We woke up nice and early this morning, about 7am to a lovely bacon, egg and fruit breakfast kindly made by our villa chef. Our driver is picking us up at 9am for a day of exploration and I am so keen for my dad and brother to see what Bali has to offer.

The first stop for the day was to a little family house on the way to Ubud. It was nice to see some of the houses that the Balinese live in and how they all live in separate establishments on the one block of land so that the family stays together. It was a nice little introduction for my dad and brother into how different life is over here compared to what we have back at home. I was also amazed at how comfortable the families are with people walking through their home estate too!

Next stop was the big swings, we went to this little tourist spot for the swings called “Aloha”. It was definitely a bit touristy but the guys that worked there were full of energy and seemed to love channeling their inner Hawaiian spirit screaming “ALOHA” every time they pushed someone higher on the swing. It was a really good atmosphere. I had previously been on the swings in my last visit to Bali and absolutely loved it so was keen to encourage everyone with me on this trip to give it a go, whilst I stayed back as the photographer. They did all have a go and liked it, for what it was anyway. It’s a bit gimmicky and goes very quickly but when in Bali – why not!

After the swings, we made our way down to the bottom of the hill to taste test some of their local coffees. The view was over the lovely mountains and our group was one of the only ones there which was great, it made it a very serene experience…at least it would have been if my family wasn’t so loud! ha My dad, brother and Viki got to try the famous “Poo coffee” before exploring the gift shop and making a few coffee purchases for everyone back home (except for the poo coffee, that one didn’t make the cut).

We then made our way across to Tegenungan Waterfall and spent a bit of time looking at the local markets there before making our way down the hundreds of steep stairs to the bottom where the waterfall is. Viki opted to stay up top and kept looking at the market stalls whilst my dad, Luke, our Driver Komang and myself made our way down to the bottom and set up my dad’s drone to fly around in the air. It was really cool to get some footage from the air, especially over the waterfall and Komang, our driver was amazed at the drone. I don’t think he had ever seen one before and was stoked when my dad gave him an opportunity to fly it himself!

We spent about half an hour down near the waterfall before making the massive trek back up the mountain to find Viki and eat some lunch at the local café there. It was really lovely, the food was nice, the drinks refreshing and the view over the waterfall was just unbeatable. Exactly how I remembered it from my last trip to Bali.

One of the things my dad had been super keen to see whilst we are here are some of the rice fields. Komang drove us about 45mins to some rice fields and on the way down from the carpark, there were little kids trying to sell postcards, taking a shining to Viki. Viki promised them she would buy a postcard on the way back to our van, hoping that they would forget all about her or be done with their postcard selling by the time we went back to the van. Once we arrived at the rice fields, we were blown away with how pretty the view was. The rice fields were so green and layered, it was just beautiful and another fabulous opportunity for my dad to get his drone out and fly it around. It was quite a warm day and with all the walking it only seemed fitting that we stopped by a little “bar hut” on the hill and used this as our Drone base so we could refresh with some drinks and take in the views whilst the drone was in the air.

We then made our way back to the van hoping to be at Ubud Monkey Forest in time to explore there before it closes. We knew we’d be pushed for time but thought we would try our luck anyway. On the way back to the car, dad ended up being talked into buying some postcards by an old man that convinced my dad that he in fact, is the old man that is in some of the pictures. Of course, we knew that wasn’t the case but my dad just couldn’t say no. Then, as we made our way up the small hill to the van, down come running the little girl that Viki had made a promise to earlier in the day. We were very impressed that she remembered and ended up buying the postcards from her, because A – you should always keep a promise! & B – if your memory is that good then heck, you deserve some money for your troubles (Even if the two lots of postcards purchased ended up being exactly the same! ha)

We made it to the Ubud Monkey Forest only 30mins before closing time and after talking to the lady at the ticket purchase counter we decided to give it a miss. We were very keen to see the monkeys but didn’t want to feel rushed or pay to get in and not be able to see as much as we’d like to so we headed back out to the carpark to find Komang. On the way back to the van we found a really pregnant cow on a lead in a paddock close by, it seemed super friendly so we made our way over the cow to say hi and pat it. I kept my distance, mainly cos I was scared of snakes in the grass but the cow didn’t seem too impressed with us being too close to it anyway, so we quickly backed away and let it be.

On the way out of the Monkey forest we were lucky enough to see a bunch of the monkeys running around and playing with each other near the exit of the forest. We pulled over to watch them for a little bit and this was a lovely way to finish the day in Ubud, especially after not being able to go into the Monkey forest in the end.

After a fun filled day of adventure we decided to head back to our villa for some beer and swims in the pool. It was a nice chill evening before heading out to dinner at a local restaurant by the water. The food was really nice and the dinner was quite a chill night, until I ended up getting into an argument with my dad and brother. It didn’t take long after eating for me to storm out and head back to the villa with Viki, leaving my dad to pick up the bill. (Ha!)

Despite the argument, it was actually a really nice day and heck, what would a family holiday be without a few arguments here and there hey!?