Lanka by taking another beautiful train journey through the hill country to Ella.  Ella is a hill country town boasting Little Adam's Peak, Rawana Ella Waterfall, and Ella Rock.  We spent two days/nights enjoying two of the afore mentioned attractions.  We climbed Little Adam's Peak which was MUCH easier to climb than the real Adam's Peak.  The peak offered gorgeous views of the surrounding hills and valleys.  The route to Rawana Ella Waterfall was a windy 4 miles down a road from Ella.  I decided to jog the 4 miles, which reminded me how out of shape I am.  Steph took a bus and we spent the afternoon swimming, taking pictures, and interacting with the Sri Lankan tourists.

The next morning we decided we'd seen enough of Sri Lanka's hill country and took a grueling bus ride to Arugum Bay, a beach on the East coast.  We stayed in a hut on the beach that had an open bathroom (no roof)...bad idea.  During the night a monkey came and shattered the mirror while also going #2 all over the bathroom (including a nice pile directly on the toilet seat).  We figure that he at least washed his hands afterwards because there were monkey hairs all over the bar of soap next to the sink.

Soured from our experience in Arugum Bay (many more unmentioned hassles were delt with during the 24 hrs we were there), we attempted to take an all-day/night bus ride to Negombo (the beach town housing the international airport) which is on the West coast.  We were fortunate to be stopped 3/4 of the way through the journey at a town on the South coast called Matara.  I say that we were fortunate because Matara was celebrating the Vesak Festival, which we'd already celebrated in both Haputale and Ella.  Unlike the first two, the festival in Matara included a parade of decorated elephants and dancers.  The main street was lined with thousands of people to witness the parade.  Steph was a little disappointed that it wasn't like a typical American parade with candy being thrown from the various floats.  We completed our bus journey the next day arriving in Negombo in the late afternoon.  We found an amazing (and cheap) house to stay in for the two nights that was situated between large beach resorts, directly on the beach.  Our bathroom was just outside the bedroom door (this will be important in a minute).  I woke up at 4am our first morning, desperately needing to use the bathroom.  The owner had mentioned that the lock to the bedroom door was a little tricky which turned out to be a huge understatement.  I broke the key off in the lock, waking up Steph in the process, and ended up waiting 2 hours for the owner to hear our cries from the balcony and come to our rescue.  We spent the second night sitting on the porch conversing with the owner about all things Sri Lanka, which was great.

Next comes Bali!  I don't think I can do Bali justice by trying to describe it.  It is truly amazing!  We stayed the first 3 days/nights with my Aunt Mary's dear friend Dharma and family.  They have a lovely guest room at the back of their house in the village of Singapadu.  Dharma took us on a day tour and we saw a traditional Balinese dance and several amazing sites.  The dance, Barong dance, was a traditional Balinese tale of good versus evil.  We then saw Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave) which was built in the 9th century to serve as a sanctuary.  It still makes a lovely sanctuary as it's located in a beautiful tropical setting, away from the busy road.  After enjoying a buffet lunch on a ridge overlooking Lake Batur and Mt. Batur, we toured Gunung Kawi which is where one of the early kings of Bali is buried and is thought to be a monument to him and his family.  There is a waterfall close to the site that was SO refreshing.  Dharma and I swam in the water and enjoyed the waterfall for awhile before hitting the road again.

We spent the next few days in Ubud wandering around and relaxing.  Ubud seems to have been a little overrun with tourists and trendiness.  It is still a wonderful place to spend time, however it's more westernized than any place we've been so far.  We found a little treasure in Ubud within the confines of the Monkey Forest.  Steph and I were brave enough to sit on the ledges with the monkeys and let them climb on us for awhile.  We've seen a lot of monkeys on our trip, but the this definitely takes the cake for monkey experiences.

As of now, we've rented a motor bike and started a 2 week adventure around the island.  We'll let you know how it turns out....