10 Days In Bali

Bali, the next and last stop on our multi-trip adventure. After a hectic four days in Singapore, we wanted a destination that we could sit back and relax at, but could still explore. It only took two and half hours to get from Singapore to Bali. Not a long flight at all really. We had private transfers organised with our hotel to pick us up from the airport. This meant no standing around waiting for a taxi, all we had to do was locate our driver and be on our way.


I've never had such an amazing welcome to a hotel as we did here. We stayed at the Sol Beach house in Tanjung Benoa. Upon check in we were welcomed Balinese style, given a flower garland, a drink and a cold towel to refresh ourselves. With us having quite an early flight from Singapore, this meant we arrived early at our hotel. But this was absolutely no problem and were able to check into our room straight away. The room we were shown to was by far the best room we have ever stayed in! As part of our holiday deal we got a free upgrade from a beach house to a Junior suite. It was massive!

The room was decorated in a modern white and blue theme. Even though it was modern looking, there was still a touch of Bali in the room from the wall art. One seating area wasn't enough for this room, you had a couch in front of the TV, a couple of bean bags by the book shelf and of course there has to be a seating area on the balcony. We weren't short of a place to sit, that's for sure. The bed was large and comfy, the wardrobe was spacious and had plenty of hangers! (Important for our many outfits!) The bathroom was also very spacious, with an overly large shower that I loved and didn't want to leave behind. The hotel has three restaurants, two bars, a gym, swimming pool, spa, games room and karaoke room. This hotel also sits along the beach front, so the hotel has its own sunbeds on the beach. You don't have to worry about finding a sunbed at this hotel. The hotel also has plenty of activities going on throughout the day and a water sports centre to keep you from getting bored. 


Day 1 & 2

We spent the first couple of days relaxing after the busy but fun packed four days in Singapore. We took this time to take advantage of the all inclusive cocktails, soak up some sunshine, plan some trips and meet some amazing people.


Day 3

The first of three trips we chose to do, to get out of the hotel and see the real Bali. Our first trip started off with a trip to see a traditional Balinese dance, which was all about good and evil coming together to create balance. Our guide (Baggi) used to dance in this show herself, so knows everyone very well and this meant we got to have a sneak behind the scenes of the show before it started. We saw all the costumes and masks that they use in the show. We also saw some of the dancers getting themselves ready and transforming their faces with make-up.


After the dance we went to a few traditional workshops. To see how they made clothes, jewellery and wood carvings. It's crazy just how much detail goes into all this work that they do, all by hand. We got to learn how they turned cotton, silver and wood into works of art and at the end we had a chance to purchase some for gifts, if we wished.


Next we visited a local Balinese home. Me and Paul were quite shocked at how different our homes were. There homes are not built like our traditional houses. Instead of one large building, they have a compound that has multiple buildings. This one had four buildings, the parents room, children's room, kitchen and ceremonial room. The compound also had a shrine. All Balinese homes have a family shrine in the compound, where they can give their daily offerings to the gods.


Then it was on to our first temple.The elephant cave temple. There is a large bathing area, we were told that people come to bathe here who are suffering with fertility problems. In the hopes that it will heal them. The entrance to the cave has some crazy carvings, which are said to keep evil spirits out. The carving details in all the structures was unbelievable. I wouldn't even like to guess how long it would take to do just one of the carvings. Inside the elephant cave on the right is a statue of Ganesh and on the left is a small worship area.


Once we'd explored the temple it was back in the car to travel to a place for lunch, where we would have some amazing views of the volcano. It was really nice to be able to dine on local Balinese food with the amazing views we had. It was cloudy when we first got there so we couldn't see the tip of the volcano. But by the time we had finished eating, the sky was clearing and you could finally see the top.


After lunch it was onto another temple. There was actually a ritual going on at this temple. It was a ritual for collecting the holy water. All the local villages come together to help out for the ceremony. One village does the scared dance, another plays the music, one prays and one will bring all the offerings. There was so much going on, it was all very mesmerizing and you could easily loose track of time. Especially when watching the dancing. But we had to head off as we really wanted to get to our last place on the itinerary before it closed, which was the monkey forest. There's no experience quite like walking around a forest full of wild monkeys. That are running around chasing each other and getting up to mischief. We saw one monkey climb onto someone's back pack, open it and steal his cigarettes. Paul was quite scared that a monkey was going to jump on him and he was going to freak out, especially as your told to keep calm if one does! Funnily enough I felt quite at home sat next to the monkey's.


Day 4

This was another rest day, where we chilled around the pool and tried to take in everything we'd seen the day before.

Day 5

One of my favourite days! We went to the elephant safari park. Where we got to get up close and personal with the elephants. We got to ride on one called daisy and we bought some fruit to feed them. I also got some close up time with one of the four baby elephants at the park. It was a great experience that was made even better when we saw two of the baby elephants running off to the water hole, to play with each other.


Day 6

A rest day and a bit of a sad day for us, as we had to say goodbye to a great family from Rotterdam. We made sure we gave them a good send off with a night of cocktails and Karaoke.

Day 7

The last of our planned trips. We visited two temples and the rice fields. The two temples we visited were by far the most beautiful temples on this holiday. They has the most beautiful and detailed carvings, they were very clean, well maintained and made some amazing photos. The two temples we visited were the Royal temple and the Floating temple. You cant actually go all the way into the Royal temple, but the wall is low enough to see right into it. There is also certain times that you cant access the Floating temple too. It all has to do with the water level. If the water level rises it cuts certain paths off, giving the illusion that the temple is floating.


Day 8 - 9 -10

We spent the last three days of our holiday enjoying the sunshine, food, drink and water sports. In our holiday deal we also had a 2hour Balinese massage each included, we made sure we saved it until these last three days so we could go home truly relaxed.


Our trip this year was as amazing as our trip last year. Even though our flights were with Singapore airlines, we actually booked our holiday with Virgin. We always book our big holidays with Virgin, they've always found us some great deals at some great destinations and the hotels have always been great too!




Tips

Money

Bring your own currency with you and then change to the Indonesian Rupiah at the airport. This will save you time! Most people wait until they get to the airport and use the cash machine to withdraw some money. There was a lot of people queueing for the one cash machine, there was no queue for the currency changer.

Hotel

If you want to catch the sun, ignore the sun beds around the pool they stay in the shade quite a bit from the trees. The beach is the best spot for sunbathing. 

If you have a late flight I would advise on a late checkout. It's never good being sat around a hotel waiting for the time to leave. But its made even worse by your all inclusive bands being cut off. Not great when checkouts at 12pm and your flights not until 8pm. Luckily for us, our holiday deal included a late checkout until 4pm but you can pay for up to 6pm.

If you haven't seen the first part of our adventure to Singapore, then check that out here.

Previous Destinations


 Where are you jetting off to this year?

ReRe

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