Visiting the Mangroves

Last day on Lembongan Island and in Bali.  We decided to rent the scooters again (they were $7 a day to rent) and explore more of the island. We made our way to the mature mangrove forest on the far side of the Island - which was not that far since the Island is only  8 square kilometres in size.  This forest plays a very important role in protecting the Island and hosts 13 species of trees and is home to 30 bird species.  We took a tour on a jukung outrigger boat then headed back to the hotel to enjoy some pool and beach time.  Another great day.

Early morning



Sun rising while the boys sleep

A view from the beach

Boys having breakfast in the bean chairs



This is a seaweed farm

Seaweed drying - it is used as a thickener
in ice cream

Local fishing boat

The jukung outrigger boats for the tour of the Mangrove

Touring the Mangrove Forest



Enjoying our tour



Enjoying the pool one last time

Dream Beach

Well we left Ubud early in the morning to get to our next destination, Lembongan Island.  We had to take a "fast boat" from Sanur to the Island. We stayed at the a place called Dream Beach on the west side of the Island.  It was a great little place with a nice open air restaurant, an infinity pool over looking the ocean and our beach hut was right on the beach.  We had a great time exploring the Island on scooters and relaxing at resort.

Our welcome sign

The hut on the right was ours - the picture is taken from the beach

The view from our room



A view from one of our stops on our scooter tour

Riding the scooters

Just before sunset at Dream Beach



The view from Krystin's chair at the pool

The boys

Looking for the beach place to watch the sunset

Love this place



Sunset



Drinks in the pool

Temples, Terraces and Teaching

Another busy day in the Ubud area filled with adventure.  Today we visited the Pura Gunung Lebah Campuhan Temple in Ubud as well as the Ceking Legendary Rice Terraces Tegallalang.  Sean and Matthew then took a tour of the Green School while Kade and Krystin got massages and did some shopping.

To get into the temple everyone must wear a sharong - the kids
thought this was so much fun!

elephants



Looking down over the temple

A beautiful work of art - we watched them
hand painting it



This portion of the temple is built into the stone hill



Matthew working the rice paddy



family photo - Kade's hat was his first purchase and bargaining by himself.

Beautiful View

Krystin & Kade enjoying the pool after a long day

Matthew and Sean visited the Green School just outside of Ubud.  This is an international private school from Kindergarten to High School and is located on the Ayung River.  It is a school that has been designed to be ecological and sustainable and will be completely off the grid later this year. It's focus is on sustainable education creating an environment where the students learn about sustainability and are creative with their learning. 



Matthew touring the school

This structure is made completely out of bamboo    

This is a green house that is made of old car wind shields

Waterbomb Park - Kuta

Day 3 and we decided to visit Waterbomb Park in Kuta - this is where all of the kids friends said we "had" to visit.  It was fun and it was a hot day so hanging out in the water park was not that bad.  We got to see a little bit of Kuta as well - We prefer Ubud.




Kade having fun flipping

Boys after playing on the waterslides



Some great sculptures in Kuta



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Out for dinner in Ubud



The food in Ubud is so good - so is the Bintang!!



A parade to the temple during dinner

A Bike Ride Through the Country Side

Day two in Ubud and we decided to go for a tour outside of Ubud.  We started out touring a coffee plantation and tried a "catpoochino", then had breakfast overlooking the spectacular lake and volcanic crater rim of Mount Baker, then jumped on our bikes and headed into the rural areas outside of Ubud.

This is a coffee plant

We tried a number of types of Balinese coffees and teas

At the coffee plantation we tried a coffee called Luwak Coffee also known as "catpoochino".  This is a special coffee that is expensive and highly popular in many countries.  The Luwak eat the red coffee cherries and while in the stomach it undergoes chemical treatments and the bean ferments.  The beans are then collected from the forest floor, cleaned, dried and roasted and ground to make the coffee - it is literally the most expensive "shit" in the world!!

Sean trying the "catpoochino"



Krystin's turn - she liked it!!




Matthew even tried it

This cat lives at the coffee plant - it looks exactly like Roxy and the
kids would not leave her alone



View of Mount Baker

Our bikes

A cruise through the country

A view looking up

a statue along the route

Looking up a scared tree

another view



We had the pleasure of attending a traditional Temple celebration