Bali Island – Part 1
Bali Travelogue – Part 1
From “A Tour of Southeast Asia”
THE ITINERARY FOR OUR ENTIRE TOUR OF SOUTHEAST ASIA AND ALL THE TRAVELOGUES FOR SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA, PHUKET ISLAND, BANGKOK, AND BALI can be viewed HERE.
Previous stop in our Tour of Southeast Asia: BANGKOK – Read the travelogues about Bangkok.
What it's like to sleep in a beach cottage, snorkel in what is arguably the world's number one spot, and ride a moped in Bali – these are just parts of our experiences during our Southeast Asia Tour.
Day 12 of our "Southeast Asia Tour" or otherwise known as November 22, 2015. Our day started with breakfast, packing our luggage, and heading to the airport where we were to catch our Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Bali. The plane took off at 11:50 and landed at the small airport in Bali at 17:00 local time.
At passport control, we were given a free visa on arrival. Since our accommodation was about 60 km from the airport, we had arranged for a pick-up from the airport. We easily found the driver because he was carrying a sign with my name. We were going to spend 2 nights in the small town of Kuah, and the accommodation was called The BBQ Guest House. We traveled for about two hours due to massive traffic jams. The traffic there is the same as in Thailand – lots of mopeds and crazy driving habits. Our driver, however, was unique! He constantly honked at moving and stopped cars to warn them he was passing by. Constantly. While traveling, I asked if there were any dangerous bugs to watch out for, and he said no, there weren't, only scorpions and tarantulas here and there. Checkmate!
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When we arrived, we found ourselves in front of a lovely detached cottage on the seaside, luxuriously furnished, which was going to be ours for the next 2 days for the ridiculously low price of 70 BGN/night. All our driver had at his disposal were two identical cottages, right next to each other, with a very neat yard in front. The cottages were no more than two years old. Inside there was a huge bathroom, as big as the bedroom, and it was interestingly decorated as if the water was coming out of the mouth of a Hindu statue. See the hotel HERE.
I felt very sad when we realized that our hosts, 2 adults + 1 child, live in a room the size of our bathroom. They have given all their money and savings to be able to burn two such nice cottages, while they themselves live in poverty.
Upon arrival, while admiring the wonderful place, our hosts treated us to a watermelon shake. On the veranda, with a shake in hand, looking at the quaint yard with green grass and palms in front and night stars above us. What an idyll! 🙂
One of the things that made us fall in love with Bali forever were their shakes. They make the shakes with a variety of tropical fruits – mango, papaya, melon, banana, but the most important ingredient they add is coconut milk, which in turn gives an unforgettable taste to the whole drink.
And since we were hungry and one shake wasn't enough for us, we asked the hosts where there was a supermarket nearby. The village was very small and had only one still open store, but it seemed a bit suspicious to us because the eggs and milk were at room temperature and we refused to shop there.
Ultimately, we had dinner at a nearby small restaurant where we even had an audience – a few geckos tirelessly climbing the walls and ceiling. This turned out to be common for these latitudes. I don't remember what we ate, but I remember drinking a coconut shake again. Every time we sat down somewhere to eat, we made sure to order a coconut shake.
Bali is located south of the Equator. Sunrise is around 6 a.m. and sunset around 6 p.m.
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The next morning we witnessed a uniquely beautiful sunrise. To the left of our cottage was His Majesty Mount Agung, which is an active volcano and sometimes you can see smoke coming out of its peak. The view at sunrise was more than impressive. To the right of the cottage were salt pans, where salt is obtained by evaporating water from the Sun. The village we were in was a typical fishing village. All along the shores and beaches there were fishing boats.
Right at sunrise, half-asleep, we saw a few women dancing a religious dance. Heat set in with the rising sun. The beach in front of the cottage had black volcanic sand and wasn't very inviting for swimming.
After briefly discussing with the hosts what we wanted for breakfast, it wasn't long before it was ready. They brought us homemade banana pancakes with jam + fruit fresh + tea + a bowl of fresh fruit. Delicious and healthy.
We dedicated this entire day to snorkeling. That was also the reason to come to this part of the island of Bali. It is said that the Amed area is one of the best for snorkeling and diving on the island.
We rented a snorkel and mask, as well as a scooter 🙂. Simeon was driving and, thank God, all this business with the scooter went without a hitch. The traffic in the area was completely calm, so we ventured out. Otherwise, if it had been like in the capital Denpasar, we would never have dared to rent a moped.
We went first to look for American Lagoon. That was the name of the place I had read about on the internet as being suitable for snorkeling. We found it, saw fish in the water, but nothing special. Besides, we had to go to the deep water to see the corals too.
We quickly gave up and went to look for another beach located at the other end of our village. It was nice, but of all the beaches, this one was beach to beach. We wandered around, rode from hill to hill on the little scooter and in the end it turned out that right next to our little house beach, there was a unique little spot for snorkeling. And why unique? Because – as soon as you enter the water, tropical fish of various colors and types start swarming around you. When the water reaches your waist, you can already see and touch (not recommended) various beautiful, colorful corals. At some moments, the corals were even so close that we could hit our legs while swimming if we weren't careful. It was a huge miss that we didn't have an underwater camera – there would have been awesome pictures. The Similan Islands for snorkeling can go take a hike.
Such a place – both with many fish, and many corals, and easy access right from the shore, I don't know if there is anywhere else in the whole world. Really. If there is such a spot, please write to me – I definitely want to visit it.
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Time came to return the scooter. Well, but obviously we had swallowed a lot of water during the day, because we forgot where we had rented it from. At least 10 times we drove the road back and forth until we remembered and found the man.
After the great exhausting sea day, we sat down again in a small village restaurant, where we ordered a coconut shake and freshly caught fish. Shortly after we ordered, the fish arrived in a net 🙂
The next morning we had breakfast again on the lovely veranda: pancake + fresh juice + tea and fruit. After that, we quickly packed our luggage. It was time to say goodbye to the pretty little house and the wonderful view of the yard, the sea and the volcano, because we had booked a taxi to go to the town of Ubud, which is located in the interior of the island and is considered the cultural capital of Bali. For more about the experiences there, read in the next travelogue 🙂
To Part Two
Information about the main SIGHTS of Bali Island can be seen HERE.
A few more pictures that didn't fit in the gallery can be seen HERE or below:
