Bye Bye Bali, Hello Bangkok! Again!

(The turquoise waters of Gili, a cave temple near Ubud, Kuta Beach on Bali, Dave getting attacked by yet another monkey and the Grand Palace in Bangkok)
Yes it's been an extraordinarily long time since the last blog. It's ok though, because we've called the mother ships so no one thinks we're dead. So after an adjustment period in Indonesia, we really ended up liking it. We realized that after you get past the people trying to take your money, they're really just trying to help you.
Ubud is a town in Bali that Dave and I call Hippy Town. The name may lack creativity. We made our way there after parting ways with our friends Jan and Carly on the Gilis. As it turns out Ubud had something called a spirit festival going on and every yoga practicing, wheat grass drinking space case was in town to celebrate. Although, I still think it's safe to assume it's a hippy town as wheat grass shots were a menu staple at most cafes. We bicycled around the countryside a bit, but the main attraction is the shopping. Locally made goods are unique and the price showed it. The cafes were great and Dave and I finished up a book or two while enjoying organic food and beverages.
Kuta Beach was a lovely beach, oh wait, except for the 6 billion people sitting around watching the surfers. The whole area was overdeveloped and perhaps a little too nutty, too pretentious (yes ever too pretentious for me) and busy with tourists. We visited the memorial for the 300 people who died in the Bali bombings a few years back. The location of the bar is still just a vacant lot surrounded by similar restaurants and bars of the like. It makes you wonder why it couldn't and wouldn't happen again in that city with so much "in your face" tourist debauchery.

We flew into Bangkok for the third time in the last four months and were surprised to find that Bangkok seemed a little tamer. Until we hit Khao San Rd. with clubs, bars, cafes, clothing stores and all the international chains. It was pretty wildly busy with tourists as well, but with it came some of tourist comforts like cleanliness and a Starbucks cappuccino. We visited some of the markets and checked out the Grand Palace, but it was too hot to do any serious tourism. Mostly we just walked along the streets all the way to Siam Square where you come upon a market or a really unique shop at any time.

The train ride back to Chiang Mai was surprisingly decent, all 14 hours of it! Just finished having breakfast with Gary and now we're doing some settling in. Not sure what's going to happen next, depends on money and time.