BALI

Hey guys :)

this blogpost is about my adventure in Bali. I flew from Melbourne to Bali and stayed there two weeks in different cities:

First stop was Seminyak, where I directly went to after I had landed in Denpasar. Luckily I was picked up by a driver from my hotel, because many people told me that it is quite hard to get a taxi driver who's not cheating... So I wanted to make sure everything went well when I arrived and paid maybe a bit more than I actually had to but it was worth it. Especially after the stressful experience I had at Melbourne airport.

The lady at the check-in desk told me I needed to show her my return ticket otherwise I couldn't fly. Problem was, my travel agency hadn’tsent the ticket to me yet because we changed a lot and it was very busy there- Whatever, it was bad timing... After two stressful hours during which I tried to find the return details in my mails and texting my family to contact my travel agency in whateverway possible (which, of course, didn't work, because it was already late in Germany), my family booked a cheap ticket for me to somewhere (I think it was Darwin) from Bali.. (Much, much love to my family for that, by the way. We were on the phone all the time whilst everyone was sitting in front of the latop trying to book this bloody ticket for me!! Thanks!! I love you so much! We're such a good team.)

Anyway, I finally checked in 10mins before they closed the counter. Phew!

Back to Seminyak. I stayed for 3nights in a nice hotel. On my first day I went to the city and met two really cute girls from New York. We spent the day together, first on the beach and later in their (beautiful) hotel at the pool! It was a lot of fun but unfortunately they had to go back to New York because both of them were working.

On Saturday morning I drove to a hotel in Canggu in order to meet a friend of a friend of my Au Pair who is also from Indonesia (a bit complicated I know haha). She invited me to do a traditional Balinese cooking class with her and her friends, which was awesome!! I loved it. All the colours of the spices and herbs, it was so much fun and smelled so yummy! And the best part was eating the food at the end!! I can just recommend this to everyone!

Later we drove together to Sanur where Dwi (the friend of the friend...) lives and I wanted to stay two nights. This time I didn't really stay in a hotel, it was more a small house with nice rooms and open baths(!!!) which was run by a Balinese family. It was a 15 min. walk from the house to the beach, which I walked on the first evening to have dinner at the beach and also on the next morning very early to see the sunset and have breakfast there. It was quite nice (not as nice as all the amazing sunrises I have seen in Australia, but still beautiful)! Then followed a lazy beach day and in the evening I went with Dwi to a small spa and later to a nightmarket with yummy Balinese food. The traditional pancake was weird but also kind of good!

The following morning I dropped my big suitcase (for 8 months in Australia!) at Dwi’s apartment and took the bus to Nusa Dua.

There I stayed in a hotel which was only a 2 mins walk from the beach. Awesome! And the best thing was, that there was an infinity pool directly next to the beach, how cool is that!? Normally it's a location where couples get married but luckily on that day there wasn't anything or anyone in sight. Not even other guests, just the husband of the manager and his cute child.

I really enjoyed spending the day there. That was how I imagined Bali: beach, sun, pool and fruit! (ok, at least one part of Bali which I imagined to look like that)

I just stayed for one night in Nusa Dua. The next morning, I took the bus to Kuta and from there to Ubud.

I really have to say that I like Ubud a lot! Maybe it’s also because I stayed in a really, really nice hotel! I had my own small room with beautiful furniture and incredible ornamented doors! The staff was really friendly, the pool was nice and it was actually directly in the center (by the way, its called ''Honeymoon(Guesthouse)'' if anyone ever travels to Bali and doesn't know where to stay in Ubud).

On my first day in Ubud I just walked around. Maybe this sounds boring to some, but not in Ubud! I think this was one of my favorite places in Bali: I was up really early (around 7.00am) and had a great breakfast in my hotel, while I was deciding what to do for that day. I found some information about a hidden lane which leads to rice fields directly next to the street. I didn't really expect much and that – I think – was the reason why it was even more fantastic. I walked this little, dirty and slippery path between the houses till I came to the rice fields. From one second to the next, I was in a different world. I forgot about the noisy cars and annoying taxi drivers just a few hundred meters away.

Around me was just green. I smelled fresh air, listened to the burbling of the water and enjoyed the sunshine between the palm trees. Only a few rice farmers were doing their work. I walked along this small path my travel guide had told me about and passed two little cafés/restaurants. I was really surprised how clever the terraces are: the canal system flows down the hill and fills every field with water. I just loved it there!

Back in the real world I walked down a street to find a shop where in order to rent a bike. Some girls had told me about this. ''At the end of the street'', they had said. Wow, this street was long!! And I didn't find the shop, but I found many other shops full of stuff nobody really needs but also really nice (and expensive!!) shops with beautiful dresses and other clothes. Whatever, at the end I found the monkey forest everyone had told me about. I'm not really into animals, so I didn't plan to go there... but as I was there anyway, so why not!? Result: It was ok. A lot of monkeys (what a surprise) and a temple and a lot of nature (this part I really liked).

On my way back I walked along another street which led directly to my hotel. I was pretty hungry so I decided to eat something in one of the small restaurants. I found a nice one with a lovely view over a small rice field. Yeah I know I have a thing for rice fields haha!

And I saw them again in much larger sizes on the next day when I joined a tour to different temples and rice fields (here we go). First we visited three temples. This came with a lot(!!) of walking: especially the first two had many, many steps! I don't know why but as soon as we started walking the sun came out and soon we were sweating badly! But once we were back in the car again the sun disappeared. Great! But at least we got nice photos, hey!

I didn't really care about the sun when we (finally) visited the rice terraces in Tegalalang. It was stunning! Especially when we came to the part were we walked through the terraces. We walked for about 40 mins up and down and were not really sure if that was the right path (I think we got lost), but we had such a nice view. What a great adventure!

I spent my last day in Ubud with a girl I met at the tour the day before. We walked through the market streets. Actually, every shop showed the same stuff but it was nice weather and we enjoyed it. Then we had lunch in a small restaurant where we just paid 30.000IDR (3AUD) for a buffet that was really really delicious! For the evening I had booked a massage and a facial treatment in the spa of my hotel. It was lovely, even though I was so ticklish and giggling all the time...

The next two days I spent in Kuta. But I didn't really see much of it because it was bloody rainy. I arrived in the evening and didn't feel really well so I went to bed early. On the next day I only had a few hours to see Kuta, because it rained really strongly in the morning and the whole afternoon and evening. But it was ok for me! I didn't really like Kuta and felt still a bit sick anyway, which is why I stayed most of the day in my bed and watched TV.

My last stop on Bali was Sanur again. I had to pick up my suitcase which I had left at a friend’s house there. We met in the evening, went to the night market again, had nice food and talked a lot.

The next morning a friend of a friend came to Sanur and we spent the day together. We sat at the beach and went to a spa. In the evening we drove together to the airport. It was really great to have someone from home with me (she is from Hamburg) and not to have to spend many hours alone at the airport.. We waited in Denpasar for around 4h and then in Dubai for 3h. BUT I had to wait 6 more hours.. alone :( that was really horrible and soo boring, but worth it! Because it meant that my family could pick me up from the airport.

It was so lovely to have them and a few friends at the arrival gate. Finally I saw them again!

Now I am home and nearly over the bloody jetlag.. It's like I've never been away. I mean it still feels weird, but not much has changed (except my sister, she is soooo tall now!!) And I miss Australia and everything there so much!! But I love being back with my family (just came back from my grandparents who I spent a few days with) and everything I didn't have in Australia (for example my bike). Now I just miss everything in Australia I don't have here.. Damn it. Life is complicated haha!!

I try to enjoy everything here and not to think too much about what I don't have. Australia is not out of the world and I can always go back (and I will!!).