Beautiful Bali Botany & Bugs

There are so many amazingly beautiful plants and flowers here in Bali. I know I'm kind of going overboard with the long posts of photos, but I just couldn't resist! My uncle, who is a Botany Professor, would be very proud. :)

Leave comments about which ones are YOUR favs! And let me know if you know the names of any of these, cuz I sure don't!

Baby Papayas

Full-grown Papaya tree. Yum!

This spider was so weird!! This is a view from the top.

And here's a shot of his face. Say cheese!

This is a mango tree. Can you see the mangos? Yeah, these trees are EVERYWHERE. This one is just hanging out by the traffic light. I'm always tempted to hop off the motorbike while we're stopped and go pick some!

Water Lilies

JP even saw a little frog just kickin' it on a lilypad! But he must be camera shy because he hopped away before I could snap a photo.

These are guavas.

Some of the palm trees here fan out like this. They look so cool!

Cocoa Plant (in the orange circle)

The cocoa part inside is actually soft until they lay it out to dry.

Grains of Rice

Butterfly

Not sure what kind of bug this is...

The tiny leaves on this palm tree are like delicate lace. It was so pretty to watch them flutter in the gentle breeze.

These purple flowers are very hard, firm flowers. Weird.

Ubud Adventures, part 2

The day after our last Ubud Adventure, JP and I drove back up to Ubud to join Poliman and the trio of boys to see some waterfalls and rice terraces.

Poliman rented a car for this trip since it's 3 hours each way to see the waterfalls. We were grateful not to have to ride our motorbikes that far, but our prayers of gratitude quickly turned to prayers of safety as we realized that Poliman likes to drive on narrow, winding jungle roads like a rally car racer! Poor Dan and Ryan in the way back were getting a bit carsick.

It's a little blurry, but here's our happy crew in the car.

These waterfalls were UH-MAZING! Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car and only had my video camera with me. So these photos are a little grainy.

We were the only people at these waterfalls for about an hour. Then some locals showed up for "bathtime!" They stripped down and bathed right here at the base of this waterfall!!

Along the way to the waterfalls we passed this beautiful valley of rice terraces. So green and lush! It was amazing to see in person.

Click on any picture to see wallpaper-sized view.