Bali
Probably the most popular island of Indonesia, Bali is known as the central hub of the ‘digital nomads’ and it’s easy to see why, with it’s stunning untouched beaches, diving, beautiful Hindu temples and rice terraces the place is full of photo opportunities. Whether you’re a beach bum surfer, a plant based yogi or you just love to party there’s something for everyone here.
We hadn’t planned to visit Bali on this trip but we were sat in Cambodia looking at our travel options to Ho Chi Min when we realised we couldn’t get a visa on arrival at a land border, it’s only available when flying into the country. With a normal visa taking 3-5 days to be sorted and having seen what we wanted to in Cambodia we didn’t fancy sitting around for a handful of days that might be better used elsewhere! So we started to look at flights to other destinations. Linz suggested Bali and within half an hour we had a flight booked the following day! Within another hour or so we had a whole route covering a month around other countries before we will finally fly to Vietnam and pick up where we left off!
Kuta
Arriving in Bali we spent the first couple of days in Kuta. We immediately felt like we were no longer backpacking but on a holiday instead! There’s lots of bars and restaurants and lots of Australians! The beach was nice with people taking surf lessons, cold beers being sold out of cooler boxes and plenty of souvenirs to be bought. We bought a sarong to sit on while on the beach for only £1 and spent the day relaxing with a few drinks (about £1.50 per beer and the lemon beer is very refreshing in the sun). The beach isn’t overly busy but if you take a left when you get to the beach and keep following the coast it gets quieter and is a much nicer beach. Just don’t freak out at the tiny crabs running around your feet!
Kuta was also a good spot for nightlife. Away from the beach by about 5-10 minutes there is a strip of bars and clubs catering to all different types of people, with a wide variety in the genres of music and a good mix between normal bars and neon lit nightclubs. There seems to be a lot of live music on offer as well and we sat at a bar where the band took requests and also let anyone come up and sing a song with them. I had just about had enough to drink to pick up the mic when they finished for the night! (Lucky escape)! We did have a good dance though which seemed to be recorded by multiple phones. We’ve told ourselves it’s because they thought we were good dancers and we are sticking to that story! Lots of the restaurants do takeaway so we grabbed a Nasi Goreng and a Mie Goreng (rice and noodles respectively in soy sauce with a fried egg on top) and head back to our hotel to find a rubbish film on tv!
Our hotel in Kuta was The Pavillion. It was our first proper hotel for a while so we made the most of the comfortable bed, good shower and warm swimming pool. And it was only a short walk to the centre of the area with a really nice breakfast place (Baba G) on the corner which did good coffee and an amazing breakfast burrito. We paid £19 a night which was more expensive than most of our accommodation has been but it was worth it!
Ubud and Kopi Luwak
After a couple of days in Kuta we took a taxi to Ubud which is a bohemian town filled with yoga classes, healing crystals, meditation centres and vegan food options. There were lots of flowing dresses being worn ready for Instagram pictures!
On the way our taxi driver offered to take us to see Luwak coffee being made for no extra charge. We would of course be able to buy stuff while there which I’m sure the drivers get a cut of but you get a tour for free and aren’t pressured at all to actually buy anything, it’s entirely up to you! We agreed and actually really enjoyed it. Kopi Luwak is from coffee cherries which are eaten by a Civet cat, digested (this is where fermentation occurs) and then collected when they have passed out the other end!
The tour was really interesting, with the guide showing just the two of us round to see the different ingredients they grow to add to the various flavoured coffees, the equipment they use, the place they dry the coffee and of course the animals which make it all possible. We then got a whole tray of different coffees and teas for us to try. They had some fantastic flavours and we drank a lot of coffee and tea without paying a penny! We then chose to buy a cup of their most expensive coffee which wasn’t one of the free ones as it only cost a couple of pounds and we felt bad that we had had such a good time, hadn’t been hassled at all to buy anything and that they hadn’t been compensated for their time or the lovely drinks.
In Ubud we stayed at Kampoeng Joglo Abangan (£14p/n) which was located just at the end of the main part of the town where we had a huge room with a massive bed with each corner made from a beam which stretch to the ceiling. Our bathroom was semi outside which was nice and we had a little porch where we could sit and have coffee in the mornings. The hotel had an amazing pool and lovely views of rice paddies behind it. Just across the road was a really popular vegetarian cafe called Lazy Cats on the second floor of a building where you could sit on chic furniture out on a balcony sipping iced coffee and eating tasty breakfasts of potatoes, mushrooms, eggs and avocado. It’s clearly popular with the instagram crowd as they have signs asking people to be respectful and not bother others when taking pictures! We saw a girl pick up a random book from the bookshelf and pretend to read it while her husband took photos of her which would have been quite amusing if it wasn’t for them leaving their baby laying on a sofa on the other side of the room!
The Monkey Forest
For our first full day in Ubud we visited the monkey forest. Which as you may have figured out from the name is a forest, full of monkeys. As we walked in, a group of male monkeys went absolutely mental at each other. Teeth were on show and shrieks filled the air as they chased each other around our legs. At this point the look on Linsey’s face told me she was very much questioning if this was such a good idea! It didn’t help that whilst avoiding angry monkeys we also had to dodge the constant stream of tourists on mopeds driving down the tiny path to the entrance!
Once properly inside the forest however it was a wonderful place. There are temples, waterfalls, beautiful hills covered in trees and loads of monkeys playing in pools of water or just hanging around. We did see one woman being chased by a rather large and aggressive monkey, but we put it down to her panic and screaming rather than it being the monkeys fault! There are signs everywhere telling you how to act with them and she clearly hadn’t listened! Our experience with the monkeys was far more friendly with a small monkey playing with Linseys skirt and two of them climbing all over me when I sat down to take a rest on some wooden steps. They sat happily in my lap, started to try and groom me and eventually realised I had cigarettes in my pocket and found it highly entertaining to try and get into my pocket and steal them! (Don’t worry, they didn’t succeed)!
Tirta Empul
The following day I don’t know what was wrong with me but for some reason I was under the impression that I was capable of riding a moped. It may have had something to do with Linz repeatedly telling me it looked easy and that all the other travellers riding them looked fine. So our hotel arranged a bike being dropped to us and off we went. (About £3 for 24 hour rental).
Within a minute I was regretting the decision as we joined a road with other vehicles on it. My flip flops kept almost coming off, I couldn’t see a thing in my mirrors and clearly sensing I didn’t know what I was doing other road users proceeded to overtake me even if there wasn’t enough space! One minute I was going too slow, the next I was racing towards the vehicle in front and braking just in time to avoid a collision. The brief respite of some open road with no other vehicles was short lived as we missed our turning and ended up going down a gravely road, through a small building site and then ran out of fuel part way up a hill! Luckily some friendly locals arrived to help and one gave me a lift on the back of his bike to buy some fuel and soon enough we were back on the road.
The roads are winding and steep and it feels like we were always going round a tight corner, up a hill that the bike could barely get up or down a hill that even with both brakes held firmly down we seemed to race down gathering speed. Linz of course was sat on the back having a great time, taking pictures and videos, completely oblivious to the stressful experience I was enduring!
I had just about got the hang of driving the bike as we arrived at our destination, Tirta Empul, a Hindu water temple. The temple was beautifully carved in Indonesian style but the highlight is a pool with multiple fountains of rushing water which flow out in small arcs into the fish filled pool. After changing from our clothes into a sarong (which costs a couple of pounds to rent and is required if you want to go into the water for the ritual) we stood by the pool quizzically looking at each other as we realised we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. We didn’t have a guide and there aren’t information boards so we hung around watching others and covertly listening to other people’s guides before giving it a go. We got in (the water was freezing!) and one by one went to each fountain to be cleansed and pray. It was a great experience and well worth the ordeal to get there. The journey back was less stressful as I felt more comfortable on the bike but I’m not sure we will be renting one again in a hurry!
Bali Swing
Our next day trip was to Bali Swing. Opting for a taxi this time we had a lovely driver who played Beatles music the entire way after realising we were English and only charged us about 200000 IDR (£10-11) to take us there and collect us and take us back to our hotel. It was however expensive for the Bali Swing ticket at $35 per person and an additional $10 for photographs done by their photographers. (No idea why the prices are in dollars for this as nothing else was in Bali)!
Once in, there are loads of swings to go on, from small relaxed ones to a mega swing going out over the edge of the hill/mountainside the place is located. There’s tandem swings and also nests in the trees for posed photographs. Lunch was a buffet and included in the price and was surprisingly tasty. Unfortunately for us the pool was under maintenance otherwise they have a lovely pool and bar area for relaxing next to a river where you can pay an additional amount to do white water rafting. After some of the queues for the swings though, think theme park queues, we were ready to head back to our hotel. So we left the beautiful location and sounds of the staff shouting in unison “Welcome to Bali Swing”, “Bali Swing thanks you” (which was highly amusing and random) with some great photographs (they airdrop the professional pictures to your iPhone) and tired legs… and some sunburn from standing in queues in the 30 degree heat!
A great decision
Bali was a brilliant decision and we are really pleased we decided to change our plans to include it in our trip. It was like a mini holiday from our mega holiday! It has a great vibe, there’s loads to do, the people are really helpful and as long as you like noodles or rice with fried egg and chicken satay the food is good too!