Welcome to Bali; Island Paradise
A cursory glance at the flight plan from Bangkok to Bali told me that the flight was 4 hours long. What? Raking my eyes through the AirAsia itinerary re-affirmed the fact. I hadn’t been on a flight longer than 2 hours since I left the Philippines for Thailand. Pulling up a map of South East Asia, I tried to judge the distance against all the other journeys I had made. Alright then. I honestly had no clue that Indonesia was that far out.
WELCOME TO…. AUSTRALIA??
‘Don’t go to Kuta!’
‘Seriously there’s nothing there!’
‘It’s just full of Australians’
‘It’s like a mini Australia!’
As per usual, I ignored all cautions for Kuta. It was close to Denpasar airport, and logically I thought it’d be the best place to rest before roaming around the island of Bali. Surely it couldn’t be that bad. To date, I had never regretted anything I’ve done while travelling. Until I arrived in Kuta.
Kuta was empty. Oh, not of people. That, it had in spades. It was empty of everything else. Culture. Things to do. Pleasant things to look at. In the absence of all of that, I was presented with the most number of Australians I had ever encountered in one place in my entire life. Every 2nd person in Kuta was Australian. Young, middle aged and old. Older women collapsing in the street, too inebriated to think straight. Younger guys screaming obscenities in the street. It was…fascinating. The only thing worth doing in Kuta was well… nothing. I can’t even name one above subpar place we ate at. I wouldn’t have even recommended going to Kuta as a day trip. What a waste of 3 perfectly good days. Impressions of Bali so far? Not particularly favourable. Is this the haven that people ranted and raved about? We left as soon as we could, which in my opinion was still not soon enough.
CANGGU, BALI’S CHIANG MAI
Almost immediately I could sense a change as we drove into Canggu. Buildings were lower, there were far less people and noise. I could already tell that I would like it here. The driver dropped us off at our hostel, The Escape, and we checked in and got settled in quickly. A walk around Canggu later would confirm my thoughts on the area. It was sleepy and lazy, with a hipster/digital nomad vibe that I had only ever encountered in Chiang Mai, Thailand previously. I would later find out that Canggu was the town of choice that western Digital Nomads chose to settle down in. There was a healthy mix of Balinese people and visitors, most that lived there, and the rest were mostly backpackers. There were few holiday goers mixed in.
Getting to Canggu also confirmed something else for me. There was little to no street food in Bali. It was interesting. Not in a bad way, just interesting in general. At this stage I had been travelling for nearly five months and street food had always been an option – one that I mostly chose. It had even been an option the metropolitan city of Seoul in South Korea, but apparently… not here. It was strange, and later I would lament, it would put a strain on my pocket like no other city had.
After days of laying by the beach, watching other try and fail at surfing and eating plenty of fresh fruit and poke bowls Lisa and I cast our eye to the map of Bali to see what was around to see. Canggu was amazing, but other than lying by the beach (which we did in spades), Surfing (which I didn’t even attempt) and eating, there was not much else to do. The smaller Islands around Bali were ruled out due to closures because of the recent deadly earthquakes and volcanoes eruptions (welcome to the Pacific Ring of Fire). Looking at a Map of Bali directed us upwards towards Ubud.
UBUD – EAT, PRAY, LOVE
If Canggu was full of digital nomads and surfers, Ubud was filled with yoga loving hippies (I mean that in the least offensive way possible. Street signs and posts directed you every which way to the closest yoga retreat or studio. The hostel we made our home echoed the same vibe. Walking through the markets showcased beautiful artistic pieces with lovely billowy clothing to wrap yourself in as you walked through the streets of Ubud. Of course, they also had standard little trinkets that you could purchase in all parts of Bali.
We quickly realised that the best way to utilise our time would be to hire a driver to take us around to different sites. Lisa was uncomfortable with the idea of using a motorbike, so that was the option we were left with. Research directed us to the company aptly named, Bali’s Safest Driver’s. Panji helped us in panning routes and all we had to worry about was sitting in comfort while our driver Komang navigated through the Balinese terrain to get us to our destinations. Pricing was very fair, and easy on the pocket ranging from Rp1,200,000 (approx. €74) up to Rp1,400,000 (approx. €86) per day depending on what we did. We saw beautiful rice paddies and waterfalls, swung on dubiously tied swings over amazing views and got to see some of Bali’s cultural sights and smaller villages.
I also saw my first ever volcano. It was a truly magical few days.
And of course, we went to the obligatory Bali Gates of Heaven.
Of course, the only thing I didn’t do while in Ubud was yoga.
CANGGU AND BEYOND
After spending time driving around all of Bali and seeing everything the nation state island had to offer we found ourselves back in Canggu to enjoy the rest of our time. We managed to secure a booking at the highly recommended hostel, the Farm. The hostel was always constantly booked out and full – it was only a fluke of luck that we were able to get a booking there. It was amazing, and at €14 per night it was definitely at the higher end of money I had paid for hostels during my travels. The rooms were exceptionally clean, the bunks were massively spacious, and the communal bathroom was like anything I had ever seen, in any hostel or otherwise. Outside of the room, The Farm had two sizeable pools, a restaurant that served delicious food and every Sunday, the hostel held a free barbecue.
Days were spent just lying by the pool living that Bali life and listening to every summer hit from the 2010’s. If I wasn’t at the pool, I was probably with Becca, Pam, Maw, Deb or Sam eating and drinking the most hipster food imaginable (read avocado toast and dragon fruit infused water). Evenings were spent partying it up down at Old Man’s near the beach, or on the beach on sand wet by a combination of Alcohol or seawater. It was amazing. At this stage I finally succumbed to doing something wildly irresponsible while travelling – I got my nose and helix pierced. There was no real planning or thought behind the fact. Pamela was going to get hers done and by the time we got there, not only had I decided that I’d do mine too, but I would also get one in my ear too. Daredevil.
All too soon, it was time for Lisa and I to depart and head off to our next destination. I was still longing to visit more of Indonesia, particularly Java and Sumatra, but there was just no time. It wasn’t just me anymore, it was Lisa travelling too. There were thing’s she wanted to see too, and it wouldn’t be fair for me to make her miss out on things she wanted to experience while visiting this side of the world.
Back to Denpasar we went and boarded our AirAsia flight to Hanoi. Yup, we were headed back to my ever favourite location, Vietnam. We taxied and then took off, the Volcanoes of Sumatra and Java rising and peeking through the clouds teasing me to return.
Until next time..
Barbara
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