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Honeymooners in Bali 2016
Out of all the places in the world we could spend our honeymoon, the island of the gods was the one place that called our name, loud and boldly. Hubs and I are always up for exploring the unknown so without questions asked we packed our bags and off we went on the journey that forever changed our lives.
The only Bali I knew was the Bali of the movies, the Bali of pictures or travel magazines... and of course, the Bali of Eat, Pray, Love. Little did I know that this amazing island has a soul of its own.. So before I say anything more, jump into the journey with us and let's dive in!
The Island of the gods welcomed us with open arms. Upon arrival and stepping into Indonesian land I felt the warm humid air, the kind of warmth that makes you yearn for an ice cold coconut water! I was immediately mesmerized by the architural design of the airport. One of the many things that make Bali so unique, is indeed its amazing architectural designs. We arrived a little past midnight so there wasn't much going on at the airport. Weeks before arriving we had scheduled for personal driver to pick us up when we arrived who thankfully was already there waiting for us. His name is Wayan, and little did we know that half of Bali's population is named Wayan. I'll explain later. The ride to our resort was quiet and very serene. The streets were empty, and the smell of nature was intoxicating. I promise you that it feels as if this island was alive.
Inaya Putri Resort
We arrived in Nusa Dua, where we chose to spend the first few days of our honeymoon. After much research and planning I figured this would be the perfect place for an awesome start.. And I wasn't mistaking. Nusa Dua stands alone, it's on the southeast part of Bali. It has many 5 star resorts and very beautiful private beaches. The resort is big and has a lot of amenities, we didn't have enough time to explore it all but maybe next time for sure. The room we stayed in was very spacious and pretty. It was adorable how they put a fruit basket with Indonesian treats with a special not welcoming us to the resort. But above all the coolest part about our room was the private entrance we had to the huge private pool! Super cool! The first morning in Bali, we woke up, head down to the restaurant where we had a buffet style breakfast which was delicious! Especially the fresh pressed juice they make for you and all the different kinds of Indonesian pastries. I'm glad they had a variety of things, we got to try a little bit of everything, no wonder we came back with a few extra pounds .
After breakfast we were anxious to see the ocean. So we head out to the private beach of the resort and enjoyed the whole day in the sun. Luckily the weather was perfect. One thing that we weren't aware of at first was how the locals come up to you and try to sell tours and attractions, so if you don't know how to negotiate those things you can overpay at times. We got approached by a few locals but as we told them we weren't interested at the moment they respectfully thanked us and went on their way. People in Bali are the kindest people I have ever met in my life.
The beauty of Nusa Dua for me was the steadiness of the ocean.. The water was still and silent which made it easy for me to get in and enjoy the ocean. It was honestly like a big swimming pool, and the water was the perfect temperature.
After a few hours of laying on the beach a few Balinese ladies approached us and asked if we wanted to get a massage. We were like,"whaaaaaaat? A massage? Now? Here?........... Ok!" They informed us how they were professional at this and not to worry about the excess sand on our feet and legs. This was quite an experience. A quite good one too. They gave us a 1hr massage, 2 ladies for each one of us. They charged us 300,000 rupees. We thought we were getting a deal comparing the amount to US dollars for a 1hr massage... I mean it was certainly a deal!! But we soon realized that we got a deal, not a bargain. We later after much experience in getting massages learned that we so over paid for that massage which now we laugh at how we became experts at negotiating massages. After our delightful massage we expired the area a bit, we were tired already so we just briefly walked a few miles. Before we knew it we found this gorgeous hidden beach front. We stayed there for a while, soaking in all the beauty around us.
Our experience in Nusa Dua was one of our favorite... we told ourselves we would def be going back to that part of the island since it's quiet and not that populated by locals and tourist. We like quiet places, we are boring people haha. After a long day of enjoying the beach we finally got back to our room, jumped in the private pool for about 2 seconds and that was it, we were ready to crash. That evening we had dinner at the resorts restaurant.. they were so careful about giving us a nice table and treating us so nice since it was our honeymoon. Dinner was interesting.. fried fish smothered in BBQ sauce, I had never had that in my life. It was good, but we have not been wowed by Balinese food yet.
The next day we took off on our first adventure which took place in Uluwatu Temple. This ginormous temple stands on a cliff on one of the prettiest hills in Bali. The temple is surrounded by forest and wild monkeys. This is where we had our first encounter with Monkeys.
Before you enter the temple out of respect for the culture you have to wear a sarong, which goes around your waist to cover your legs, at least under knee height. My husband wasn't too enthused about the skirt like looking thing around his wait, but I do have to say, he looked quite sexy! Around your waste your wear a sash also. It was special being able to experience this and celebrating a whole new different culture.
The temple is big, so be prepared to walk around a lot. There is so much to see and experience. And also, don't leave your camera or anything lose in plain view of the monkeys cause they will steal your stuff. We saw a monkey take a ladies flip flops while she was walking. That is how fast they are. And apparently the monkeys think it's funny cause they tease the people until they get bored and just throw their stuff down. The monkey eventually got bored of the lady begging for her flip flop so it just threw it down at her. Stinkin' monkey.
On our way back from Uluwatu Temple we stopped at a coffee plantation. They have these Plantation all over Bali. The place was super cool. You walk in and there is like a forest with all kinds of trees and plants growing inside. Every plant had a sign saying what it was and what they used it for. They gave us a tour of the coffee Plantation and explained to us how they made their coffee. Once the tour is done, for a few rupees you can buy a sample tray with all kinds of flavored teas and coffee. This was the best experience, this teas were sooooooo good! Especially the red ginger one. Once that is over they guide you to the store. I didn't know this but it's quite pricey for the amount of product you receive. We only learned this after a few days of experiencing Bali and buying stuff other places. Overall this is was an awesome experience!
After Luwak Coffee tour we head out to Kuta, one of the busiest places ever in the world!!! Ok I'm exaggerating but seriously, I've never been in a place where there was so much going on all at once. From motorbikes trying to get through, and takis honking at you, to locals yelling to come buy stuff from them, to crazy crossroad and busy shopping malls. Since Bali is such a small island, and the population grow tremendously each year, the roads are getting more and more saturated with traffic. Most locals ride motorbikes, but since there are so many of them, it makes even hard for them to get places. I'm glad we didn't rent a scooter, we probably wouldn't have made it home in one piece.
We arrived at our Resort is Kuta called Alaya Resort Kuta. It was soooooo pretty. They greeted us with a delicious chai tea type of cold drink which was amazing! They also had yummy cookies for us to indulge on. I mean you can never go wrong with cookies right?
After we got settled in we head out to the beach in Kuta which was walking distance. The beach was a little unbearable in my opinion. A lot of people would find this type of busy beach energetic but for me, as in introvert I found it a bit draining. Many locals go to the beaches and just chill there. They swim and hangout on the sand, and many go there to sell jewelry or Food. It's a fun environment but not exactly what we were looking for.
Lots n lots of surfers that for sure. Kuta has nice strong waves for good surfing. We went there at sundown, the people were all gathered around bonfires and surfers were on the ocean catching some nice waves. Maybe foreigners like this beach because it's more like the real Balinese feel. We didn't stay long in Kuta. We decided to walk across the street to the huge shopping mall they have. We bought coffee and just walked around. After an hour or so we ended up going to the movie theater to see The Jungle Book. . None the less, Kuta is a cool place to go and just explore.
When we got back to the resort I did a lot of research on beaches we could go to that weren't very populated and were also beautiful at the same time. I came across a place called Dream Beach, but this beach is in the sister island about 1 hr away by speedboat. We didn't plan accordingly to visit this island so were weren't able to go but will def go there next time we visit Bali. Another beach that came up as one of the prettiest beaches in Bali was Dreamland Breach in New Kuta. This beach is very near Uluwatu. We were near Uluwatu so it wouldn't be too far or take too much time to get there. We are going to dreamland bright and early.... but first, dinner!
To get there we hired a uber driver which I totally recommend if you are trying to save a few bucks. Hiring the personal driver wasn't exactly to ideal thing to do when you want to travel short distances. It can get expensive. When we arrived Dreamland Beach we had to pay to get access to this beach which we were totally ok with because it made it a lot more exclusive. When we saw this beach we were absolutely mesmerized.
The color of the water, and the color of the sand, along with its surrounds and the privacy of the beach was exactly what we had been looking for every since we arrived Bali. This was the Bali of my dreams.. The Bali that I wanted to explore and spend all my time in.
We spent the whole day at Dreamland beach and again, had really nice local Balinese ladies approach us and ask if we wanted a massage!! And uuuuuh, yeah of course we want a massage hehe. We both got an hour massage which was great as well.
One thing that I perhaps wasn't very well prepared for was the sun in Bali. The temperature there is humid, but not too hot where you feel like you're burning. But it does burn. I had some sun protection but not enough apparently.
After spending the whole day in Dreamland Beach, we were toasted. I'm used to getting sun burnt so it didn't ruin much of the vacation but it sure was very uncomfortable for a while. After Dreamland Beach we decided to go back to the resort, relax a bit in the coolness of the room and head out to explore Seminyak at night.
Seminyak was very busy and beautiful at night. It's very much like Kuta, they are actually very close to each other. Our hotel was in the cusp of Kuta and Seminyak so we were able to walk there very easily. I felt that Seminyak was for for a older crowd, more upscale restaurants and dive bars. The boutiques were more pricey and much more prestigious. I liked Seminyak much more than Kuta. When we head out there were many restaurants, bars and very lively places open where they had live music playing which was super nice. We had had dinner at the resort so we just stopped at a very nice restaurant to have coffee and dessert. It was nice and relaxing.. a lot of the restaurant in Bali are open concept which I love, everything is open and spacious. We didn't stay out long since we were beat from being out all day, we head and relaxed for the rest of the night.
The next morning our driver Wayan picked us up early to take us to The Elephant Safari Park & Lodge located in Taro Village. From where we were located it took about 1 hour and a half to get there. And since there are no big highways in Bali, it's one road only therefore going places could take a little longer than anticipated. But we couldn't complain because the drive is gorgeous and it's all so very green and beautiful.
We passed a few rice fields, lots of vegetation and also villages that specialized in making clay sculptures. We also saw a lot of temples, beautiful architectures and many locals lighting their offerings in their temples and in the middle of the streets.
When we got to the Lodge, they greeted us with our wet towels and their special Welcome Drink. It's a nice gesture, and since we had already checked in at a few resorts we were looking forward to our welcome drink. Soon after they escorted us to our room and said that our Elephant would soon come and pick us up to go explore the Safari Park. The Elephant ride is extra, it doesn't come with the hotel package. I believe it was an extra $150 to take the ride. But it was absolutely worth the cost.
It's was so exciting to know you are going to be picked up by an elephant!!! I was ecstatic. After a few minutes, an elephant, his name is Boris, came to our hotel room and picked us up. The hotels are high enough to be able to just step right onto the elephant. It's was so cool!!
We rode Boris through the Safari Park looking at all the vegetation and the forest that it lies in. Our tour guide explained everything about these Majestic animales to us. How the owner of the park had rescued the elephants from Sumantra and then soon feel in love with them and decided to rescue as many as he could. It's was nice learning about the history of the elephant in Bali. The whole park is surrounded by elephants. That was the cool part about it, that where ever you looked you would see Elephants.
When the tour was done, Boris dropped us off at our room where we peacefully enjoyed the view and fruit basket that they provided us with. We had a reservations to have dinner at 8pm, so we got a courtesy call from front desk telling us that our Elephant would come and pick us up yo take us to have dinner. We thought that was awesome! And super creative for them to do that for their guest. It was like an elephant taxi ride haha. We really enjoyed the dinner and the stay there. Everything about this place is Majestic.
The next morning we had reservations to bath the elephants. We got up and went down to experience these amazing creature close and personal. We got to wash the elephant, brush it, scrub it, pour water on it with the hose. They love water so they were wnjoying this so much. For me this was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I felt so little compared to these huge animal. We bathed the Elephant for about 20 minutes, and it's super cool cause you don't have to worry about anyone rushing you or telling you anything. They were super cool about letting you take your time and bath it.
Bathing the Elephants is also an extra charge, I believe it was around $75 US dollars to do this. Totally worth it as well! We only spent one night at the Safar Park, and in one day we got to experience so much!! I would so recommend anyone exploring balinto do this. It's a life changing experience.
We left the Elephant Safari early in the morning. We knew we wanted to explore a few places and wanted to make the most of the pretty daylight. Our first stop before arriving in Ubud, was Pura Tirta Empul, the Holy Spring Water Temple. Before you enter you much wear a sarong and sash, so we rented one from the entrance. The water temple is placed in the missed a gorgeous forest, there were huge ancient tress everywhere and beautiful temples standing big and strong.
Once we were inside of the spring water temple, everyone was praying and preparing themselves to step into the spring water pool. It was a really surreal experience. This is a place where Balinese people come and pray to their gods and miracles happen. The water is a Holy because it flows from an infinite underground spring that never stops sprouting water.
The moment I stepped into the freezing cold water I let myself go. I allowed myself to believe and be part of this beautiful cultures beliefs. I stepped up to the srouying water and prayed. I prayed to my God, the infinite Father, creator of all. I thanked him for this opportunity to experience something so unique. And I thanked him for this beautiful treasure on earth.
The Holy Spring water was one of the most beautiful things we did in Bali. Oh and prob also one of the coldest things we did in Bali haha the water is FREEZING cold!!
From the Elephant Safari Park our driver picked us up, and we headed out to Ubud. Ubud is the last stop of our journey in Bali. I think this is the part that I am most excited for, I've waited so long to see Ubud and explore its beauty. The drive is about 45 minutes, and along the way our Driver stops to show us the largest rice fields in Bali. It's called Tegallalang Rice Terrace in Ubud. Pictures cannot do justice to the beauty of this place. It's green and hilly and wet and there are people picking the rice everywhere. It's truly humbling to see. We got to take some pictures and buy some souvenirs. It's definitely a place you want to see in real life.
We arrived at our resort in Ubud, a big and gorgeously constructed resort that sits on top of a mountain. It's surrounded by luscious forest and birds singing everywhere. It feels like you age up in the sky when you look down at the river on the bottom of the mountain.
Again, they welcome us with a delicious drink and a nice cold wet towel to put on your face to refreshed yourself. They look us to our private villa, that had its own private pool with a gorgeous view of the mountain and flower river on the bottom. This is my favorite view of all. My husband would make fun of me saying that all places are my favorite places, but no seriously this one really is my favorite of them all. Immediately as soon as we got to the private villa, I slap on my Bikini and in I go. It felt so nice jumping in that pool, especially having it all for yourself and being able to have this awesome view around you.
We enjoy the day in our Villa, are some snacks, played in the pool, rested and enjoyed the rest of the evening. Around 7pm we were getting hungry so we called the front desk and scheduled a driver to take us to the center of the town. It was booming at that time. It's a very lively place at night.. but in a very subtle way. Nothing crazy, just people walking and enjoying the shops. The restaurants were full, so we're the bars. We walked the busy streets and luckily enough we found a place that called outer attention. It has a whole bunch of coconuts in the outside and we love concours so we had to check it out. This hidden gem on earth is called Turkies Cafe.
Everything is made out of coconuts. They have coconut butter, ice cream, coconut milk, all kinds of desserts and the best part are the nice cold fresh coconuts they have. I fell in love. We stayed there and enjoyed a few desserts and treats.
They had wifi so we got explore what was going on in the world while we spilled on some nice cold coconut water.
After our sweet indulgement we explored the streets of Ubud. There was a huge market place where there were many little shops and all kinds of fun stuff to see. It's quite amazing to see how artistic people in Bali are. There were stuff of all kind of nature, prices and sizes. Some things were big and gorgeous and beautifully made.
We headed back to the resort afterwards and rested up for the adventure that awaited us the next day.
The next morning we woke up early, around 8am to be able to be down to the place where we're going to go water rafting on the same river our resort overlooked. It was a group of about 20 I think going in this trip with us. It was fun but yes I kinda think it was a little crowded. I didn't know what to expect cause I had never done water rafting before.
We all drove on the bed of a truck to the place where we were going to hike down to the river. The bike down was about a 2 mile hike, and it was easy either. good thing we are in shape but some people where having a hard time going down. When we finally arrived there were a lot of people waiting to go on their raft. Each raft had about 8 people on it not including the raft guide. He gave us all the instruction on what to do and how to paddle when he tells us. 1, 2, 3 we got This!!! The rafting was fun!
Not as scary as I thought it would be but it was quite an adventure. There were pets where it was faster than others but most of all it was a very nice enjoyable time. The views around us, with the hill tips and the houses hanging from the cliffs, it was very beautiful. At one point we got to get off and swim in the river, well I didn't but my husband did haha I'm a scaredy cats when it comes to water! The whole rafting ride was about 4 hours long, not too long or too short. I think I was ready to be done by the time we were actually done so it was nice to get off and walk around a little. Once we got back to the same place we got kicked up from, they had good and drinks for us, included in the package which was nice and thoughtful of them. We are and hung out for about.
Soon after our driver took us back to the resort where just hung out and took a good long nap! When we woke up we were starving, so we got ready to head out to dinner. We had heard from a local of an awesome barbecue place in town, so we had to try it. The driver took us to Naughty Nuris Ubud.
Hands down, the best BBQ I've ever had in my life. Everything was amazing. Hubs had pork ribs with sausage, and I had chicken satay with rice. It's finger licking good!! We went back to this place every day for the remainder of the days in Ubud. Our stay in Ubud was incredible. All 4 days we went to Turkies Cafe and Naughty Nuri's, that's how spontaneous and creative we are haha.
The last day of our stay in Bali we headed to The Sacred Money Forest in Ubud. It was really neat to see how the monkeys weren't at all scared of the people wanting to pet them. The cutest of all things is seeing the baby monkeys with these mommas just chilling looking at the world around them. You aren't allowed to pet them but they do sell you bananas so you can feed it to them.
They will tell you to put it on top of your shoulder so the monkey can come and sit in your shoulder while they eat bananas. It's the scariest things ever actually! One big ole' monkey jumped on em out of nowhere and literally almost had a heart attack! This monkey was 70 lbs at least. That crazy fella !
The monkey forest is big so you can easily spend a few hours there just walking and watching all he monkeys interact with one another. They are very smart and canniving. They are just watching to see what they can steal from you, so you gotta be careful not to have lose cameras or your phone or even your flip flops. They love stealing flip flops haha After the monkey forest we walked back through the center of Ubud, and shopped a little at the local shops.
Before we headed bacl to the resort we stopped at Turkies Cafe one more time to grab a delicious coconut drink and off we were back to our gorgeous hotel room. Another great day out in Ubud, loving and enjoying this amazing place in the world.
Our last night in Ubud we wanted to make it special. We aren't quick to spend a lot of money on things, we rather enjoy the more simpler things in life but this time we wanted to do something special. We made a reservation at Bridges Restaurant. It's more on the high end side but we wanted to treat ourselves to nice romantic dinner. The food was excellent and the experience was worth every penny.
I could have stayed in Ubud forever but our time there is coming to an end. There isn't a thing I didn't love about Ubud. It had a very urban like feel to it, with lots of art shops everywhere and crafty places to see and shop at. The locals are always so nice and sweet and welcoming, it makes you feel the love and joy they have within them. The surroundings in Ubud are very luscious. Since it is in the center of Bali it is higher up in the mountain tops, hence why maybe it rained a little more there and it was also a tad. It cooler than in Kuta.
The next day we decided to save a little money and instead of calling the driving to pick us up, we ordered an Uber driver to take us back to Denspasar where we would stay for a few hours and get one last massage before we head out to the airport to catch our flight back home.
On our way back to the "city" I could just soak it all in and admire everything we drove by. I fell in love with Bali and its people. It has been the most amazing time of my life, and I seriously cannot wait to come back and enjoy this island of the Gods once again. We couldn't have wished for a better honeymoon than this. I call this Adventures if a lifetime, and I'm so forever grateful for it all.
16 days in Bali have us feeling like...
Until we meet again Bali.
Selamat tinggal
