Bali and Beyond

Bali and Beyond

Wow what a journey, I left London on Monday evening and arrived at 3am on Weds in my Bali hostel.  The journey was via Brunei  - no alcohol is served on Royal Brunei airlines, probably a good thing.  I also had a 5 hour layover in Brunei - I tried to sleep but never been very good at it in transit.  The passport queue at Densapar was insane, it took me 2.5 hours to get out of the airport but I used this time to download an app similar to Uber where you can order a driver and a local SIM card.  1.5 hr journey and a 6gb sim for £17! Bargain. Soon I met my driver and faced a barrage of questions, where are you from, where are you going, are you married etc etc.  Im getting wiser now and always say I’m married and my husband is joining me in a few days.  Saves any uncomfortable situations.

Arriving in my hostel shattered I quietly crept around the three other sleeping girls and tried to get some sleep.  About an hour into this a cockerel decided he wanted tomato a noise, this went on for hours until the girls got up, put the main light on and started chatting away - how rude! In the end they went and I fitfully dozed for a few more hours.

I love arriving to new places in the dark, the morning is and exciting blend of new sights, smells and smiles! 

Soon I was out exploring and looking for breakfast.  Downtown Ubud isn’t for the fainthearted, I was immediately floored by the noise and chaos of mopeds, cockerels local chatter and dogs barking. I leanred that rather than attend the big temples, Indonesians have cleverly brought the temple home! Many Indonesian homes are mini versions of the temples, lavish stonework with ornate swirls and mini gates to heaven adorned by yellow black and white silky fabric, long bamboo poles decorated with ribbons and flowers and little offerings in the entrance to most homes, its certainly colourful!

I joined a Bali Backpackers group on Facebook and connected with Jasmine, a young solo traveller and we met up and went for a long walk through the rice fields, its was so beautiful, little coffee shops yoga shacks and art sellers along the way, chickens and ducks chattering in the sunlight, the waft of incense - wow this place has everything just a step away from the main road.  As soon as we stopped I booked a three night stay in some nice accommodation in the rice paddies and out of town.  Its so so cheap here, especially if you eat in the warungs in the side streets. The money takes some getting used to 100,000 Rupia is about £5,80! Healthy food and vegan options are everywhere.

Jasmin and I had a great day and soon I found another solo last, Franzis from Germany. We decided to join forces and pay for a private driver for a day and tour some of the best bits of Bali.

We set off early for the tour, hours and hours of driving produced a beautiful temple, with the ‘gate to heaven’ it was truly spectacular however as its been on instagram so many times there were HUGE queues of ladies in flow dresses and straw hats trying to emulate what they had seen on gram… kind took the beauty of it away.  Then on to the water garden palace, a beautiful sacred palace full of more floaty dressed ladies crouching to feed koi for that ultimate shot…. We had lunch there, and then on to the Bali swings, large swings high over the jungle for people to , you guessed it, get that photo, they even had floaty dress hire!  I sat in the nearby rice field and watched as girls pouted and posed.  Not for me.

The next day I was shattered so Franzi and I decided to have a day of self care.  This began with a three hour spa. You get naked and have a full body massage, then a body scrub, then mud rub followed by a rose petal bath, this was bliss on my tired shoulders - I finished off with a leg wax and left feeling the cleanest I have in ages! Hehe 

To make me feel a little feminine because quite frankly i currently feel hobo I bought a silk dress at a very good price and then had a buddha bowl before returning to my room for a rest.  Delicate little flower that i am i had a fab sleep despite the cockerel in my garden!