Travelogue : A Balinese Journey

I was first attracted to the beauty of Bali when I watched the movie Eat, Pray, Love back in 2010. Call it serendipity, but in a sudden twist of comic events, a pre-grad trip planned initially to Krabi, Thailand turned a full 180 degree to Bali when the situation in Bangkok started becoming tense for Indian nationals. Boy, was that a great decision! There is no other place like Bali. Lush green fields surrounded by serene waters , that place is truly an Island of  the Gods!

So, 5 of us woke up droopy-eyed on a cool January morning and left Singapore via AirAsia to the land of paradise. We landed in Denpasar International Airport in, the frenzied administrative hub of Bali. It was a hot and sultry day in Bali . A friendly cabbie was waiting to drop us tired souls at the hostel. We stayed in a place called Granny's hostel recommended to us by our British exchange travel friend!

Hostel entrance

It was a cute cottage-turned-hostel place mainly for backpackers who are looking for company and a place to stay overnight. Unlike a hotel, here you share a big room with 10 other people. Although the hostel staff were really nice and we got comfortable bunk beds, I din't particularly enjoy my sleep time as tiny mosquitoes got the better of me. Thankfully I had a sound sleep on the second night purely out of exhaustion of the day's activities and some good mosquito repellants recommended by the local people.

Day 1 : Kuta, Shopping 

We were famished and we headed for lunch at the local mall's foodcourt. Lunch was yummy! Hot Chinese noodles (Mee Goreng) and classic bubble tea!

Mee Goreng

After hiring a cab ( we were asked to take only BlueBird cabs for safety reasons) , we got off at Bali Bomb Memorial and decided to walk to Kuta Beach. It was the place where dreadful Kuta bombings happened a decade ago. After paying our respects, we set off to do some girl-shopping and bargaining in the roadside shops. Huge collection of quirky items at cheap prices with a bustling night life, it is a must-go place for everyone who comes to Bali. It was an off-peak season and the main tourist locations and shopping centers were not too crowded. The local population seemed like a friendly bunch although I was a little offended by them shouting 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' every time they saw us. Apparently they somehow correlate Indian girls to the famous Bollywood movie for no apparent reason. Oh,well! After walking and shopping for folks back home, we crashed at the local Pizzeria and ate to our heart's content. 

Roadside Haggling for cute keychains

Day 2 : Tanah Lot, Beaches, Scuba Diving, Uluwatu Temple

After a sumptuous breakfast , we headed off to Bali's most acclaimed temple attraction, the Tanah Lot. It is a coastal temple in South Bali. The route to the temple is beautiful and the temple is perched on a rock offshore. Balinese Hindu spiritualism and mythology is very close to that Indian Hindu mythology. Unlike any other island in the largely Muslim Indonesia,  Bali is a pocket of Hindu religion and culture. Although the main cultural elements such as idols, forms of worship and 'aarthi' practice are all similar, I found the sculpture of the Gods to be a bit different. This maybe because Balinese Hinduism diverged from Indian Hinduism well over 500 years ago.

Bali Depiction of Krishna's chariot

Tanah Lot entrance

On the edge of the temple!

We had coconut water to quench our thirst and did some more haggling for curios. They are aplenty in Bali!  After driving through beautiful scenic locations, we arrived at Nusa Dua beach for Scuba-diving! This amazing out-of-the-world experience had been in my bucketlist for a long time. We donned our diving suits and we were taught diving sign language. The watersport guides teased us as expected : "Ooh, you could die! Are you sure you guys are okay with it? Just kidding!" I didn't care. I was super ready for it. With Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara scenes flashing through my mind's eye, we went off to the deep sea on a speed boat. I love the salty smell of the sea breeze and blue-green water of the ocean waves. We were gently dropped into the sea and I was inside the waters, a friendly intruder of the marine kingdom. I had fins, gills and I was swimming away. It was surreal and frightening at the same time! We went deeper and deeper and all I heard was ocean's white noise. Everything was quiet outside but my mind was screaming "Look, Nemo! Wow! What a beautiful coral reef!" I tried to touch the beautiful fish ,but they nestled through my fingers and swam away to la-la land :) I wanted to stay and live forever as a mermaid. But life was calling! :P So we came up and continued our journey to the shores. But it felt like I belonged there :)

Scuba-diving

We set off to witness the most beautiful sunset in the cliffs of Uluwatu , a Balinese sea temple on a cliff. The sanctum sanctorum of the temple is perched majestically at the edge of a steep cliff that towers above the gushing sea waves. To enter the temple, all of us had to be properly attired with sarong and sash( a yellow cloth tied around the waist). The path to the top was scary with monkeys on either sides to snatch our beloved bags. But the view was so worth it!

Sunset silhouette

Uluwatu cliffs

Day 3 : White water rafting, Ubud

Day 3 started off in an adventurous spirit with white water rafting in Telaga Waja river in Ubud. After switching to our rafting attire and paddle, we were off to the river. The rafting instructors were super sweet and gave us a great rafting experience. The river flows along vast expanse of green fields,hills,valleys,cliffs and waterfall. We had our adrenaline racy moments and reflective serene moments. Whenever the raft hit a rock or a cliff, we had to jump up and down to the get the boat on track and at one such point, we were super stuck and the river current almost toppled our boats. We held onto our dear lives and paddled our way through. As my wise friend put it "Life is like a river.You just have to hold onto your paddle tight and enjoy the ride!"

All ready to paddle!

After rafting through for about 2 hours covering 15 km, a long climb to a hilltop restaurant awaited us. After a tiring climb overlooking stunning cliffs and rice paddies, we were greeted with a delicious lunch prepared by warm Indonesian chefs! The rain, the scenic view and the tasty food : I am reliving my vacation all over again!

The view from the top

Ubud is the cultural heart of Bali , miles aways from the maddening crowd of Kuta. It is a place of ashrams, museums, art and crafts and organic farming. A town for quiet retrospection and learning, it's a great place to relax and learn about the lives of local people. After visiting a couple of beautiful art galleries, we headed for the coffee plantations and were welcomed by a smiling farmer. He showed us the art of preparing the local coffee, luwak! Although the preparation is a bit weird (burnt feces of the luwak animal feeding on a particular plant ewww!), the taste was actually quite good. In fact, the sweet Bali lover made us different types of coffee and took us on a flavour journey. We even ended buying tasty coffee for folks back home!

With the coffee farmer

Coffee Love

After a ride around Ubud, our cabbie took us back to Kuta where we shopped for Bali souvenirs and dresses. We then lounged around in our hostel, had our dinner and talked to the local guys. In the late hours of midnight, we packed our bags and went to the airport to catch our flight back to Singapore. We kissed Bali goodbye, the land of paradise and rightfully so!

Until more travel adventures :)