Bali arrival

We spent our first night in Denpasar, the capital of Bali. Very few tourists ever come here partly because the average stay in Bali is two days and partly because there's nothing about Denpasar that screams 'paradise.' Our taxi driver grumbled his way to the city, apparently much preferring the garish mess of Kuta to a boring, congested city and dropped us off at Adi Yasa, a family compound turned hotel that is charming but dirty with cobwebs lining the ceilings and stains on the walls. We ate a fabulous dinner of grilled fish and rice at a corner warung near our hotel and hit the hay, dreaming of white sand beaches and cultural displays in Ubud. After a restless sleep I was amped and ready to get a move on to Ubud so we grabbed a local bemo and hit the road, winding our way through the streets filled with motorbiked, lined with stores and colored with blue skies and green palm trees. We arrived in Ubud, a town in the center of the island that is known as the cultural capital of the island with shops, narrow streets, art galleries and temples. Our tiny homestay is gorgeous, four bungalows with private patios facing a lush garden that creeps through our bathroom and down our walls (more to come on this later.) We heart Bali...