For our first wedding anniversary, Jen and I decided to pay our first visit to Bali. We didn’t want to end up on a beach (what with our Christmas pounds still hanging around and all), so we headed off to the cultural and artistic capital of Bali: Ubud.

Jen was in charge of choosing the hotel, and after weeks of poring through the Lonely Planet and scouring the internet (and endless calls of “Ryan, come look at this one – I promise it’s the last one for tonight!), she settled on Nick’s Pension.

Our back entrance:

Located off of the two main roads in Ubud, it really was a great choice, and worth all of the research. Nick’s Pension is one of three properties in a chain with the same owner (I guess it would be Nick), that includes Nick’s Hidden Cottages and Nick’s Homestay. We splurged ($43 Canadian a night!) and got a “superior room”, which is essentially a half-bungalow with private verandah. Everything wooden in and around the grounds was carved in Balinese style, and we had a rice paddy and jungle-covered stream on the grounds. Very calm.

Our place:

The main attraction for Jen in Ubud wasn’t the culture or the shopping or the art. It wasn’t even the peace and quiet that was a nice break from the insanity that is Jakarta. No, it wasn’t any of those “normal” things. The highlight of Jen’s visit was monkeys. Yep. Monkeys.

The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary was about a fifteen minute walk from our hotel, and Jen must have dragged me down there at least three times during our five day stay. I love animals as much as the next person, but I have to say that the last time I went out of husbandly obligation. It was our anniversary after all.

I haden’t seen my little niece Sophia for a few months, but I found a little monkey who acted a lot like her the last time I saw her. It was fun watching him play.

My little niece’s twin:

Jen’s friend:

My visitor:

The one thing I wanted to do while we were in Bali was to go white-water rafting. We shopped around a bit, but had our guides make us a reservation with a local company. So, on Friday morning, we got up early and headed out to the Telaga Waja river. We were joined by a Russian psychology professor, a Swedish woman from Dubai, and an American couple on leave from English-teaching jobs in Korea.

When we got to the river, we were put in a boat with a vacationing Australian couple and our guide. I was kind of happy, because the Russian professor had decided that he needed to be very “hydrodynamic” while rafting, and had squeezed himself into a tiny Speedo. Fun.

The river itself was beautiful, and the ride wasn’t too demanding. Most of the time the guide and I were the only ones paddling – photo to follow.

We made a pitstop at a waterfall for some refreshments, then headed back into the river. At the end of the trip, there was an all-you-can-eat buffet of delicious Indonesian food. The day was great.

Rest stop:

Cooling off:

More on our Bali trip to come! For now, lots more photos on our Flickr stream.

-Ryan