Bali

Bali🌅

In June 2018 we went on the trip of a lifetime to Bali, Indonesia. We started the journey at London Gatwick Airport, flew 12 hours to Hong Kong, stopped over for 2 hours, then got a 5 hour flight to Denpasar Airport in Bali. We had a transfer of about 30 mins to our hotel.

We stayed at the Novotel Bali Benoa in Tanjung. The hotel was INCREDIBLE. The reception was all open-planned with a small man-made river running around the outside.

It had 3 pools - 1 that was for everyone, 2 that were adults only. The pool that was for everyone, was the main pool. It was right next to a private beach that is owned by the hotel and the nearest to our room. When I say room, it was pretty much a villa. It had a garden and a HUGE bathroom. One of the adult pools was narrow and long (and a complete sun trap) and the other was really deep and had a bar in it. 

When we arrived, we were given complimentary massages at the spa as we were staying for longer than a week! The spa smelt amazing and was so relaxing. 

The beach that was attached to the hotel, had a bar/restaurant and it was bed service. All we had to do was raise the flag that was provided on the table and the waiters would take our order and bring it to the bed. I felt like royalty haha! 

The staff at the hotel were so friendly and we have actually stayed in touch with one of the waiters, his name is Julie. He had his sister make me a basket bag by hand. 

We were in Bali for 2 weeks so decided to do 1 day relaxing, one day exploring and learning about the culture throughout the two weeks. On the relaxing days, we spent most of our time at either the sun trap adult pool or the beach. We tried to come back with wicked tans...but as I mentioned in my Majorca post, I have fair skin so although by normal standards I was still pale, I was the brownest I had ever been😄

On the other days, we had some excursions booked such as Sea Walking, visiting a Turtle Sanctuary, a Sunrise Hike of Mount Batur, a Boat Trip, a Temple Tour, a visit to a wood making village and a Gold/Silver making village. 

Sea Walking is where you have this scuba diving helmet on and it pumps oxygen into the mask whilst you are standing at the bottom of the sea. I hate the sea so I was terrified but I am really glad that Bill pushed me to do it. We saw so many different kinds of fish and the sea was so clear. 

The Turtle Sanctuary is run by volunteers and they receive no funding from the government. Their aim is to rehabilitate sick turtles and release them back into the ocean. Although their aim is pure, the sanctuary made me really sad as the turtles didn't look happy at all and it was almost inhumane. 

The Sunrise Hike of Mount Batur is the most challenging thing I have ever done. It is a 9km hike. We started at 3.15am and didn't reach the top until 5.15am. It was freezing as it was high in the clouds and also before the sunrise. Once we got to the top, we was given hot banana sandwiches and a boiled egg for breakfast (bit odd) and hot drinks. We waited for around 20 minutes before the sun began to rise. The views were breathtaking. Although I really struggled with the hike, the sunrise made it completely worth it. The hike down was so much fun. As it is really steep, we more or less ran down the entire volcano. It was around 30 degrees by this point so the heat was unbearable. When we reached the bottom, we was taken to a Wood Carving village. 

The Wood Carving village was super quiet and peaceful. Full of local craftsmen and women. We bought around 5kg of wood in the shape of Santa Clause, Buddahs and a small keepsake box. We then went to the Gold/Silver making village. In this village, the locals were finding and melting silver & gold to make jewellery. 

The Temple Tour was a whole day experience that took us to 3 different famous temples around Bali and to a Nature Reserve Park. It was amazing to learn about the culture and religion throughout Bali. 

On our last day, we went on a boat trip to Lombok Island. It was serine and beautiful. This was the island that was destroyed by the earthquake on the 5th August. We are so blessed to have visited before this happened. We went snorkelling, on a jeep trip around the island and was treated to a BBQ full of local cuisine. The boat was a Catamaran. On the way back to the mainland, the sea was so choppy. We was all sat at the front of the boat and was easily 15 foot in the air every time we hit a wave. 

Throughout the trip, we tried some traditional Indonesian cuisine and tried some meat with the most incredible flavours. 

This really was the trip of a lifetime and we are hoping to return in the future for a longer stint of 3 weeks - 1 month. 

One evening our hotel arranged for the guests to have dinner on the beach, under the stars. It was a 3-course meal of all local foods and wine. The scenery was gorgeous. 

I couldn't recommend this amazing country more.