My first night in Bali was quite eventful…I
landed in Denpasar at around 11pm, and - obviously - my pick-up was not waiting
for me at the airport… I was so mad, because Doro and I had had the same
problem with Kubu Kauh Beach Inn back in December and I had made sure to follow
up the reservation by email etc. this time!! Thanks to my previous experiences
in Bali, I knew exactly where to go and how to negotiate the fare with the taxi
driver, so it wasn’t too much of an issue. However, everybody was sleeping when
I finally arrived at the homestay around 12.30pm, and they were not expecting
my arrival – turns out the Australian guy who manages the bookings had not
forwarded the information…The homestay was full for the night, I had to plead
with the guy for 30 minutes until he finally agreed to lend me his bed, saying
we would sort everything out in the morning if I agreed to wake up at
6am…Lovely!
My friend Angel arrived the following night – we
had talked about travelling around Bali together on a daytrip to Deauville back
in April 2012 with Doro… She had wanted to come with us for NYE but it hadn’t
worked out back then because of her job… I was SO happy when she told me she
was going to be able to make it this time round! I haven’t known Angel for too
long, and it was our first holiday together, so it could have gone one way or
the other…but we had the BEST time and got on extremely well! I’ve rarely had
so many fits of laughter on holiday with someone, we were a great team :)
We spent Day 1 in Kuta enjoying the beach, pool,
shops and massages (of course)!
We set off for Ubud on Day 2 – we stayed at The Unique
Homestay, which is very central and quite close to the tourist information centre
(practical if you want to book tours) – 250,000 IDR/night (including breakfast).
We walked around the town and ended the day with a pretty scary visit of the
Monkey Forest in the dark! The monkeys can get pretty aggressive so I suggest
you don’t bring any food along…I saw two people getting bitten there.
We
booked a driver we had met in Kuta for a “typical” Ubud tour on Day 3 - check
out Made Artawan in my Facebook friends for cheap deals: Tegallalang Village rice
paddies/plantation visit + coffee and tea tasting/Mt Batur volcano view/our
first elephant ride/Goa Goja Temple (Elephant Cave).
We
went rafting on Day 4 – I think that was probably one of the highlights of my
trip. The views from the river were STUNNING and we laughed SO much the whole
time, it was hilarious. Our rafting guide was an absolute joke, and we were
paired up with two other lovely French girls – had such a good time. We drove
to a tiny village called Sidemen to spend the night at Abian Ayu Villas – we
were so glad to have found such an amazing place – we booked it literally last
minute! We met a French guy called Benjamin and had a great chat by the pool
with amazing Balinese food.
On Day 5 we
visited the Besakih temple and the Tirtagangga Water Palace. We had loads of
fun at Besakih - locals pretend to be “guardians of the temple” and ask
for an additional entrance fee, they are extremely pushy and not very nice to tourists…We
managed to get through the gates unnoticed and had a few “Mission Impossible”
moments, quite a laugh I must say. We then headed off to Amed, a fishermen's village on the East Coast. Another last minute deal we found online: Bedulu
Resort – we spent the afternoon in the lovely swimming pool which has a
breathtaking view of the sea. The cabin we stayed in wasn’t that nice but that
view was definitely worth it! We had dinner in the Rastha Rusthy bar down the
road – made friends with the owner who gave us a private reggae concert,
unforgettable!
Back to Kuta
on Day 6 for our reunion with Doro – Finally all three of us together after ONE
YEAR! We were pinching ourselves!!! We went straight to party at Sky Gardens - amazing nightclub, would definitely
recommend it if you want a good night out in Kuta! We also went back to Bounty
Club where we had spent NYE; it was such a weird feeling!
We spent Day 7 trying to sort out Angel’s money troubles. Be careful if you come to Bali with a Visa card, they don’t work in the ATMs there – I also had issues back in December, Doro had to lend me money because I was able to withdraw money only once. This time round I had my Commonwealth debit card so it was fine, but Angel was not so lucky…She tried getting cash out everywhere, but in vain – and when we checked her account, her card had been debited twice!!! So yeah, beware…It can ruin your holiday if you come unprepared!
We spent Day 7 trying to sort out Angel’s money troubles. Be careful if you come to Bali with a Visa card, they don’t work in the ATMs there – I also had issues back in December, Doro had to lend me money because I was able to withdraw money only once. This time round I had my Commonwealth debit card so it was fine, but Angel was not so lucky…She tried getting cash out everywhere, but in vain – and when we checked her account, her card had been debited twice!!! So yeah, beware…It can ruin your holiday if you come unprepared!
On Day 8 we
went to visit the famous Tanah Lot temple, followed by another beautiful temple
called Bedugul. We then spent the night at Villa Lotos in Sanur (450,000
IDR/night for a huge villa) and met up in Linga Longa Bar with Wira (my Uni
friend from Nottingham), Sarah (who I’d met in the plane on my way to Bali in
December) and Brice (a secondary school friend from Maisons Laffitte). Turns
out all three always hang out in this bar - Brice and Sarah are very good
friends! There were also two other guys from Maisons-Laffitte on holiday visiting
Brice. The world is so small!!!
On Day 9
Doro and Angel left to go to the Gili Islands – and I went back to Kuta to meet
Kati at the airport :)
