B&E Photography: Bali Part 2: Ubud

Ubud is a very cultural city. It has rice farmers and paddies, painting and wood artists, and a crazy monkey forest. It has culture, shopping, and many activities.
We first did some shopping in and around the Ubud area. Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone, but we purchased many of our family's gifts here totaling under $30. And if you know how big Brandon's family is, that's huge! We then went to a restaurant where we sat one foot off a pond of Koi fish overlooking a private rice paddy that was absolutely stunning in the twilight.
The next day we went on a 11 mile bike tour. Thankfully for us it was all downhill. The ride was very unique. We passed several rice paddies where we actually got to partake in the rice harvesting, beating the rice out of the plant in which it grows. There were also wood carving shops, huge vined-trees, and gigantic spiders. Brandon even had a spider crawl on his face that was literally half the size of his head (and if you ever seen Brandon's huge cranium, then you know the spider must have been huge!). It was fantastic being able to view the culture uninhibited by modern technology and influences of materialism. That night we went to bed very early, for we had to wake up at 2 a.m.
The crack of dawn (actually much before dawn) we set out by car where we drove for two hours and then hiked for nearly three hours up Mount Batur's Volcano for that morning's sunrise. The hike was arduous and taxing. Uneven, razor-sharp volcanic rock hampered our progress every step of the way. When we did reach what we thought was the top, we rejoiced in triumph only to learn that if we truly wanted to see the top and that morning's sunrise we needed to hike another half hour up much steeper terrain to our final destination: the volcano's summit and ridge.
We finally had made it and to say we were exhausted was an understatement. We had climbed in upwards of a miles's accent in hot humid weather that the guide said even trained athletes had trouble (which we were far from). It was so beautiful to watch the sunrise and take in the view of the lake below and the opposing volcano in the distance. We even hiked a bit further to a spot where you can cook an egg in the super hot steam pockets that naturally vent from the volcano out-croppings. Needless to say that night we slept very well due to our rough 12 mile round trip visit to the summit of mount Batur.
The next day brought us to the Monkey Forest. It was littered with baby monkeys, medium monkeys, and some monkeys the size of full grown children. It ended up becoming very evident that if had any sort of food in our possession then it was all out urban warfare for the monkeys. I've never seen a Banana ensue a riot before and if you ever had the desire of being attacked by up to ten monkeys at once, then just peel a banana and watch the chaos ensue. Needless to say, I was bit several times and Erica once. However, Erica definitely got the raw end of the deal as her bite needed medical attention.
With all the fun happening, no one expected to see the storm clouds approaching. The next day Susanne received a very sobering email: her mother had just passed.