Living the Bali dream

Once in awhile, it's just so nice to take a trip away from our busy lives to wind down and just breathe. Sadly, I couldn't say my trip to Bali was totally relaxing, thanks to internet and the little devil that came with it to taunt me occasionally. 

Nonetheless, I managed to see more of Bali than I did the first time round. Though we missed out on the art scene in Ubud, we had the chance to explore Seminyak and get close to nature with white water rafting!

Our villa was near Seminyak Square so on the first night, we took a walk down the long stretch of shops. I enjoyed how the shopping scene is so vibrant in Bali. Perhaps because rent or materials are cheap, shops can invest on creating a distinctive look or brand culture with the design of their stores. Most of them had very enticing store fronts but the clothes inside didn't really match up to expectations. Then again, Bali is catered a lot to Caucasians and most of the stores we saw were Australian-inspired so no wonder we didn't buy anything- the clothes were just too simple to command a price of S$60! 

I also found awesome pairs of platform batik printed shoes you see below. The platforms are made of foam so the shoes are light but sadly, the price they were going for were too steep (S$130!). 

I'm sorry I don't know the name of the road that we walked down but if you ask your driver to take you to Seminyak Square or Ku De Ta, you'd definitely see this row of shops! Oh by the way, we also went to this magical French-inspired bistro that was located along the way called The Bistrot. They serve breakfast like eggs benedict, pancakes and eggs from 730am to 11am and lunch after that so it's a pretty good place to start your day.

We spent one of our days doing white water rafting. It was my first time and wow, I had loads of fun! Ayung River is pretty long so we had a 2-hour ride which was pretty manageable for beginners like me. The river is pretty shallow and if anyone told you there were crocodiles in it, don't believe them!  There was a point when they asked everyone in the raft to get out and swim. The water was so cold but the feeling was amazing! 

I thought it was funny that our boat didn't have strings or handles for us to grab on to. So everytime we came to a 'fall', Chan Xi and I would hold on to each other and grab Fiona by her life jacket. But well, the 'falls' were not very high or scary so the chances of you falling out is low.

We also visited the Monkey Forest in Ubud. Monkeys in Indonesia are respected creatures, much like how Indians respect cows. The guide told us that legend has it that King Ramayana needed help to get his wife so the Monkeys helped him build a bridge to get there. 

It was interesting to see monkeys grooming each other. No wonder scientists think that we evolved from the apes. Seeing monkeys up-close revealed the similarities between mankind and monkeys. Just seeing them flip through hair row by row to groom each other fascinated me.

By the way, if you are every going to go the the Monkey Forest, please don't buy the bananas to feed the monkeys! We saw a Caucasian couple purchase a bunch. The monkeys immediately ran and climbed on them to yank the bananas out of their hands. Monkeys even came from trees further away just to grab that piece of heaven. 

And also, don't bring plastic bags in. A man was just using one to play with a monkey and almost got scratched by it because he pulled the plastic bag away thinking he was protecting the monkey from eating plastic but the monkey thought otherwise. 

We also visited a coffee garden and had the chance to sample 14 types of teas and coffees including the luwak coffee!

We spent two of our dinners are the famous beach clubs in Bali- Ku De Ta and Potato Head. Sunset at Ku De Ta was amazing. There were people lying on the beach, green grass or on sun beds just watching the sun set to music spun by a house DJ. 

We felt that food at Ku De Ta was better but the ambience at Potato Head was definitely catered to a much younger crowd. Just from the facade of windows glued together next to each other, you could tell that Potato Head was hipper.

We were fortunate to be in Bali with a full moon hanging above our heads. The Balinese celebrate full moon twice a year with a trip to the temple and one of this dates happened to fall on the day we went rafting. We saw three trucks full of boys and girls dressed in white and checkered bottoms, heading to the temples to pray and play music. Though I'm not into the Balinese spiritual culture, I am always heartened to see people still making an effort to keep their culture alive. In this fast-paced modernised world, much of our traditions and heritage have been eroded away because nobody bothers to keep them alive. 

And oh yes, what is Bali without the beach experience right? We headed to Kuta beach to tan for an hour and yes, we sure did get tanned. It was pretty annoying being approached by locals trying to sell us hats, fans and drinks but we expected that coming when we chose to tan at Kuta. Fiona and I spent a good half an hour playing with the waves and as much as that sounds stupid, it was really really fun!

By the way, some people have been asking me about our villa. We stayed in Bali Dream Villa Seminyak which was located more inland. Each villa has its own pool, dining area and living area. We were fortunate to be given the two-bedroom villa instead of the one-bedroom one we ordered. For three of us, we paid S$200 for 3 nights which I thought was really reasonable, considering we had our own private pool! The villa also provided free breakfast everyday (which was quite good!), a 15 minute welcome massage and shuttle services to the airport, Kuta, Seminyak and Legian. Thanks to that, we saved a lot of money on transport and could get around Bali safely!

Would I go back to bali again? Yes I would! Just without my phone this time, hahaha.