My Christmas vacation in Bali

I think I am going to move to Bali.

I must say, that I was slightly apprehensive about traveling alone over Christmas to a place where I didn't know anyone. However, the trick to traveling is learning to stay open, and by staying open to the new experience, I had the most incredible week where I met people who I have profound connections with, and had some pretty awesome adventures!! Although way too extensive to write about here, I will give a brief summary of the week: 3 nights in Canguu where I relaxed in the villa pool, went to the beach, spent time with new friends, went to yoga retreat, walked through rural villages and rice fields, and then  4 nights in Ubud (which strangely reminds me of Bloomington, IN) where I fell in love (with Bali) haha, ate at yummy organic restaurants, met monkeys up close- hundreds of them actually, learned to play the gamalan, stayed with a Balinese family in their compound, met SGI members, went to a temple ceremony with my host family, watched Balinese dance performance, took a roadtrip to see an active volcano, got an incredible massage for ridiculously little money, explored the markets..and more. This sounds a bit too much like paradise, right? Well then it may make you feel better to know that I also: got terrified by crazy stray dogs while walking home in pitch blackness, had a spider in my room as big as my hand, and got drenched in the rain one day when I decided an umbrella was not necessary-oops! But even those not-so-nice events had happy outcomes, in their own ways...it's always nice when random Balinese on their motorcycles will let you hop on so that crazy barking dogs can be avoided...lol

I think the majority of the trip can be summed up by the photos I took. See link for album:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150662482982715.494457.500277714&type=3&l=8be34f732b