Living amongst the rice fields

The last three days here at Villa Agung Khalia have been absolutely wonderful. The staff here are very friendly, the food is wonderful and the weather is a tad cooler than in Sanur, which is nice. The heat and humidity is a bit more bearable up here in the rice fields than down by the ocean.  We took a trip into Ubud on Wednesday, having the driver from the villa drive us in, and then come pick us up again when we called him.  A bit less convenient than having a driver for the day stay with us, so we have decided to use Made, the driver we used in Sanur, to chauffeur us around for the rest of the time up here.  We walked around the markets for a bit in Ubud, had iced coffes at this great little coffee shop we found (Freak Coffee), went for Babi Guling (pig) at Ebu Oka (Kev's fave place that he has been anxiously awaiting the return to), and then back to the villa for a swim and dinner.  Another great meal served to us in our villa.  It's kind of funny, they come to us first thing in the morning asking if we are eating here in the evening, so they can make sure they have all the ingredients for our order that night - that's how fresh and well prepared the food is here. As much as we love eating out, we are all really enjoying the meals they prepare here for us.  And Connor and Laila are enjoying the penne pasta they order every night.
On Thursday, we got up, had breakfast and a swim and met Made, who drove us to the Monkey Forest - my fave place from our trip last time.  Connor was unfortunately pretty tired so he wasn't very phased by the monkeys, but Laila was quite excited (as was I).  We had several monkeys coming up to us and digging in our pockets and climbing our legs (we teased them a bit by rustling in our pockets making them think we had treats so they'd come over and climb on us).  At one point, Hal, Laila and I had a baby monkey sitting in our laps and crawling all over us.  Soooo cute!
After the Monkey Forest, we went to UC Silver, the silver making place we went last time.  Tash bought a beautiful necklace with a circular charm - very nice.  We then went for lunch (back to the Dirty Duck restaurant for crispy duck again) and back to Freak Coffee for iced coffee.  Connor was getting pretty tired and irritable so we headed back to the villa to put him down for a nap, and we all jumped in the pool.  Laila and Connor stayed at the villa with a babysitter (his name was Putu - he has a son around the same age as Connor) while we headed into Ubud for dinner. A recommendation by Wita, we ate at Bridges, a beautiful restaurant just across a little bridge that had a wonderful view. Food was really good.  I had the most amazing appetizer - melted goats cheese and beet purée in a mushroom with a creme brûlée type crunchy top.
Today started with breakfast at the villa again, followed by a little swim followed by a ride into Ubud for Freak coffee again, followed by a drive to the terraced rice fields. Amazing views!  Stopped at a little restaurant for lunch overlooking the fields.  Made then took us to the coffee tour place that Kevin and I went to last time that makes the "poop coffee". Little mongoose type animals eat the coffee berries and poop them out and then the pooped out berries are roasted.  We actually tried it this visit.  Nothing special.  We think the regular Bali coffee is much better. We then drove out to the Green School, an exclusive private school here in Bali based around sustainability that Hal and Tash wanted to see. They had a tour booked for later in the afternoon. We actually arrived a bit early, as I think Made thought it would take longer to get there, and by the time the tour started, Connor was DONE, so we had Made take us back to the villa so he could nap. He dropped us off and then went back to get the aussies.  I made it back in time for a massage ($10/hr - very good, different than the Javanese massages I was getting in Sanur. This one was more like a spa massage as opposed to massage therapy, so was a nice change).  The Aussies arrived back, we had dinner at the villa again and then it was off to bed.