2 weeks vacation in Bali

We arrived in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia at 1:00 am. The entry was relatively easy this time. No hygiene controls for food or dirty hiking shoes. ;)

At the airport, Kenny had to take charge. Krissi just wanted to go to her hotel. He bought us a SIM card. While looking for a taxi, the mood did not improve. Krissi felt very uncomfortable among all the super motivated taxi drivers, and Kenny asking how much they would charge each time didn't help. We actually knew that we wanted and should use the app "My Blue Bird," a taxi app similar to Uber.

We finally arrived at our hotel, Infinity 8. We felt like we were in a real luxury hotel. A bellboy took care of our luggage, the lobby was beautiful, and our room was pretty fancy. After a quick shower, we both fell exhausted onto our comfortable, huge bed. A proper bed really makes a difference compared to a bed in a car.

On April 12th, due to jet lag, we were already at breakfast at 7:30 am. The food was great, but we were probably the only non-Asian guests. It was crowded and noisy, and strange bell music played in the background.

We then started the day, enjoying the comfortable room, bed, and wifi. After watching an episode of GNTM, we took a taxi to Garuda Wisnu Kencana. It is a large park with numerous giant statues dedicated to the deity Wisnu. This deity overlooks the entire park as a huge stone figure, which we were able to glimpse from our hotel.

The traffic in Bali is crazy, especially in big cities. The motorbike riders drive as they want, and taxis speed through whenever they can to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

As soon as we arrived at the park entrance, we had to pay for parking (for the taxi), pay for the shuttle bus to the entrance, and pay for the park entrance itself, which would have been 35,000 IDR per person. That was too expensive for us, especially since some attractions in the park were closed.

So we decided to have a delicious lunch first, and then we walked around the park and had a good view of the two giant statues.

We could have entered the park for free, as we found a good entrance. But we didn't dare to do that. :D Also, Kenny was attacked by mosquitoes in the bushes, so we were a bit afraid of malaria.

We decided to walk back to the hotel. It was a bit of a culture shock, especially for Krissi. Kenny was a little more familiar with it from Ghana. The streets were very dirty, and there were some unpleasant smells here and there, not to mention the traffic. It's understandable why Asians wear face masks. But eventually, we took a taxi for the rest of the way. Unfortunately, we got a "private" taxi, so the ride cost 50,000 IDR, which was more expensive than expected.

We spent the late afternoon in the hotel gym and the infinity pool. We also took advantage of the happy hour at the bar and refreshed our chess skills.

We spent the evening at the hotel restaurant. Live music was playing. A singer and a guitarist. Since we were the only guests apart from a film crew, we joked with the musicians and they kept asking us which songs they should play for us. It was a really great evening, and the food was incredibly delicious.

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed our breakfast on the sunny terrace. Until check-out at 12 pm, not much happened.

We took a My Blue Bird taxi directly to the beach harbor.

For the staff, it meant wading through the waves to get the heavy backpacks and bags of the tourists onto the boat, and the passengers also had to wade through the water to get to the boat.

Not everyone stayed dry. However, the boat ride was very pleasant, the waves were gentle, and it was unexpectedly fast. On the other side, in Nusa Lembongan, Bali, we were greeted by a free hotel shuttle.

We took a TukTuk to Bale Gede Hotel. The first impression was beautiful, and we were greeted with a fresh, cold welcome drink.

We were then assigned Bungalow number 1, which was located right by the pool.

We spent the afternoon by the pool and played with the GoPro and its waterproof accessories. We also had dinner at the hotel. The hotel staff was very nice. A street dog came by, although he didn't get any food, he enjoyed the coolness of the floor and the shade of the restaurant.

Breakfast was included and after a delicious omelette, fresh fruits, tea, and coffee, we went to the Mushroom Bay for a day at the beach.

The beach was smaller than expected, it was crowded and full of tourists sunbathing, as well as small boats anchoring or picking up tourists for wild boat rides. It was difficult to swim among all the boat ropes. So we squeezed ourselves under a tree with other German tourists. It was almost unbearable in the sun, but at least we got the tip to visit the diving school. On the short walk to the beach, we saw so many different offers that a recommendation was really useful.

A small rain shower drove us to a small restaurant right by the beach for lunch. We spent the afternoon by the pool, where we had peace and could comfortably sip on cocktails and coffee.

Before dinner, we treated ourselves to a relaxing massage. A full-body massage for only 150,000 IDR, which is around 10 €. Even Kenny was thrilled and said it was the best massage of his life.

On Monday, we had to get up early because we had a day trip to Nusa Penida, another small island in Bali, planned. We took the ferry to the other side within 15 minutes. There we rented a scooter for the whole day for 80,000 IDR, including a recommended route and helmets (Honda 100cc).

First, we headed to the famous Crystal Bay Beach.

Unfortunately, it was very touristy there, so we just relaxed a bit on a wall in the shade and sipped on a coconut.

We then continued to Broken Beach and Billabong Bay. The journey was difficult and long due to the very poor road conditions. We were also surprised by the rain, so we took a break in a tiny shop and enjoyed some delicious fried rice. In the end, we paid too much for our meal. Kenny had probably misheard, and he initially attributed the incredulous face of the cook to the tip. But well, a good deed a day. On the way, we encountered many excited children who enthusiastically high-fived us as we passed by. We arrived at a beautiful natural infinity pool, where we couldn't swim, and a big stone arch. Here, we also met an Indian guy named Raghu, who we would meet several times that day.

The next and last stop of the day was the famous Kelingking Beach. We had to go down numerous steep steps to get to the beach. Everything was wet and muddy from the previous rain, but that was no problem for us; we were already used to waterfall climbing. ;) When we reached the beach, we discovered impressively high waves. Because of that, Krissi only ventured a few meters into the water, while Kenny was bolder. This eventually led to an argument when Kenny disappeared quite far into the waves. Even the caretaker of the beach whistled at him to come back. Krissi was angry with concern. We couldn't fully enjoy the place anymore, even the small wild monkeys in the bushes by the beach couldn't save the mood. Some tourists even fed the monkeys from their hands, so it's no wonder that some tourists end up in the hospital with rabies. On the way up and back to the scooter, it started pouring rain.

We got completely soaked and got back on the scooter. We had to catch the ferry back, as the return trip was already booked. We ended the day with dinner in a cute little warung (street restaurant) called Puta, overlooking the sea. We discovered a pretty swing on the beach, which we naturally used for a photoshoot.

Fortunately, it was warm, as we were still completely soaked. Then, hotel staff picked us up by scooter and took us back to the hotel. This time without helmets.

We enjoyed our last evening in Bali at the hotel with dinner and cocktails on our own little terrace.

On Wednesday, we continued our journey. We took the hotel shuttle to Ubud. Our taxi driver was kind enough to stop at a place where monkeys were sitting on the road, so we could take some photos. Krissi is still fascinated by wild, free-living monkeys.

We arrived at Anulekha Resort in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day by the pool.

On Tuesday, we rented a scooter and visited the famous temples around Ubud. We skipped the Pura Tirta Empul temple because the parking lot was overcrowded. We then visited the Goa Gajah Temple, where we were greeted by huge elephant statues at the entrance. The large complex had numerous small prayer caves and a cute hut in the middle of a pond. We walked along the small stream and enjoyed the nature. Luckily, it wasn't too crowded, as the large complex was well distributed. We even received a small blessing.

We continued to the Tegalalang Rice Terraces. First, we found a nice restaurant with a view of the terraces. We ordered pizza after a long time of only having rice and noodles. The pizza looked delicious, but unfortunately, it didn't taste that great. The view was great, and the cocktails were good though.

Afterward, we explored the terraces. Once again, we had to pay for everything: parking, entrance, and even for a broken bridge. Annoying, but we couldn't change that. There were also many swings that we could have paid for, but we saved ourselves that.

We walked across the entire complex and returned to our scooter, sweaty and tired. We continued to the Pura Gunung Kawi temple. First, we had to climb many stairs, and of course, there were stalls set up at the edges where you could buy souvenirs. At the bottom, everything was quite decayed. There was a waterfall to see, a wet cave, and an artificial pond with fish.

We were quite exhausted and quickly drove back to our hotel. When we got to our room, we were greeted by a huge, hairy spider. Normally, we are not so easily scared, but since we weren't informed about the animals in Bali, we decided to call the reception. Two young staff members quickly came with brooms and a shovel. The problem was that the spider was sitting right on the wall above Kenny's backpack, and we didn't want the spider to crawl into it. But, unfortunately, the hotel employee simply hit the spider with the broom, and it fell directly onto Kenny's backpack. Fortunately, it changed its mind and fled from our room, but unfortunately, it was caught by the two staff members.

On the next day, we were off again with the scooter. First, we went to the Tibumana Waterfall, a picture-perfect waterfall. We also witnessed a photoshoot of a wedding couple. Maybe it wasn't a real wedding, as outside of the photo moments, they seemed rather unromantic together. She was beautifully dressed up, and he looked like a little shy boy next to her. They made for a strange couple.

Next, we went to the Wisata Air Terjun Kanto Lampo Waterfall. A quite wide waterfall, but unfortunately with very murky water. There was also a swing, so again, a great place for photos. Krissi was in a bad mood here, but we don't remember why. :D

We then attempted to visit the Tegenungan Waterfall. Unfortunately, it was very crowded again. Extremely crowded with tourists, and a restaurant was playing loud music in the whole area. So, there was no nature to see here. We could observe a festival and a ritual ceremony performed by the locals. The clothing was so beautifully colorful. But it was incredible how much food was simply "wasted" in these ceremonies.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a stop at a hairdresser for Kenny. Unfortunately, it was a bit chaotic because the hairdresser didn't understand a word and the woman who was supposed to translate just took money out of Kenny's pocket. The haircut wasn't that great in the end, but we couldn't change it anymore. Fortunately, Kenny's hair grows fast, so we did some touch-ups with a razor at the hotel.

In the hotel, we enjoyed the cocktail happy hour by the pool and had a delicious dinner. Krissi had the chance to try many great vegetarian dishes.

Then, the last day in Bali arrived. After breakfast, we went directly to the airport and boarded the plane to Bangkok to meet up with Ronny, Marcus, and Kevin. We planned to participate in a social project with them in Laos in the coming weeks.