Bali and the Planet of the Apes

We've made it to Bali and it's certainly quite full of adventure. It's been a busy week since we left Yogyakarta and started the island hop east: first, a sunrise climb of Gunung Bromo to celebrate Adrian's big 30th birthday (he was writing a blog about it but since he's really old now, he's just a bit lazy!). It was a spectacular sight once the sulphur gas clouds parted and we stopped choking from behind our scarves. And we're proud to say we did it without succumbing to pony-ride offers up the slope!

But the area around Bromo was freezing though (4 degrees at night), and our tropically-acclimatized bodies didn't like it so much, so we hightailed it east to the island of Bali, known for sun, surf, and heaps of vacationing Aussies. We got a day of surfing in (and a few bruises!) at Kuta, plenty of people-watching, and headed inland to Ubud to soak up a little Balinese culture. We did the tourist thing and watched a traditional dance performance with scary masked dancers and a wild story to match. And to top off that Balinese cultural experience, we couldn't resist a visit to the the sacred monkey forest, or Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana, where we took innumerable photos and videos of cuddly Balinese macaques.... until they realized they outnumber us 4-1! Monkey attack!