AirAsia – Always good for a surprise
It was on a Sunday, 18.02.18 when we landed after midnight in Denpasar after planning and booking the trip at the same day and flying out from Sabah via Kuala Lumpur to Bali. It may be worth mentioning that AirAsia hit us hard this time. I mean we are used to it that they are delayed but this time the departure in Sabah was close to 1.5h delayed. If we didn’t have to change planes in Kuala Lumpur I couldn’t care less but unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time. They gave us less than 1h to change in Kuala Lumpur, which is everything else than a small airport. On top, we just came from the Mount Kinabalu trip, running or even walking fast was nearly impossible and wait that’s not all, Alisha had a fever in addition. So, luck was not on our side this time at all. Travelling can be rough 🙂 Anyway, we are a good team and tried everything to make it and we were lucky, the gate was just handling the last few passengers as we arrived! YES, Bali we are coming.
Totally done, tired and fully ill, we arrived in Denpasar. We decided to take a break from the backpacker life and booked a few nights at the 5* Nusa Dua Resort & Spa hotel. Our budget wasn’t that happy about our decision but it was more than needed. The treatment started at the airport, a chauffeur with a placard saying Mr. & Mrs. Hartmann was awaiting us at the arrival. He took our bags, welcomed us and drove us in the middle of the night (1 am) back to the hotel where our much-needed luxury room was awaiting us. We felt tired, ill and exhausted but more than happy to fall into our comfortable bed.
Mentally arrived in Nusa Dua
New day, new place new (Nusa Dua) standards. We literally did nothing on our first two days than recovering and relaxing. Alisha was fighting with her fever, cough and ear infection and the main target was that she fully recovers before the next adventures. We really enjoyed the stay these days. There is also not that much to tell about it then as we haven’t seen much beside of the room, breakfast, pool and the beach restaurant. Whenever there was a need to get something, we just picked up the phone and there was a friendly staff member bringing it by with a smile and a graceful “anything else I can do for you, Sir?”. This was one of our most relaxing part so far on our trip but more than needed. We stayed for a full week and enjoyed it in full.
Back to live – Exploring the south
We moved a bit up north of Nusa Dua to an area called Benoa. We check-in at the Tanjung Benoa Beach Resort, a left over of the Ramada holding. Same set up as before but some renovations would be needed to meet the same standard. Therefore, a bit less luxury but more than fine for us. I mean not that we get used to that Nusa Dua standard as this would be “fatal” 🙂 A clean room and a pool bar is all we need these days!
Asia – Where walking is more dangerous than driving a scooter!
We rented a scooter from Bike Rental which I remembered from my last stay. A bit more expensive but always well-maintained bikes with a delivery and pick-up service which can save you some time.
We mainly drove to Kuta and Seminyak. The ride leads us via a toll bridge. The digital century is also reaching Indonesia. I remember last time the payment was made in cash but now they only accept cashless payment toll cards which can be purchased at every mini market. That’s what they told us but the only answer we got is “Sorry, sold out!” Okay what now? Who cares, just drive there and figure it out. Asia would not be Asia if there is always somehow as solution for your needs. Arriving at the bridge, playing the “unknowing” tourists, we were able to pay the staff by cash and he used his own toll card. Hmm don’t know if it can be called an overall digital improvement or just a limitation of fraud but hey it works. We made it and this set up worked for us every time we crossed the toll again.
The traffic in general was immense if it was on the main or on the side streets. As long as we drove with the traffic flow, with a good balance of using the main and side streets, learn and apply the street rules from the local scooter drivers, we were feeling safe on the scooter.
Kuta & Seminyak
Arriving in Kuta, it is busy as usual. Kuta where tourists running from shop to shop, where the sun is burning down, where the surfers from beginners to pros are more or less queuing to catch the right wave and where you get approached every minute by a beach seller, haaach, how I missed this tourist beaches #ironyoff
Nevertheless, it was great to be back in Bali and feel the island / surfer vibe.
Seminyak, more quiet and a bit less wicked, was traffic wise as busy as Kuta. Shop wise a bit more high-end but the exact area for our spa and wellness treatments.
In these days, we were mainly living for the day, decided spontaneously every morning where to go and what to do but more on the chilling end.
Time to go up north – Ubud
Ubud was next on our list. After being on the coastal side of the island for days, it was time to move up north. Ubud, the more spiritual, calm and hipster place is our next target. We checked out in Benoa, took a Grab taxi and drove up north. This time, we decided to take an Airbnb, a house for us alone, somewhere close to Ubud but away from the center. During the ride, we narrowed down our selection and decided to stay at “The River House”. Gede, the owner of the house, accepted our requested promptly and cluttered us with information and activities about Ubud. Perfect so let’s get there straight away. Easier than said, addresses in Bali especially from private houses are not that clear. So, the taxi driver didn’t really knew where to go but we tried to come as close as possible based to it via on Google Maps. All good if it would be 20°C and we could search it on our own by just walking the rest. Of course, we were followed by our weather luck and it was raining like crazy. Crazy means standing outside for 2mins and you would be totally wet. Anyway, the owner or better his cronies finally found us and the taxi driver followed them to our final stay, a bit hidden in a small side street. No way we would have found that on our own, and therefore we were more than happy that we finally arrived!
Ubud – The river house
Our first action was to book again a scooter from Bali Bike Rental. You are lost here without a scooter. As we arrived, we were ready to jump on the scooter to go to explore Ubud downtown.
But first back to the River House. It is a typical Bali style house, means more or less everything is open and not sealed at all. Big doors or even walls that can be opened where we had our own green garden with a temple statue. Sounds awesome but unfortunately you are not alone in the house. Exactly! Bugs, ants, hornets, etc. are your roommates. At least our bed had a proper mosquito net where Alisha felt safe. I was always on the hunt to ask them “gently” to leave. Worked mostly but not always 🙂
Ubud – The river house
Anyway, I also had a major issue with the house. NO AC in the house or better only in the bed room. I know, first-world problem but with this temperatures in a non-cooled room/house is just not feasable for my body. But to be honest beside of all these little things, we had a relaxing calm time in that house.
Back to Ubud, we tried to cover as many activities in that town as possible. We went to the Monkey Forest, Campuhan Ridge Walk or did our own tour by scooter to the UNESCO protected Jatiluwih rice field terraces where I was able to use my drone. You will find the video here. Overall, we had a great time in Ubud. It is calmer than at the coastal areas of Bali and as said a bit more a hipster, spiritual town which was a welcomed change to busy Bali.
Highlight of Bali?
But WAIT, as you know us there must be somehow a highlight, right? Yeah, we thought about that too and found finally one. A Bali style tattoo. Ok, to be honest not as random as you think as there were some thoughts anyway that we want to do a tattoo during our travel. So, why not here? We checked out Google and 5min later we entered the first tattoo shop. I was sceptic as my mind needs first at least 2-3 drafts and at least two independent designers working on my tattoo until I like it. Wrong!! After the ice has been broken, seeing the awesome work the guys have done with the design drawings, we “took a leap of faith” and said yes. Next day, we were already sitting/lying on the chair and ready for our tattoos and especially to mention, my first one. You were able to see that they really like their job, artists by heart, absolutely professionals and in addition working hard on every little detail. Overall, we couldn’t have chosen a better place than Kings Tattoo Ubud. Thanks guys!!
Seminyak – Back to the coast
Our luggage was packed and we were ready to leave. So, after the tattoo studio we straight away left Ubud back to Seminyak where we met some family friends of Alisha.
I had a bit a hard time with knowing that I couldn’t go to the sea or even to a pool for the next 7 days because of the tattoo but hey you have to live with some sacrifices. We had some awesome days with Alisha’s family friends, stayed at one of our best price/value hotels (Tijili Seminyak) and of course we had again our own scooter which was our constant “companion”. We really enjoyed our time in Bali, had time to relax, had time to explore, had time for new adventures and even time to some familiar faces during our trip. Nevertheless, it was time to finally leave this island. We were on Bali longer than originally expected but as mentioned at the beginning of the post because of obvious reasons. We are looking for some changes, new adventures and a bit a calmer spot as well.
More about our decision and new adventures on our next post.
Cheers,
Ueli
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