Bali adventure - Part 1

My trip in Indonesia was a blast of emotions, adventures and experiences that I will never forget. I flew from Darwin to Bali at night, after a month of adventures in Australia with the most amazing people in the world. I knew nothing about this country, and I was told to expect being pushed so much at the airport. And that's what happened exactly. A group of Indonesian taxi drivers was waiting there, and they all had the best price anyone could offer. Luckily, I ended up having a good deal and I shared the cab with another girl that ended up sleeping in the same place I slept. It was all good until the driver got lost in the middle of Kuta. If you have been in Kuta for sure you know how chaotic this city can be, and if not, just imagine cars everywhere, motorbikes everywhere, people everywhere, and all of them going up and down anarchically, beeping and dodging each other in super small crowded streets full of stalls. Welcome to Kuta haha!

Kuta

Anyways, the driver finally found it and we both had a good sleep after we went for some dinner... My first meal in Indonesia was a small salad covered with a super spicy sauce, with fried tofu on the side, and I couldn't avoid seeing all the ants that surrounded the lettuce before they put it in my plate. I must admit that it was pretty good and I must admit as well that I was starving haha.

The next day, I needed a surfboard, a motorbike and a surf rack. My goal was Uluwatu and that's what I did. I rented a scooter, walked through all the streets in Kuta searching for the perfect board, and I finally found it. At the same time, I got lost and I had to ask a random Indonesian guy to drop me somewhere close to the beach because that's the only thing I remembered about the location of my motorbike haha. After that, I packed my bag, put my surfboard on the rack and started driving to Uluwatu.

Uluwatu and the beautiful Temple

Such an adventure. My first day in Bali and I drove from Kuta to Uluwatu with a surfboard, no sunscreen, and crazy traffic around me. Later, I realised how the beeping and overtaking worked there so I got immersed in the same dynamics: beep, overtake and keep driving. I arrived at a guest house and I asked to stay there for the next few days because it was quite close to Uluwatu and Padang-Padang and the price was reasonably cheap. While I was eating something, I met a group of guys and I went with them for my first swim in Indonesia. Booties to walk on the coral and Indonesia here I am, ready to become a fish within the next month!

Sunset in Uluwatu is probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and I couldn't wait to surf there the following day. I did it indeed, after surfing first at 'Impossible' and meeting a boy from Valencia who was as keen on surfing as me. 'Impossible' was my first experience of surfing in Bali and I must admit that when you catch a wave and you see all the coral that close, you really feel it. You just have in mind doing a starfish if you fall so you don't hit the coral, or at least you don't hit it that hard haha. It was good and when we paddled in, the tide was so high that I couldn't go back to where I had my motorbike – I walked half an hour on the beach with my board, and I ended up in that spot without even looking for it haha. Luckily, Tono and his mate had a scooter up the cliffs and the three of us rode it to where my scooter was. Yes that's Indonesia, put as many people as you can on a motorbike and start driving haha.

So after that, and after having some nasi goreng, we went to Uluwatu to surf there in the afternoon. I was so amazed with Uluwatu's waves but I was a bit disappointed. I expected Bali to be a natural paradise but it was quite spoiled instead. Houses up the cliffs facing the ocean killed the magic of this place; nevertheless, Uluwatu is beautiful and it was my first time surfing there so I was really excited. When I saw the cave from which I was supposed to paddle out, I almost go crazy. I was laughing, I was amazed, I just wanted to be in the water... That was incredible and for me it was quite challenging as well since I haven't surfed for that long and the currents there are pretty strong. I had a good session though and I paddled in to the beach instead of the cave.

The tide was high again so it was another adventure to get out of that beach haha really funny. Not to mention the monkeys around that place that kept throwing things to the people if they felt like it haha

The temple of Uluwatu is another highlight of my days in the south of this island. I went there to see the immensity of the cliffs and to really appreciate the magic of this place. They gave me a sarong and I put it around my waist because I was wearing shorts and you can't go inside those temples without covering your legs. Fernando and I went in and enjoyed the scenery, the ocean and the wind blowing on our faces. We had some monkeys attacking us and they tried to steal my friend's water bottle but that was nothing compared with the monkey that some days later would jump to my friend Caroline's face haha. Later Cristian came to join us for sunset. 

The funniest thing that happened to me while being in Uluwatu's temple was having a group of tourists from Jakarta asking me if they could take a picture with me. The called me beautiful princess and my friends and I laughed so much with those Indonesian boys. Later I knew that for Asian people, it was really common to ask for pictures with people from other countries because they find us different.

Another place I loved in Bali was a beach called 'Dreamtime'. 

Dreamtime beach

The surf wasn't good there when I went but I had so much fun trying bodyboard with a guy that gave me his while I was just swimming and having fun with the waves that were closing out. That place was really magic and although there is the typical hotel in front of the beach, the place itself is gorgeous.

While I was on the beach reading and writing, a group of guys came. I didn't know what was going on and they were all coming towards me. My first thought was 'what the fuck is happening here' haha because they were coming with not happy expressions... However, as soon as they got closer they started smiling and asked me if they could take a picture of me. I laughed and agreed. Some minutes later a family came to ask me the same and after them I had two more girls queuing to take a picture with me... I couldn't believe it haha. When it was time for me to leave and get back to the guest house, I had some more people chasing me to take a picture with me and finally free I rode my scooter back to Padang-Padang.

Too much sun those days and I got a bit burnt so I decided to stop surfing for a couple of days and I went to Seminyak and aferwards I went to Ubud.

Seminyak

I just stayed in Seminyak one day so I was closer to Ubud. I got lost, it was so hot but I finally found it. It was too windy to surf or to swim in the ocean and I decided to go to a swimming pool in a super posh place called Potato Head. Too fancy for me and everyone looked at me when I entered with my trainers, my backpack, my cameras; I wasn't even a guest and I had no intention to eat or drink anything haha but I was allowed to swim there :)

Ubud

I stayed in a really weird place in Ubud in which I actually couldn't sleep at all haha. I arrived there early in the morning and I wanted to find a driver to show me the area. I found it and I went on an excursion the very same day, after the motorbike mission to get to Ubud from Seminyak.

Temples

That excursion was cool because I got to see some of the most characteristic temples of the area, but at the same time I found that it was way too touristic for me. Of course you have no other option if you want to see temples, but I did it one day and I had enough. I even had an argument with a guy that didn't want to let me in because he wanted me to pay him, again. Of course I knew that he was lying because at the entrance of the temple they warned us of that but he was so stubborn and while I was walking he was following me, yelling at me and he almost pushed me... I didn't care because I was going inside no matter what and he finally gave up and went to do the same with someone else... I was so sad to see this in place that it is considered sacred and that it could have such an amazing energy that I didn't feel. Nonetheless, the temples are magnific, their shapes are astonishing and of course it's a must see of Bali. I also went to an organic coffee, chocolate and tea plantation.

Goa Gajah (Bedulu) - Elephant Cave Temple

Tirta Empul (Tampaksiring) - Holy Spring Water Temple

Pura Agung Besakih (Karangasem) - The Mother Temple of Besakih

Rice fields

After the temples, I went to see the rice fields and they are really impressive as well. Vast extensions of rice field covered all I could see and it was amazing to get to see this spectacular scenery.

After this day, I went to bed really early because I had to get up at 2am in the morning as next day I wanted to see sunrise from the top of Mt. Batur.

Sunrise Mt. Batur

So yes, I got up early and a bus came to pick me up. We drove to the base of the volcano and a thousand local guides were waiting for us there. It was crazy... Too many people in my opinion and way too spoiled to really enjoy it. 

On the way up, you could see a line of lights going up, it seemed like hundreds of ants moving towards the top of the mountain in the middle of the night. Nevertheless, sunrise was beautiful and I did enjoy it although it was crowded. 

On the way down, we chose the long route so we were able to see the volcano from behind. There were also springs and you could see the heat coming out of the ground. You could even boil eggs in some of those holes!

Monkey Forest

After this trek, I decided to go to the Monkey Forest before leaving Ubud. I was quite tired but I just wanted to say hi to the monkeys haha. They had, and of course I had, fun when they started jumping on my head... Suddenly I had three monkeys on me: one was just on my head, the other was going up my arm and the other decided that my gopro had to be its gopro and wanted to steal it haha.

Getting up that early gave me a lot of time so after the Monkey Forest and my two days in Ubud, I started driving to Canggu where I would meet Ilka again. 

Canggu - Berawa

Canggu is a really nice place and I decided to stay in Berawa so I was pretty close to the beach and I could surf there for the next couple of days. Ilka joined me and also tried to surf on day :) we shared hostel, we saw beautiful sunsets and we had the best nasi goreng and mie goreng ever. We wanted to eat something but we didn't want to go to a restaurant so we tried to find the right place. We saw a really old place, a bit dirty but with a super friendly local couple. We decided to go there and it was just amazing. Probably the best nasi and mie goreng I tasted in Indonesia haha.

We also had a weird experience while walking to the beach. In Berawa there are lots of rice fields and all of a sudden we saw a man hiding in between the rice fields. He was looking at us all the time while we were walking to the beach and as soon as we got closer to him we saw that he was jerking off. Quite disgusting to be honest but the surf session I had that afternoon with random guys from Canada, the States and other places in the world was pretty cool :)

The next day I went to Kuta to pick up a boat and start my adventure in Lombok.