Our approach: We travelled to Bali at the
Where we stayed: Astagina Resort and Spa
Where we ate:
- Crumb and Coaster
- Cafe Lotus
- Blue 9 beach
- Sebuluh Restaurant and Bar
- T Store Cafe and Bar
- Made’s Warung
- Boni Bali Restaurant (Tegallalang)
- Sasa (Legian)
- Sacred Ground
Cikgo (Uluwatu)- Sunset Beach Bar and Grill (Jimbaran Bay)
Coco on Beach- La Monde Pizza Restaurant
Places we visited
- Double Six Beach
- Ground Zero memorial
- Bali Swings (Ubud)
- Blanco Renaissance Museum
- Saraswati Temple
- Kelingking Beach
- Angel’s
billabong - Crystal Bay
- Batik making (Ubud)
- Coffee Luwak (Ubud)
- Art to Angel factory (jewellery making)
- Batuan Village Temple
- Tegenungan Waterfall
- Tegallalang Rice Terrace
- Tanoa Water Sports
- Uluwatu Temple
- Padang-Padang Beach
- Jimbaran Bay
We landed in Bali around
Day 1
We were super excited to head out to the streets to explore. We looked up a breakfast place that was about 30 mins away by foot. We loved the vibe at Crumb and Coaster. We visited Ground Zero memorial from here and later drank coconuts at Double Six Beach. We explored the streets near our hotel and ended up walking about 15000 steps. Later that night, we attended
Day 2
We left the hotel just after
We had a Balinese breakfast and lunch here. It was getting very hot so we cooled down with a coconut. It started to rain just as I was waiting to go on my last swing. Soon enough, everyone had to duck indoors because the rain got too heavy. We were pretty drenched but decided to continue our journey to
Day 3
We woke up at
Kelingking
Read more at: http://www.bali-indonesia.com/magazine/kelingking-beach.htm?cid=ch:OTH:001
beach, Angel’s Billabong and Crystal Bay. Unfortunately, there was a big crowd and it took us a long time to get photos. We had lunch at a local restaurant where I had the best guava juice. On the way back, I started feeling sick. We got off at a restaurant near our hotel to grab some dinner. I was too sick to eat so I packed up my food. I went to bed early with the hope to sleep it off.
Day 4
I spent most of today recovering in bed. The good thing was that we had nothing planned for today. I wasn’t too well by
Day 5
We had booked a day tour with Bali Sun Tours which was a Green
Day 6
We had another day tour booked with Bali Sun Tours which included Parasailing at Tanoa water sports, visiting Uluwatu Temple, Padang-Padang beach and Jimbaran Bay. It was our first time parasailing and both of us really enjoyed it. Next stop was Uluwatu Temple which was absolutely breathtaking. We saw a lot monkeys around here but we were scared to interact after witnessing a tourist lose her shoe to a monkey! We stopped to have lunch at a Balinese place recommended by our driver. The last stop for our day was Jimbaran Bay which is famous for its seafood. Unfortunately, we had just eaten lunch before coming here so we had no space to try any. So, we took our time to explore the area and cooled down with a drink before leaving. We were very exhausted after coming home and fell asleep without dinner.
Day 7
We went for a long walk to find breakfast because we wanted to take our time deciding on the last day. We returned to our hotel to check out and went out
Final thoughts
While we did have a few negative experiences, we absolutely loved Bali! My highlights were Bali Swings, Tegenungan Waterfall and Tegallalang Rice Terrace. And let’s not forget the food and drinks. We loved the fresh juices. Here are 3 tips for any future travellers:
- Be wary when talking to strangers as some locals may try to take advantage of you; having said that, the majority of the Balinese people are lovely! On our first day, we had an encounter with a guy which turned into a rather strange experience. Initially, it looked like he was advertising or handing out flyers; however, he scratched off two cards in front of us and told us that we had apparently won a prize. I had won a t-shirt and my partner had won the first prize which was a stay at their hotel and cash to spend. He asked us to go there with him in the taxi to claim the prize. I told him that we’d go on another day as it was close to where we were going later. However, he said that
he offer was only valid on that day. He was rather pushy with his approach. Luckily, forus we knew that if it’s too good to be true, it probably is! - The prices of items can vary a lot depending on where you go and who you buy from. Any shops located around the touristy area will charge you more. Feel free to haggle if you can. We have very little skills to bargain so we only bought things from places that had a price tag.
- Don’t worry about withdrawing large amounts of cash before you leave as they have plenty of places to exchange currency. If you’re staying in the touristy area, you’ll find places to multiple places to exchange at every street! We initially found it hard to get the large currency conversion in our head but soon realised that 100 000 Rupiah equates to about $10 AUD.