Bali has been on my bucketlist of places to visit since college. I suppose a small part of it is attributable to the Eat, Pray, Love hype, but I simply could not rationalize traveling to a new country solely because of one lady's midlife crisis. I did my research and I must admit that it didn't take long for the island of the gods to completely captivate me. We were fortunate enough to spend 17 days in Bali, the Gili Islands, and Bali's lesser known sister Lombok. All were amazing and each had their own charm.This is a summarized recap of that unforgetable experience.
Day 1- March 26, 2014
I was so excited about our trip to Bali that I had one long sleepless night in Brisbane before our early flight. The flight to Bali was about 5 hours duration, and about 4.5 hours of that was spent hovering over the vast, dry, red Australian interior. We arrived in Denpasar, stepped off the plane onto the tarmac, and the humid air slapped us in the face letting us know that we were in a whole new continent. We went straight to our hotel, Puri Kelapa, in Sanur. We settled into our room, cooled off in the air con, and then took a short walk to the beach where we were immediately bombarded by the infamous merchants who wanted us to purchase anything and everything from sarongs to Bintang shirts and beach massages. Somehow, we managed to take our stroll on the boardwalk without being swayed. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at one of the beach restaurants for our first Balinese dinner. We returned to our hotel for a good night's rest to make up for the jet lag and my restless night prior.
Day 2- March 27, 2014
While researching Bali, I read that Sanur has some colorful sunrises. Since I naturally wake up when the roosters crow, we had plenty of time to make it down to the beach to witness one. We laced up our sneakers and headed to the boardwalk for a Bali sunrise jog. The view was truly amazing. As the sun rose, the light hit the small fishing boats which made the colors pop. It was nice to see how the locals bring the beach to life while cleaning up and setting up shop for the day. While on our run, we intended to see two temples which were listed on the map, but unfortunately we weren't able to find them. I think that we may have passed them and missed it because of their lackluster appearance. After returning to the hotel and having breakfast, we decided to take a walk and visit the city streets of Sanur. Later that day we went to Uluwatu which is the famous Hindu temple perched up on a cliff over looking the sea. We arrived a little before sunset and were able to see the local monkeys roaming around and feasting on rambutan. While watching the sunset over the temple, we also watched a traditional Balinese kecak dance. It was a great 2-for-1 special! After the show, we went to Jimbaran beach for a seafood feast. The tables were set up on the sand facing the ocean. Every now and then we could here the large waves crash on the sand.
Day3 - March 28, 2014
While eating breakfast, we looked out onto the street and noticed hundreds of people dressed in white waiting patiently along the road. We were not sure what was going on but we had a good idea that this was probably related to Nyepi. Nyepi is the Balinese Hindu New Year which was just a few days away. After speaking to one of the servers, we found out that the locals were partaking in Melasti, a purification ritual celebrated three days before ringing in the New Year. We quickly ate our breakfast, grabbed our cameras, and made a beeline to the beach to see what all the hype was about. This was a cultural experience we were not going to miss! There were heaps of offerings, beautiful white garments, and traditional Balinese music. People came to the beach by the truckload! We sat as observers and appreciated the spiritual ritual. We then returned to our hotel and got ready for an afternoon at Kuta beach where we were able to catch a second Melasti procession. After Kuta, we headed to Purah Tanah Lot which is a Hindu temple in the ocean. On our way, our driver had to pull over and we watched our third Melasti procession of the day. At the temple, we waded through the water and washed our hands in the holy spring and received a blessing.
Day 4- March 29, 2014
Today we drove one hour north to Ubud, Bali's cultural hub. We dropped off our bags in our room and went straight for lunch at Ibu Oka. We have been watching Samantha Brown's passport to Asia and made a list of some interesting stops. One of her recommendations was Ibu Oka, a restaurant that specializes in Babi Guling (suckling pig). The story goes that the chef was given the restaurant as a gift by the king who loved her suckling pig dish. Unfortunatley, the gods had different plans for us that day. I'm going to preface with; the sidewalks in Bali are bad and you are generous if you even call them sidewalks in Ubud. So here I am hustling along in my minimal traction flip flops when I took a sudden fall while making way for another person on those "sidewalks." I heard a pop and there was immediate swelling so I feared the worst. Some kind people around us got ice and transported me to the nearest clinic. The clinic did not have x-ray so we had to make a long trip to Denpasar where we luckily found out it was not broken but badly sprained. After a three hour ER visit, I hobbled out of there and an hour later we were back to our accommodation in Ubud. The next few days were going to be some of the toughest thus far.
Day 5 March 30, 2014
I had been looking forward to this day since learning about the Nyepi celebrations. It was the eve of Nyepi and therefore the ogoh-ogoh parade. The Balinese construct large ornate monsters which symbolize evil spirits which they later destroy or burn after parading them through the streets. My ankle was in bad shape but I was not going to let this stop me from this once in a lifetime experience. Since my fall, I was adament about continuing the trip despite the diagnosis. Some may describe me as stubborn, but I could not imagine going back to the US anytime before we planned. My inability to control the situation made me a little bitter. They say that healthcare providers are the worst patients and after this experience I could not agree more. I grabbed my crutch and we hopped to the main field where the giant monsters were paraded around by young boys of the all the nearby communities. The boys had such a sense of pride in their accomplishments of constructing and carrying the monsters.
Day 6 - March 31, 2014
It was Nyepi, a day of silence for the Balinese. No one is allowed to leave their home on this day. The intent is to the fool the evil spirits into believing that Bali is a peaceful place and to leave it alone for another year. It is supposed to be a day of self reflection. The only reflecting I was doing pertained to my bum ankle. At this point I did not know how long it would take for it to heal. We really had to think about whether or not we were able to continue this trip, but I was stubborn and completely rejected the idea of going home regardless of how bad my ankle was injured.
Made, our host at Gerhana Sari 2, made us breakfast, dinner, and even picked some fresh rambutan and mangosteen for us during the day.
Day 7- April 1, 2014
We decided to spend two more nights in Ubud. The ankle injury changed our plans and we just had to figure out how to roll with it. We changed rooms that day since the one we were in was already booked. Jonathan went for a Lonely Planet recommended walk and I took a nap and did my best to try and rest my ankle. When he returned, he had in interesting story of hiking through rice fields and wading through waist deep water all with the help of guide. I was relieved when he informed me that this hike would not have been my cup of tea even with two good ankles. We decided to go out for lunch at a nearby restaurant that faced the rice patty by our hotel. We completed the evening with a traditional Balinese massage. This was relaxing after a stressful couple of days.
Day 8, April 2, 2014
This was our last full day in Ubud and our last chance to visit the sacred monkey forest. I did my best to disregard my ankle pain and focus on the experience. After exploring the monkey forest, we were getting hungry and decided we should finally make it to Ibu Oka for that babi guling. We hailed a local taxi this time and got to enjoy some delicious suckling pig. Following lunch, we walked through the Ubud market and picked up a few souveniers. We later had dinner at the Three Monkeys restaurant and some Bintangs at a reggae bar. The Balinese reggae band had an interesting sound to put it politely.
Day 9 - April 3, 2014
We had our last breakfast at Gerhana Sari 2 and checked out. We hired a driver to take us to Tirta Empul, a sacred temple with fresh water springs. Jonathan and I got into the water for our share of the blessings. We then went to a cofffee plantation. We had an educational tour and free tastings of the tea and coffee they had to offer. We purchased a cup of the most expensive coffee in the world, Kopi Luak. This coffee is made from beans previously ingested by civet cats. After the civet cats choose the best fruit and eat them, the droppings are collected and the beans properly cleaned before roasting. Personally, I thought the kopi luak was good but not something that I would seek out again. All that coffee on an empty stomach made for a queasy car ride to Padang Bai where we were catching a ferry to the Gili islands the following day. It was an interesting ride to the hotel as we were stopped by a local man who demanded we pay a road toll for the community. The driver seemed to be in on the hustle, and it left us with a weird feeling. We shook off the bad vibes and relaxed in our room for a little bit. Adventurous Jonathan wanted to see the Blue Lagoon which he read about in our guide book so we hiked up a hill for a nice sunset view.
We took a fastboat to Gili T, the largest of the three Gili Islands. The view from the boat was beautiful. We first stopped at Lombok to drop off and pick up some passengers. We then made it to Gili T where there are no motorized vehicles. My ankle was still not healed so we decided to take a horse and buggy to our hotel. During the short ride, we got into a minor horse fender bender. I was convinced that at this point, Indonesia wanted to kill me. We survived the trip and made it to our homestay, Woodstock. The people there were friendly and knew each guest by name. They made sure to welcome you home every time we returned. We walked down to the south side of the island where we relaxed on the beach with a Bintang. We also arranged for a snorkeling trip for the following day. That night we went out for dinner and then went to another Indonesian reggae bar, Sama Sama. This one was much better than the one in Ubud. There was a live reggae band that sounded like they knew what was up. We busted some moves and had a few more Bintangs before calling it a night.
Day 11 - April 5, 2014
Our homestay, Woodstock, was located steps away from a mosque which woke us up each morning promptly at 5 AM. There was also a band of rogue roosters which seemed to crow all night long. It was a stiff competition to see which could wake us up first. After breakfast, we made our way to the dock for our snorkeling trip. We piled into a rickety home made "glass bottom" boat and headed off for our first snorkeling location, an old ship wreck. The snorkeling was fantastic! The water was warm, the coral vibrant, and plenty of fish were swimming all around us. At our second stop we saw some giant sea turtles, and the third stop was on another coral reef. After doing this trip my recommendation is to definetly get in the water when you make it to the Gili's. After snorkeling, we had lunch on Gili Air, the smallest of the three islands. We waited for a tropical afternoon shower to pass and made our way back to Gili T.
Day 12 - April 6, 2014
This was our last full day on Gili T. Jonathan had read that some of the best snorkeling was on the north side of the island. We made our way north and rented some snorkel gear. Initially when we got in the water I was skeptical because all I saw was dead coral and one fish. We got out of the water and took the recommended route by some divers we met. Jonathan got in first and saw some turtles. He came back, reported the good news, and convinced me to get back in and see them too. We didn't have to go too far from shore to see the turtles. They were huge. As the current took us down the coast, we saw some of the most amazing and diverse marinelife thus far. When we made it back to shore, a local told us that we could have seen reef sharks if we just went a little farther. I'm glad we didn't, but Jonathan wished we had. After getting lunch at one of my favorited little cafes on the island, one of very few with air con, we made it back to Woodstock to wash up for dinner. For our last dinner on the island we went to one of the seafood grills. Jon got grilled calamari which was sensational. We were pretty wiped from the day so we crashed after dinner.
Day 13 - April 7, 2014
The cheapest way to get over to Lombok was the public ferry boat which went as soon as there were enough passengers to fill it. It was a unique experience, and we were some of the few tourists aboard. It was only a 30 minute trip but it felt like much longer as the old wooden boat swayed back in forth in the choppy waters. There was even water sloshing up from under the floor boards of the boat, but no one seemed to be too concerned so we moved our bags and decided to ignore it as well. After we got off the boat, we worked out a price for transport to Kuta Lombok. Our driver loved Bob Marley and had the Greatest Hits album playing on repeat for the whole ride over which we didn't mind. We stayed at a newer hotel called Kuta Cove. We immediately headed down to see the beach and get some food. During lunch, we were bombarded by tween girls who wanted us to buy their handmade bracelets. The girls were cute and inquisitive. They were surprised that Jonathan and I could be from the same country since we look so different. Just like tween girls in the states, they loved Justin Beiber and Rihanna too. After walking along the beach, we quickly realized that we were going to need to hire a scooter if we were going to make it anywhere.
Day 14 - April 8, 2014
That morning, we hired a scooter to check out the surrounding beaches. I was nervous at first, but Jonathan assured me that he was a pro at this since he had a scooter back in his college days. We took our scooter to Tajung Aan beach which was a wide sweeping arc of golden sand and turqoise blue water with green cliffs enclosing it all. It was breathtaking, and we felt like we had finally found the beach paradise we had been looking for in Indonesia. We made our way over to the far end of the beach and discovered Warung Turtle. We grabbed a tiki hut and relaxed with some coconuts, Bintangs, and had lunch on the beach.
Day 15 - April 9, 2014
We decided to check out another cove and headed west towards Mawun beach. The road was bumpy and had many hills, but proved no challenge for Jonathan who had indeed honed his skills on the roads of Gainesville. This beach was even more breathtaking than Tajung Aan. Unfortunately there was not as much shade and no Warung Turtle which were the major drawbacks. After enjoying the beach for a few hours, we decided to get some lunch at Ashtari, which was a great little vegetarian restaurant on top of a hill with magnificent views of the bays. Our favorite dishes were the samosas and the dark chocolate cake with coconut cream. Yum! That evening, we got dinner at Bule which we had heard was really good. Luckily, the hype held up, and it ended up being our favorite restaurant in Indonesia.
Day 16 - April 10, 2014
Jonathan had really wanted to go surfing while we were in Indonesia so we headed for Gerpuk which was supposed to have some of the best breaks in the Kuta area. After an extremely bumpy scooter ride down one of the worst roads we have encountered on this trip, we hired a board and an outrigger to take us out to a surf spot on the far side of the bay. After agreeing on a price for the outrigger and board with a nice gentleman, he sent us off with his 10 year old nephew, Donnie, much to our surpise. I couldn't believe it! A 10 year old was our captain. He was very mature for his age and took his job seriously. Jonathan and Donnie went surfing and I stayed back on the boat playing photographer. Jonathan got several good rides. That was my first time seeing him surf and I know it won't be the last. On our way back to Kuta we stopped at Tajung Aan and had lunch at Warung Turtle again. Jonathan went for a short hike up one of the cliffs to get a better view of the bay. As we were leaving, it looked like a storm was about to roll in. We hurried back down the bumpy road, and fortunately the rain skipped over us. After such a great dinner at Bule the night before, we returned there for our last dinner in Lombok.
Day 17, April 11,2014
Lombok was such a relaxing part of our trip. We really enjoyed our time there and felt like we had escaped the tourist crowds we came across in Bali and the Gilis. The beaches were also prettier than any we saw anywhere else in Indonesia. We took a 30 minute flight back to Bali where we would spend the night before departing for Singapore the following day. We took advantage of our second time in Bali's Kuta Beach to explore it a little more.
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