Three weeks on Bali (2018)
I am sure that you have already heard from somebody how beautiful Southeast Asia is. We did as well. Only superlatives about lovely nature, nice people, excellent food and last but not least – low prices. I have to admit that after our American experience, we were quite thrilled about and idea of low cost holiday. So we found suitable time period (end of March and the beginning of April) when we could abandon our jobs for three weeks and started to think, where would we like to go.
- Introduction
- Arrival and Bukit peninsula
- Ubud and surroundings
- North and central highlands
- East of the island
- Lombok
- Summary
Introduction
There is a plenty to choose from and recommendations were all over us. If there was no Dengue fever outbreak at that time, we would probably decide for Sri Lanka. We also considered Vietnam or Thailand, but eventually a small Indonesian island of Bali won us over. One of the reasons was its size, which enabled quite easy travelling around. However, the main factor for us was, that Bali is relatively well known destination and since we were up to that point untouched by Asia, we didn´t want to throw ourselves into some life threatening expedition.
I bought a guide and started to slowly but steadily plan our trip. Remembering the fact, that Bali is quite busy from the tourism perspective, I wanted to keep our itinerary mostly on places, which are not so heavily visited. It was actually not that hard, because most of visitors never go northward from Ubud, and even Ubud they visit for maximum day or two. Other than that they are staying in the safety of their resorts on the south. That was of course not our case and I have included into our plan also often forgotten northern coast, central mountains, beautiful sceneries on the east and even neighbour island of Lombok. Boarding passes from Prague with one short transfer in Dubai costed us 1500 EUR each, including only one checked baggage ant the whole trip from Prague to Denpasar took 16 hours. You can obviously get cheaper tickets if you try, but for us was more important to minimize the flight duration, in order not to lose time which we could spend in Bali. Time is more valuable than money sometimes.
Arrival and Bukit peninsula
It is often said that the climate in this part of the world reminds the laundry room. I personally can´t confirm that. It is true, that you can not compare our Middle-European conditions to theirs. The humidity is much higher and surprisingly it is quite hot around the Equator. But it was not that bad as we thought before going. Either that, or we were overwhelmed by the fact that we finally arrived. The first task was to exchange the money. I decided to do that immediately at the airport, which I retrospectively consider as a mistake, because the rate was not the best. But in the end, we had one less problem and the difference was not that severe to bother us too much. In Bali, as in whole Indonesia, Rupees are used (IDR). It is not particularly strong currency and the Czech guy used to Crowns and Euros can easily get lost in overwhelming amounts. I used an easy tool to calculate. Remove five zeros and multiply by 6. (100.000 INR = 6 EUR). What I didn´t expect was the fact that biggest standardly used note is 100.000 INR which meant that my withdrawal of 14 million Rupees made a decent package. Literally. This sum was enough for us to cover all our accommodations, transportations and foods. You can easily feel like a millionaire with this fat stack in your wallet, but the feeling usually disappears after the first payment of anything. One thing I am not exactly proud of was my first interaction with Bali taxi services. On driver ´s question: “Your first time in Asia?” I enthusiastically answered: “Sure, we are”, which resulted into 400.000 INR price of our transport to Nusa Dua. So please do not make the same mistake I did. Just go outside of the airport and take one of the taxis outside. You can buy the same ride for a fourth of that price, if you look like you know what you are doing. On the other hand, I have to say, that this was the first and the last time I was robbed while in Bali.
Our first accommodation… 
…You won´t use TV much… 
…But pool comes in handy.
Our first destination was Nusa Dua. I admit that it is exactly one of these places we wanted to avoid. The coast is filled with giant luxury resorts, which people visit to lay on the beach the whole time and then say that they were in Bali. We turned our noses up over the resorts (which is of course our way to disguise our inability to afford them) and settled ourselves in a small hotel at local peninsula. It turned out to be a lovely bungalow with luxurious equipment, private pool, flower garden, outdoor bar and LCD TV. All of that for 50 EUR per night for both of us. Delicious breakfast was of course included. Thrilled about our new surroundings, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around a nearby beach, collecting ourselves from the time shift. Why did we go to the type of place I spoke so badly before? Simply because it is near to the airport and it offers a good starting point for exploring the Bukit peninsula. In general, I recommend to start easy and to give yourself some time to acclimate after arrival. From our first day I also remember the trash lying all around us (Balinese do not recycle too much, but I will get to that) and also that I got immediately sunburned, as is my good habit.
The second day was supposed to be The Day. The day when we finally start exploring local landmarks and enjoying the Balinese culture. And also the day when I ride on a scooter for a first time. In case you don´t know this, scooters are the main mean of transportation on the island. They are everywhere. In my opinion little Balinese kids learn how to drive them before even learn how to walk. They also serve as a transportation device for various cargo. For example basket of eggs, donkey or ton of bricks. There is simply no limit. Another thing which illustrates the local traffic situation is the fact that there are approximately 2 traffic lights on Bali (which are not being looked at anyway). I, of course, intended to proudly take my part in this mess. I even asked a few of my friends before holiday for some driving lessons, because I have never before even sit on a scooter or motorbike. My friends, God blessed them, ensured me that driving lessons are unnecessary and if I am going to practice then I am a coward. Well, I certainly didn´t want to be considered a coward, so I went and propelled by my ego, I rented my first 125cc scooter (for awesome 3 EUR per day) and planned a little trip along the south coast of the Bukit to Uluwatu Temple. When the guy asked me if I can drive it, I contemptuously answered that I do and threw 50k IDR in his small brown hand. I can proudly claim that I have survived one turn and 30 meters without accident. However, the second turn was beyond my capabilities since both gravity and nearby wall conspired against me. This whole predicament resulted into the bloody leg and arm, broken mudguard and reasonably upset wife, who fortunately sat behind me, so she fell into soft.
As you can see, the start of our Balinese expedition was not exactly dazzling. But the wounds have healed, fee for broken scooter has been paid (8 EUR) and after several training rides on local yard, I managed to persuade Nina to put her life into my hands for the second time, so we could get out into real traffic. With the sheer strength of my will and under threat of death and/or divorce, I managed to gain some control and start slowly earning experience. Eventually we have travelled almost 800km over Bali and Lombok like this and to this day scooter remains one of my favourite mean of transport. And my friends, they were right in the end. No funny story starts with: “I´ve learned how to drive a scooter under supervision”.
So, with heart in throat and strongly sceptical wife behind my back, I finally set off and I was immediately glad for this decision. If you want to absorb the Balinese spirit, just take a scooter and go drive around. The ride itself is self-sustainable experience and there is still something to look at. Like this we explored the whole southern coast and finally arrived to the main temple of South Bali – Uluwatu. The place left us speechless. After the mandatory dressing up to sarongs, which the locals kindly borrow you, we were permitted to the holy ground and were able to see the vast ocean and 30 meters high cliffs on top of which the temple is built. Monkeys everywhere make the whole place look exotic (until they start to get on your nerves, which I guarantee you that after three weeks on Bali they will) and we could fully enjoy our fist landmark.
Ubud and surroundings
After we were done with Bukit, our next stop was supposed to be Ubud – Balinese capital of culture. We learned from our airport failure and this time we found a taxi driver a day ahead, negotiated a price and agreed that he will pick us up on the next day. All went well, and we paid 4 EUR for 50 kilometres as agreed. Here allow me a word of advice. If you plan some longer taxi trip, make sure you have something warmer to wear. Despite being on a tropical island, the temperature in air-conditioned cars rarely exceeds 19 degrees, which is quite a punch for your body.
For the next three nights we checked in small, inconspicuous hotel Jani´s Place Cottage, just 200m far from the local famous Monkey Sanctuary. Although we had some problems finding it, we managed and as a reward we were treated with welcome drink, refreshing cool towels and the nicest, most welcoming hotel staff I have ever the pleasure to meet. It turned out to be absolutely lovely place. Beautiful room, super cheap laundry service, excellent breakfast. For 20 EUR per night it was probably the best price/value ratio we had on Bali. I also need to mention, how does it usually work with breakfasts here. Don´t expect your standard continental breakfast (although, you can probably get them in resorts) and not at all some kind of buffet. In most of the cases you will be offered a choice of three or four menu variants, either the evening before or right before the breakfast. We always tried to test something new and we never left disappointed. Delicious coffee, fresh tropical fruit and juices, eggs and thousand different ways how to make rice.
We spent our whole first day in Ubud with town exploration, admiring of temples and planning of the next two days. Here I can say something about Balinese hygiene and waste management. Bali is, contrary to the rest of Indonesia, mainly Hindu and local people take their religion very seriously. Apart from regular visits of temples there is also a custom to make an offering to gods several times per day. These offerings are represented by little bowls made of leaves, which are filled with gifts to the gods and put in front of houses on the ground. The content of these bowls is usually rice and fruit, but as time progresses, religion moves forward as well. Therefore, you can nowadays find among the offerings also chewing gums, cigarettes, sweet bars, and whatever else you can find at home. As an artistic touch, incense stick is stacked in it and the whole thing is then called Canang. And now imagine what will happen with these Canangs, when you every day put five of them on the street, which is occupied mostly by monkeys. Evening comes and you are walking knee deep in offerings. However, resourceful Balinese outwit even this problem and every evening they just take a broom, sweep all waste into one pile (including other waste like PET bottles and so on) and set it on fire.
On the second day we went to visit one of the most famous local attractions, Monkey Forest Sanctuary. In my opinion a place which should be mandatory for each tourist while in Ubud. But make sure you are visiting at the beginning of your holiday, while you are still not annoyed by monkeys, because here you will encounter with a lot of them. There is no reason to be afraid though. There are hundreds of visitors each day and monkeys are quite used to people. If you won´t start pulling their tails, you´ll be alright. There is even an opportunity to buy a bunch of bananas and feed some of them. I, while performing this activity, ended up with the monkey behind my neck. However, there is one thing which you need to be careful about, being unsecured and deferred objects. All things which you don´t hold firmly in your hands can and will be stolen. Going through the whole park will take you between two and three hours. After we fulfilled our monkey quota, we went for one more trip to the north to Campuhan Ridge Walk and then to elephant sanctuary Goa Gajah. The sanctuary itself is basically only hole in the wall, but the area around it is very nice and definitely worth visiting.
For the evening we returned to the centre of events and in the context of getting to know the local culture we decided to watch local famous fire dance – Kecak. What I liked was, that there was a limited amount of tickets so you are not surrounded by a legion of tourists. All together, there were around 30 people, chairs were arranged in a U shape and everybody sat in the front row. The whole event took place in one of many semi-open temples and presented us with Hindu religion stories expressed by dancing and singing. As a part of the show, the bag of dry coconut husks is emptied on the floor, poured with petrol and set on fire. Such created “controlled” fire is then, in order to illustrate the story, kicked all the way around the temple floor. Needless to say, my shins were properly depilated. Singers and dancers were surprisingly hairless. I was wondering what would visiting firefighter think about whole activity, with consideration of the fact that the roof was made of straw. But overall I strongly recommend this and I really think that you should not leave Ubud without visiting some of its many cultural attractions.
On our last day in Ubud we rented a scooter again and (this time already as experienced drivers) rode ten kilometers to south to Tegenungan Waterfall. Our first Balinese waterfall and lovely place overall, although the walk down to the falls and especially the climb back was strenuous, given the humidity and temperature. After that we turned back to Ubud with 20km long trip ahead of us leading to the main point of our program – Tegllalang Rice Terraces, which are considered to be one of the most beautiful places on Bali. If you decide, like us, to travel by small side roads, you will be rewarded with great views of local rural life, almost untouched by tourism. During nice weather you can even admire the Batukaru volcano rising up in the distance. The terraces didn´t disappoint us. Alas, when something is famous it usually comes with a package of crowds of tourists, which are being mass-transported here by buses from south. Nevertheless, the place is so nice that it is worth a little discomfort. You can walk through all of it and if you are lucky, you can see some obese Chinese tourists in flip-flops, falling on his butt. While driving back to Ubud we also managed to visit two other beautiful shrines, Tirta Empul and especially Gunung Kawi, which is the only shrine of its kind on Bali, carved into the rock. It was satisfying and productive day.
North and central highlands
Long way by taxi awaited us on the following day. To our next pit stop – Lovina at the northern shore of island. Those 70km took us over two hours since we were crossing the central mountains, jungles and local roads were zigzagy and very holey. For those with more delicate nature I recommend to take some medicament for the trip. Alcohol works too. The clear positive was the fact that we left the whole civilization behind us. You can really call southern Bali up to Ubud civilization, when you compare it with the rest of the island. Suddenly there was a completely different world in front of us and we felt like having the whole island just for ourselves. Our accommodation at Beach House Lovina for the next 4 nights was much cheaper that in Ubud “city” (12 EUR for 4 nights). It was a cluster of bamboo made houses directly on the beach with one of them rented by us. It looked romantic, but it needs to be said that one of the essential attribute of bamboo is its hollowness and therefore an ability to provide a shelter to various hairy and leggy representatives of local fauna. I have (with considerable effort) persuaded Nina, that our mosquito net offers good enough protection.
We have chosen Lovina for its convenient location, which offers a good starting point to explore the central highlands. It was definitely not for Lovina itself because there was nothing in there and swimming conditions (as well as on most of the island) are not exactly nice. However, our agenda was set and the only problem turned out to be to get a scooter, because as I mentioned, there is nothing going on in Lovina. Fortunately and after significant delay we managed to find a local dealer and start our drive to our first stop – Sekumpul Waterfall. The bigger portion of our 30km drive was along the coast and through the city of Singaraja, which is not particularly picturesque area, but after turning to the mountains we found ourselves yet again in the lost world. Quite honestly, I enjoyed those rides and associated path-finding as well as waterfalls and all other stops. All people are smiling at you, waving, there is a new beautiful view after each corner and you are just driving and enjoying the fact being on a tropical island and not at work. If you will find it, you can walk to Sekumpul on your own, but some local guide will immediately offer you his services. You don´t need it, but it is up to you to decide whether you will support the local economy. We went with him and don´t regret it. Not because he provided us with some essential guidance, but he knew several interesting facts about local wildlife and in general was pleasant to talk with somebody from here and learn something. Needless to say that waterfall was spectacular. Really one of the best we have ever seen. To explore the area thoroughly you need to get wet, but by that time you will be after several rains already so there is no damage.
The next day we went for an even longer trip, this time to temple Pura Ulun Danu Baratan, dedicated to water and standing on the shore of Baratan Lake. If the views of the previous day were beautiful, this day was indescribable. The temple itself is a magical place, although the density of tourists is considerably higher. The reason is obvious since the temple is probably the most famous one on Bali and everybody wants to see it. Justifiably so, I might add and you should not be an exception. There are also plenty options for a good lunch in the village and also to hide before a storm, which will form within few minutes so high in the mountains. On our way back to Lovina we took a little detour and visited Git Git waterfalls. I also have to point out that every time we parked somewhere it was for free and we could leave both of our helmets hanging on the handlebars, without fear of them being stolen. Very refreshing for our Czech nature. Same as the fact that petrol costed 30 cents per liter.
We have finished the northern part of our Balinese expedition with a trip along the coast to the only Buddhist temple on the island – Brahmavihara Arama. It was a nice experience also because it was something completely different than all we have seen to that point. And also because we were the only two visitors. Unfortunately, we read the sign asking visitors to take off their shoes only after entering the temple. This desecration was hopefully redeemed by our generous donation to temple maintenance fund. An interesting discovery was the time schedule for monks. I understand wake-up call at 4am, but I consider following one hour of praying while lying and one hour praying while sitting to be cheating. We continued on our trip up until the most western point of our journey, Pulaki Temple. Although the temple is quite nice (particularly interesting is the fact that the whole shrine is surrounded by cage in order to keep the monkeys away) it was probably not worth that 50km scooter ride.
East of the island
Our last stop on Bali was the village of Amed on the eastern tip. We stayed in Double One Villas Hotel for lovely 8 EUR per person and got ready for our last four nights on the island. For the drive from Lovina, despite it is possible to make it by public transport, we used a taxi again. It is more expensive sure, but much more comfortable, faster and it will surely not ruin you. Amed itself is not particularly interesting, but due to its location it is an ideal base for exploration of eastern Bali. Also, it offers many opportunities for divers because in the nearby village of Tulamben you can find perfectly preserved wreck of US cargo ship from WW2. We are not divers so instead of admiring sea life we took a scooter again and set off along the beautiful coastal road all the way to Amlapura and Ujung Water Palace. The drive alone was fantastic. The view over South-China Sea and Lombok Island on one side. On the other, all known shades of green, countless of rice fields, nice people and, rising up in the distance, majestic volcano Agung, which in the past destroyed Almapura, hiding in its shade.
The Ujung Palace crowned the beauty of the whole day. Sultan’s seat built on artificial ponds with plenty of flowers, fish and beautiful nooks and crannies. Moreover, due to the proximity of another water temple Tirta Gangga, there is not so many tourists here and although Tirta Gangga, which we have visited afterwards, was also impressive, we found Ujung way more appealing.
After visiting two wonderful palaces we still had some energy left so we decided to climb to the main temple of Eastern Bali – Lempuyang. The whole structure is spread on the slopes of Lempuyang Mountain and just to drive up to its beginning required all 125 cubic centimetres of our abused scooter. After parking and dressing to mandatory sarong we started the long journey to the top, which consisted of over 2000 steps and seven temples. Nothing pleasant in local climate, especially while wearing sarong, but the slowly revealing views imbued us with strength as we were step by step approaching to the top. Obeying the warning which was given to us by locals, we tried to avoid monkeys, which, unlike in Ubud, were not used to human presence so much and tend to be aggressive. Our vigilance was even increased by two frightened English tourists, fleeing down from the mountain, claiming that it is impossible to pass through the monkeys. With their best wishes they gave us also their monkey-hopefully-repelling-sticks and continued with their retreat. We weren´t so easily scared and went on, despite the increasing density of animals. Eventually and despite our bravery we were frightened as well. We were the only fools up there, fighting our way through crowds of rabid, screaming macaques, trying to not maintain the eye contact and bashing our sticks to the ground, which caused the crowd to open a little, just to be closed right behind us. There were hundreds of them and if they decided to jump on us, I doubt we would be able to even say goodbye to each other. Unfortunately the fear didn´t allow us to stop and take a picture so I can not show you. But if you will ask me on my death bed, I will describe it to you with the same detail as back then. Eventually we managed to survive all the way to the top, where we found a very humble temple, only occupied by us and one meditating monk. From the temple terrace there was an amazing view to Agung, which was unfortunately covered by clouds on that afternoon. If you will decide to go here, go in the morning when the sky is usually clear. The climb itself is worth it and if you will survive it, the reward in the form of view will be astonishing.
On the next day at 2am started the highlight of our trip. Already several days in advance, we found online a company, which picked us up at the hotel and took us 50km away under Mount Batur. There we met our guide and begun our climb in darkness. You can try your luck and go without a guide, but there are no signs and it is very easy to get lost in the dark, even with a flesh light. And although you will not die, the delay caused by getting lost will result in missing the sunrise watching from the top, which is the main point of the whole trip and also the reason why you are going to climb with many other tourists and guides. The hike itself is not particularly difficult and the biggest discomfort will probably by the unusual time for physical activity. It took us less than 2 hours to get right under the summit, where the guide cooked coffee and eggs for us and then we waited for a good time to climb the rest. This pit stop had also another purpose beside breakfast. It allowed us to cool down a little gave some time to our sweaty clothes to dry, before entering the windy summit. Before 6am we stood there, watching South-East Asia waking up below us. Sun slowly rises over the Lombok Island and with its shine, lighting Balinese valleys, evaporating the morning fog. And suddenly we could see the whole caldera, which is a crater of a larger volcano with 13km diameter, from which Mount Batur is growing. And inside the caldera volcanic lake, rivers of cooled lava and countless strands of smoke, rising from the Earth´s Core. If there is one thing on Bali I should recommend, this is the one.
As a part of a package from the company, we visited on our way back to Amed local coffee plantation and roaster, where we had an opportunity to taste, besides many delicious coffees, also famous Kopi Luwak, which is made from beans predigested by civet. When we saw that huge plantation and only one poor civet closed in small cage, we felt sorry for her. The Kopi Luwak itself also wasn´t anything to write home about, unlike other kinds of coffee and tea, which we bought in bulk to make local vendors very happy and also very confused when calculating the price. Then we returned to Amed to catch up on our sleeping deficit.
Our last day in Bali didn´t turn out as we planned. However, it was not experience-poor. Our destination for that day was supposed to be The Besakih Temple – the most sacred place of the island at the heel of Agung itself. In fact, the complete religion in Bali is derived from this mountain and the main theme of most prayers is something like: Please do not explode and kill us. Interesting thing also is, that as a part of this worshipping most of local people sleep with their head always directing to Agung. We witnessed one smaller eruption when the smoke rose about 600m above the mountain. I have to admit that it was not a nice feeling. Our questions about the topic were casually answered by locals that it is normal and the mountain does this give or take every two weeks. Only when Agung is silent for a month or two, people start to get nervous and pack their bags. No wonder. Last large eruption in 1964 killed almost 2000 people.
We wanted to pay tribute to this sanctuary and travelled south along the mountain, with plan to visit one smaller temple on the way. Alas, our GPS shamefully failed in the maze of jungle trails and we spent most of our morning by exploring local villages and contemplating under each hill, whether our scooter makes it or not. Our exploration was eventually terminated by two stray dogs, which to my astonishment were able to keep up with our bike more than 100m, while Nina, painfully aware of our lack of rabies vaccination, was trying to beat them off with selfie-stick. Luckily the mutts lost their interest after some time and our shaken selves decided for returning to more civilized parts. The Besakih Temple is without doubts beautiful. I judge that based on pictures from our guide. We didn´t have a chance to admire it in person because our visit was unknowingly planned for the same day as one of many local religious festivals and the density of worshippers was just too high for us. In the end, we decided it is not worth it and spent the rest of our day by driving around Agung foothills.
Lombok
On the following day we aimed (again with taxi) several kilometres south from Amlapura to Padang Bai Jetty, from where we had booked two tickets for 2 and half hour trip to Bangsal on Lombok. This island, as a last stop of our holiday was the place, where we wanted to enjoy a little rest ,ocean and relax after our Balinese journeys and before our return to reality. Given the lazy nature of the next five days there is not much to write about. Maybe that unlike on Bali, the main religion on Lombok is the Islam, which is reminded to you by very loud prayer every morning at 5am. Also the conditions for swimming are much better here than on Bali. It is best visible on the trio of Gili Islands, which truly look like paradise on Earth and should be a mandatory stop for each snorkelling enthusiast. You can reach them from Bangsal with a local shuttle boat, which costs around 50 cents. So our five days on Lombok flew by, when swimming was alternated by sunbathing, which was again alternated by napping and that by tasting of local cuisine. All of it with a beautiful view to Bali and Mount Agung, under which we were driving a few days ago. And when we had a mood for a trip, we took a drive to waterfalls Tiu Pituq and Tiding Tiu.
The only journey left in front of us was our return to Denpasar. We left Bangsal and experienced a exciting, three hours long ride to Benoa Harbour, which is right next to the airport. It was an interesting sail during which some less resilient passengers dressed up into life vests. The sea between the islands can be very wild, even during calm weather. It is caused by the deep trench which separates the Asian part of the Indonesia from the Pacific part. Long time ago was the whole chain of Indonesian islands connected into one big landmass, with the exception of this place, there the depth of this trench didn´t allow it. Thanks to this fact, you can observe significantly different plants and wildlife on both islands and also enjoy this roller-coaster ride amidst five meters tall waves. I´ve enjoyed it tremendously, knowing there is only 16 hours of tedious flight home in front of us.
Summary
What to say at the end? I would recommend visiting of Bali to all people, who are attracted by South-East Asia and who don´t have experience with it. It offers a wild nature, but also the sufficient tourist infrastructure and opportunities for relaxing. Of course the big plus is the price. Once you will have a chance to buy a cheap plane ticket, do not hesitate and go for it, because on Bali itself you almost don´t need money. And last but not least I have to mention absolutely great local people. There is not a single bad experience with anyone and believe me that if you will get into the situation where something is not working out for you, all will be better when you are surrounded by positive people who are smiling at you. My only pain during those fabulous three weeks was the fact that my camera got broken in the middle of it and after returning I found out that I lost almost all recorded videos. Humidity. Please learn from my mistake and make sure that your equipment won´t get wet or humid in its case.
In the unlikely case you read up until this point you have my admiration and thanks. I hope you found what you were looking for and if you have some comments or questions, please send them to me or post it here. I wish you safe travels wherever you go and most importantly, safe return home.
