We always said Bali would be our 2 week holiday before heading to Australia beacuse in Oz we'll be in the cheapest hostels and probably eating beans on toast every night for 6 weeks. Bali was our last chance to splash out on nice hotels and eat well in Asia for cheap.
This didnt go quite according to plan as we ended up staying 2 extra days in Singapore (airport) which meant over spending slightly.
So, we booked lower-end hotels for about £4-6 a night each and vowed to do Bali cheap. In the end this was ok because Bali is soooo cheap anyway that the accommodation is very good value.
We landed in denspensar after our 2 hour flight. Neither of us recall seeing the free refreshments, landing or take off as we both just zonked out for the whole flight after 2 sleepless nights in singapore airport.
We first stayed in seminyak beach near Kuta. Our hotel was so nice for £4 each. We had unlimited films on the TV, blackout curtains (these don't exist in asia, so they're a luxury) and a pool.
Our furst impression of Bali was that it was not what we expected. We knew bali (kuta in particular) is the auzzies version of zante so we were expecting it to be quite built up and a bit tacky. Its not quite as bad as Zante but it is really, really busy. The roads are crazy and full of traffic. Crossing the small roads is life threatening. We were expecting it to be a bit more rural as its quite small and a holiday destination.
Seminyak beach is nice, the waves are huge. It is a surfing hotspot. The waves are a little too big to swim, its quite scary when your in the water to your shoulders and all you see is a 6ft wave coming towards you. I literally ran for the beach when this wave was coming my way.
After a few days we moved to Ubud. This place is more into the centre of the island where it is rural and away from the beach. We booked a cheap home stay which was actually really nice. The pool was stunning and this homestay had traditional indonesian architecture. The family that run it were lovely, quite a young, trendy Indonesian couple. Their little girl is so cute.
Ubud is way more cultural. Its got a very indonesian look and is surrounded by rice fields so you can see the workers in the fields. The architecture is hand carved and really detailed. We explored the town and first visited the monkey forest. Monkeys were everywhere, the cheeky one's that steal everything. We saw some babies and they were cute. I joke Cj fits in with his beard when sitting next to the monkeys.
After the hot and sweaty forest we walked to the central market to try and get some bargains. Asian markets have not lived up to their cheap expectations. They seem to start at premium prices that meant haggling down to 50% off works out to be more expensive then primark and poundland. market souvenirs are a tourist novelty so you have to pay for it nowadays.
Cj bought a Bintang vest top, i bought a £3 hippy top and a cool indonesian dragon charm.
We visited a temple, they look very different here to the thai's and Laos. It was small and full of gremlin statues.
The next day was a pool day before we head to the Gili's. We ate at our favourite restaurant near the monkey forest. They serve the best tasting vanilla milkshake we have ever tasted and a really nice indonesian dish, which is a huge plate full of shredded chicken, tofu and fish with different sauces, nuts and seeds. Included also was prawn crackers, sweetcorn baji's and sesame seed bars. So yummy!
Gili Tarawan turned out to be one of our top places we have seen. This island is amazing. We had such fun on Gili T. It's a very pretty, rural and unspoilt island with acoustic entertainment and a beach party in the evenings.
No cars are able to get onto this island so the only mode of transport is by old school pony and cart. The locals are so friendly, they love a chat to the tourists.
The sea is tropical. Clear blue and full of colourful fishes and coral. I did a lot of snorkelling, i have never seen the ocean like this before so i was fascinated when snorkelling and seeing the amazing fishes. My vid of the fishes is so pretty.
We left Gili T on the boat after 4 days. This is the first place we have been really sad to leave, we weren't ready to go and wanted to stay. We arrived in Kuta a couple of hours later.
Our hotel in kuta was really nice and very luxurious. We sat by the pool a lot so Cj could maximise his tan for Oz. We had a night out in Kuta to see the Auzzie version of Zante. It's a good night out, a lot calmer then Zante but still busy. The clubs are boiling hot (no air con) so everyone was just dripping in sweat. Lovely!!
We were only in Kuta 2 days before we needed to catch out flight to sydney.
We had a furry friend for a few days...
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