If you’re tired of reading and just want to watch our amazing three days in 10 minutes, here’s our little vlog of it.

Ubud really said, “Welcome to the jungle,” and then proved it with spiders, beetles, and geckos acting like our roomies. Our villa is dead center in the lush greenery, the living room had no walls, just a floor that opens into trees and a giant net hanging off the balcony that makes you feel like you accidentally got upgraded to ‘main character of a jungle fairy tale.’

So obviously… breakfast in the net.

And honestly? It was kind of scary being suspended up there, but SO cool.

Warm food, jungle breeze, us giggling like two people who cannot believe this is our life.

Next mission: waterfall. If Ubud is famous for anything besides monkeys and mountains, it’s waterfalls. We hit Tegenungan — a big, loud, “I could crush you but I won’t” kind of waterfall. They block off the area under the main crash zone because it’s legitimately too powerful, but that didn’t stop Danielle from hopping in and feeling its power. Michael stayed dry. Of course he did.

But the real adventure started on the scooter ride home.

Clouds in the distance. A light sprinkle. The classic, “Eh, we’ll be fine.”

We were not fine.

The sky opened up and dropped the heaviest rain we saw all trip. Buckets. Sheets. The street turned into a stream. Everyone else methodologically had ponchos and rain gear prepared. Almost like they must experience this all the time.

We pulled over under the biggest tree we could find, which wasn’t that big, and accepted our fate. The leaved could only block the drops for so long. Through the window, we made eye contact with a man. He must have seen the sheer panic in our eyes because he kindly waved us into his barbershop. We were saved! Didn’t speak a word of English, but we had Google Translate and had a great chat, and that was enough for a full monsoon friendship. We waited it out together, damp, laughing, and very, very grateful for random human kindness.

Ubud: 1
Our dry clothes: 0
Memory bank: overflowing.

Tour day! And honestly, it was incredible. We started at Uma Ceking Rice Terrace at 7:30 a.m., which meant we had the entire place to ourselves. Just us, the backlit trees, and the wind doing ASMR through the bamboo shoots. These terraces look like someone sketched a dream landscape and then forced it into reality. Layer after layer, curve after curve, all hand-built… and somehow still underrated. We wandered through them like kids exploring a giant green labyrinth, totally alone and totally in awe.

And obviously no tour day in Bali is complete without a temple. Today’s: Pura Gunung Kawi Sebatu, a water temple. The carved details were next-level, the stonework and woodwork just make us stare and ask, “Wait… how??” Hand-chiseled mouldings, statues with faces more expressive than ours. Beautiful, peaceful, timeless.

Next up: Kanto Lampo Waterfall — rumored to be the most beautiful. And honestly? Yeah, it was stunning… once you got past the line that wrapped around the rocks like a theme park ride. Everyone was looking to get their picture taken, one at a time under what looked like a 100 tiny waterfalls all flowing into each other. The best part wasn’t even the waterfall… it was watching this local, probably someone who is just there to make some tips run the show like Bali’s unofficial swim week. He had people arching backs, popping hips, pointing toes, too funny. An absolute icon.

After the chaos, we finally made it home for Danielle’s favorite Bali activity. No, not napping. An outdoor bath. Hot water, fading light through the trees, a quiet that hits different after a day of walking, sweating, praying, and waterfall dodging. We sank into the tub and enjoyed one of those deep heart-to-heart chats you can only have outdoors, in the jungle, a million miles from home, wrapped in steam and serenity.

Enter our next honeymoon crasher: Emma. And if there is one thing Emma loves more than Danielle, it’s monkeys, so obviously the first stop was Sacred Monkey Forest. They give you all the warnings at the entrance like they’re prepping you for something really dangerous:

Don’t wear earrings.
Don’t look them in the eyes.
Don’t touch them without staff nearby.
Definitely don’t feed them.

Emma processed none of this.

Because the moment she saw her first monkey, her brain short-circuited in joy.

She sat down, and a tiny monkey immediately climbed onto her shoulder, then onto her head, and started giving her what can only be described as a professional-level scalp massage and looking for little bugs as snacks. Emma ascended. Danielle was giggling. Michael was documenting. The monkeys were thriving.

It was wild watching them scurry through the trees, wrestle each other, and occasionally threaten tourists who didn’t respect the personal-space bubble of a wild animal. We even snagged a selfie with one, (with the help of a guide) a true family portrait for the scrapbook.

After the monkey forest, we wandered the streets of Ubud, doing Emma’s second favorite honeymoon crasher activity- shopping. But Bali wasn’t done with the rain theme, so when the sky opened up again, we ducked into the nearest massage spot that had openings. And holy moly… bliss. Danielle said it was one of the best massages she’s ever had, and Michael actually fell asleep multiple times, which scientifically should be impossible for him.

One more breakfast on the net tomorrow morning before we head down to Canggu to meet the rest of the honeymoon crashers. Ubud, you were chaotic and rainy and perfect.

We are a little behind for this trip! But Ubud was magical and I just LOVE that we are going to get to go back and relive all this!

Click here to see more pictures from the trip!

Click here to watch some short video blogs from the trip!

Tata for now,
D+M