dreamland beach, bali

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a beach person. However, these photos document my worst beach experience ever! I know, it looks so beautiful. However, I woke up that morning not feeling that great so I was just hanging out on a beach chair, taking these pictures. My younger brother came out of the waves exlclaiming that this was one of the most fun things he had ever done in his life! Well, I'm always afraid of missing out on really great things, so I reckoned I should play in the waves at least a bit.

Mike led me out to the waves and told me to jump under a wave so we could get past the point at which they were breaking, but I wasn't ready so I totally got caught up in it. Next thing I knew, I was getting whipped around by these waves. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't get out of them. I yelled to my younger brother (the one who had convinced me to go in in the first place!) to help me get out and he tried, but then I got hit by another huge wave. Eventually I pawed my way to the shore. I was almost hyperventilating, I had sand EVERYWHERE, my bathing suit was definitely askew - I'm sure I looked like a huge mess. I sat on the beach and just cried. It was so scary!

But you know as a prairie girl with nary an ocean in sight, it's probably good to get a good lesson from the ocean once in awhile. You don't mess with the ocean!

Ubud Monkey Forest

As we approached the Monkey Forest, I was a bit wary as I had read some reviews online about how feisty they can be. And feisty they were! They were snatching snacks and water bottles  and hissing when people got too close. I gladly gave them distance! Mike, however, didn't mind at all getting right up close to them and was unfazed when a little baby monkey started grabbing his flip flop as pictured above. But I was sure one was going to fling themselves on me at any moment. Happy to report, I made it out of the forest without any monkey attacks!

the tegalalang rice terraces

These rice terraces are a popular spot to visit, but absolutely so worth it. I was impressed when we got out of our car and saw them for the first time but then we actually started climbing up! And that was just amazing. We crossed little rickety bridges, passed by farmers, and came dangerously close to falling off. Woo!

After spending five days or so together in Malaysia, we all flew to Bali. I was excited to finally see this fabled island after hearing so much about it (I'm looking at you Eat Pray Love!)

We stayed at a villa in Sanur which was a real treat. We had a pool in the back and tons of room to hang out in. Lots of memories are held in that house we lived in for a week - my brother smashing his head at the bottom of the pool (thank goodness he didn't break his neck!!), three of us getting sick and throwing up during the night - only to realize that we were out of water and a new water cooler pitcher wasn't getting brought until the next day, the boys playing ping pong for hours, and watching a farmer herd his cattle down by the river, just behind the villa.

The week just flew by which was a real bummer. But it's been great to go through these photos and reminisce. The next few posts will show some of the specific things we did. 

(Pictured: Sanur beach/Our Villa/Go Gajah Elephant Cave/Padang Padang/Ulu Watu)