Bali

Last month, I went to Bali with the ladies of the American Association of Malaysia!  The lovely Mona planned the whole trip-- no small feat for working around the requirements and preferences of 12 ladies!  We spent four nights at a private villa in the Ubud section of Bali.  And the best part, beautiful Bali is only a three-hour flight from KL!

I was confused at first.  I think of Ubud as a central, mountainous town, and our villa was on the beach!  But above is a map of Bali, showing that the region of Ubud does extend to the ocean.  Where our fabulous 6 bedroom villa is located. It was a VRBO property.  Click here to get all the information.

Nine of us arrived in the afternoon.  We were greeted with coconut water and beautiful leis.  The villa is right at the ocean.  There is no beach right here, except some at low tide.  

The infinity pool was my favorite part of villa!

So, when I am planning a vacation, I like to know how to spend my time. In case you are planning a trip to Bali, here is an overview of the plans for our time.

SUNDAY:  Most of us arrived at 4:00 pm.  A late lunch and dinner was provided by the villa staff.

MONDAY:  Early departure for the Ubud Market, followed by spa appointments and lunch at Taksu   Spa.  We were picked up by the driver, did some shopping, saw a cultural show, and dinner at Bebek Bengel- Dirty Duck Diner. 

TUESDAY:  Pickup at 2:30 AM for the three of us going on the Bali Sunrise Hike. (My prior blog post was on this hike.) Everyone else relaxed at the villa.  Then 2:00 pickup for shopping in Seminyak, Uluwatu Temple, and dinner on the beach.

WEDNESDAY:  8:00 am pickup for the Eco Cycling Tour.  Click here for more info on this great trip.  4:30 pickup for dinner in Nusa Dua and another dance show.

THURSDAY:  Pool time (for me), and flights home

After we had lunch at villa, we noticed that there seemed to be some sort of festival going on right down the beach from us.  One of the waiters from the villa offered to take a few of us for a closer look.  We left and started walking to the village.  These cows (which looked more like deer to us) looked like they wanted us to take their picture!

Note the black sand!  This particular village was celebrating a Hindu festival, appeasing the god of the ocean. 

We were hanging back on the fringes, trying to be unobtrusive and respectful.  The guy with the drum kept beckoning us closer.  They were so welcoming. 

After we left the festival, we walked around the village.  There was a wooden shack where they were extracting sea salt from the sea water.  First they heated the sea water so that it created crystals.

 Once the crystals dried, salt!

This type of 'gate' was in front of every temple in the village.  And by the way, every home has its own temple!

 There are concrete statues everywhere.  The entrances to most homes had a pair of scary statues, to ward off evil.  This pair was quite unique, I tell you.

We ran across these young women leaving the festival.

MONDAY

The next morning we headed to the Ubud Market.  I did really well.  I only bought a batik sarong, an elephant teapot, and some small toys for my grandchildren.

Then we took a short drive to the Taksu Spa.  I got a massage and foot massage.  So relaxing!

Then we saw a traditional Kecak dance.

TUESDAY

The next morning is when I was picked up very early (Brenda and Peggy were still up from the night before) and did the sunrise hike.  You can scroll past the end of this post to see that post.  The plan was for us to be picked up at 2:00 pm and do some shopping, see the Uluwatu temple, and have dinner on beach.   A few of us opted to stay at the villa and relax while the others went on.

Now is when I admit that this is the second time I have been to Bali.  I actually came with two of my kids and husband for spring break.  But that trip never got to my blog.  Life was just busier in the late spring.  So I will interject a few pictures of the Uluwatu temple (which no one got to see because of a heavy downpour.)

Side note: if you want to see Uluwatu, shorts are not allowed.  For a small fee, you can rent these lovely purple sarongs!  I thought Jared carried off the look well!

The special part of the temple is actually its location, right on the cliffs.  There was a pathway that visitors could walk on.  Another side note: the monkeys along the way are notorious for their thievery.  If you don't believe me, 

those were my sunglasses!

Many people stay at the temple to watch the sunset, but we watched a little ways down.  You may not see the tiny dots in the water, but those are surfers.

WEDNESDAY 

Most of the ladies went on the Eco Cycling tour on this day.  I had also done that on spring break, so this is what I did:

Really, can you blame me???  The ladies who didn't go on the bike ride went shopping again.  Not me.  I was in the pool for hours!  My apologies to friends and family members who may have benefited from my shopping.  

The staff prepared me a chicken sandwich.  I had a great time!  But just in case you are wondering about the bike tour (all downhill, by the way, and very doable), I have some pictures from the spring.

 It started with breakfast overlooking a lake and out onto volcanoes.

The scenery and vegetation were fabulous.

 We rode through some villages, 

and

rice paddies.  It was a great tour!  Highly recommend!

Later that afternoon, after the bike riders returned and we all cleaned up, we went down to Nusa Dua, to the Westin, for dinner.  Coincidentally, this is where we stayed spring break!  It was very nice.  We had a delicious dinner at the Ikan restaurant, overlooking the beach.

 After dinner, we saw the Devdan Show at Bali Nusa Dua Theater.  This show was soooo good!  It was all dance numbers, showcasing the culture and traditions of several parts of Indonesia, over several centuries.  At $70, this was not a cheap show.  But well worth it!

THURSDAY

My last two hours in Bali, before heading to the airport, were spent in the pool.  I hated to leave it!

SEE YOU NEXT TIME IN BALI

Not really.  Heading to Texas in a few days for the holidays!  Merry Christmas, y'all!

Bali Sunrise Tour

I just got back from an amazing four days in Bali!  I went with 11 other ladies for a fun-filled trip!  My other blog post will have more general information, but this blog post is specifically about the Sunrise Trek a few of us took.

When I say a few, I mean three!  We were picked up from our  Airbnb villa at 2:30 am.  No, that was not a typo.  2:30!!!  I had gotten a solid three hours of sleep, so I was halfway ready.  We drove for about an hour to the Bali Sunrise Trekking and Tours Restaurant.  When we got there, there was quite a crowd waiting to start.  It turns out they were there for the longer hike.  We were on the 'short and easy' hike sunrise hike. For more information, CLICK HERE.  We had a cup of coffee while waiting to start our hike.  

We drove a short distance to the beginning of the trail.  This is the famous 'supermoon' that lit our way.  Most of our hike was done in total darkness.  We were provided with flashlights and large water bottles.

It was a dark and steep climb. If you read the description of this hike in the above link, you will see this hike was described as an easy beginner hike.  Hmmmm, really?? Let me tell you, it felt like 45 minutes of a Stair Master machine, especially for a short woman.  We were able to take occasional breaks, but we were against the clock here.  We wanted to make it to the top before sunrise.  So, I don't want to discourage you, but you may not want to take young kids or your grandma.

As I was huffing and puffing up the mountain, this is what came to my mind.  See this sunrise?  The view from my very own living room!!!!  No waking up at 2:00 am or sweating necessary for this view.  But back to the hike....

This was our sunrise.  That is the ocean up there.  It was nice, but I didn't see what the fuss was about. 

Then we climbed further, and saw beauty in every direction.

No, this is not the beauty I was talking about! Leslie, our tour guide (whose name escapes me), Mona, and me.  That is a volcano behind us and glimpses of a village below.

While we were at the top of the mountain, the clouds rolled in and out.  We were provided a breakfast of tea or coffee, boiled eggs, bread, and fruit.

The path on the way down.

I really need to point out that I did not take all these pictures.  There was so much sharing, that I am not even sure which pictures were mine.  But I do know I didn't take this picture.  We climbed down the mountain to a different spot than we began.  

We took a short boat ride back to our car.  The beautiful scenery surrounded us!  

This was our boat.  It was a lovely way to end the hike.  It was definitely worth doing!!

After the hike, we had about an hour drive back to our villa.  Luckily, it was now daytime and we could enjoy our scenery.  Our driver was really good to stop and let us take pictures whenever we wanted.

There is a lot of food in this picture!  That is vegetables in the foreground.  In the water there were fish farms.  Beyond the water, more farms.

This tall decoration was in front of just about every home and business along the road.  It was for the celebration of the full moon festival.

These decorations were spectacular!  This is typical wedding decoration.

Close up view.  

We passed by some of the well-known terraced rice fields of Bali.

The people on the roads were also interesting!

We saw many, many women carrying loads on their heads, but not any other on a motorcycle!!

These women were heading to a festival.

Precious!

This is also very common.

We got back to the villa in time for lunch.  Then I just sat and watched the waves crash into the seawall at the edge of villa property.

As the tide came in twice a day, this is what happened.  Spectacular waves crashes.  It would actually shake the whole villa!  Which is why most of us didn't realize the earthquake that occurred during our stay was actually an earthquake!!  We just thought it was crashing waves!

The villa pool at night.

I just had to include this picture!  The day after we returned from Bali, four of us 'Bali Girls' attended the Latin Ball!  What fun!!