Bali is a special place
After spending a week at the Bliss Sanctuary for Women's yoga & wellness retreat, Brian joined me in Bali for 10 more days. Brian's been working extremely hard between running his global business Nearshore Systems early in the morning or late at night to match his team's times in Argentina, California, and Shanghai, as well as wrapping up his MBA at UCLA and NUS. You may only see photos of site seeing and fun stuff that we do while traveling on Facebook, but behind the scenes Brian works very hard. I'm glad that he got to finally relax a bit in beautiful Bali.
Brian and I stayed at Kubu Cempaka Villa found on AirBNB. For the equivalent of $40 a night, you get a full service villa that provides breakfast every day and Balinese traditional dance and music night weekly. The villa was tucked away on a quiet street only minutes away from Seminyak Beach, restaurants, shops, and nightlife. We spent a lot of time at the infinity edge pool overlooking the gardens.
Kubu Cempaka Villa in Seminyak
Kubu Cempaka breakfast daily overlooking the gardens
Bali is a beautiful island in South East Indonesia, known for their volcanos, lakes, rice terraces, and Hindu temples.
The local Balinese are kind, gracious, and peaceful people. They are soft spoken and smile often. You will seldom see a Balinese person lose their temper or raise their voice. 90% of Balinese are people of Hindu faith, as opposed to other parts of Indonesia that have a Muslim majority.
Ironically nearly 14 years ago Bali was the site of terrorist bombings at nightclubs by Al Qaeda affiliates that killed 202 people and injured another 209 people. Mostly Australian tourists died that night. 3 years later, another bombing went off in a shopping square that killed 20 more people. Because of the history of Bali terrorist bombings as well as throughout Indonesia, security is taken very seriously in Bali. Everywhere you go whether it's a restaurant, shop, hotel, cocktail bar, or nightclub, there are security guards and metal detectors that screen and pat you down. While it's sad that the world has come down to this where even in a paradise like Bali there is high security, it also makes you feel safe as a tourist.
I would describe our time in Bali in 4 parts:
1. Seminyak Sunsets
It's a known fact that Bali beaches aren't known for being the prettiest because of the volcanic black sand. Sadly many of their beaches are heavily polluted. But they have killer sunsets! Some of the prettiest sunsets I've ever seen.
Seminyak Double Six Beach sunset
Another Seminyak Double Six Beach sunset
Sunset cocktails at the W Hotel Seminyak, our favorite place to watch sunsets
The W Hotel has a live DJ that spins every evening at sundown
2. Bintang Beers & Beanbag Chairs
Drinking a Bintang beer while watching the beautiful sunset on colorful beanbag chairs was one of my favorite things to do in Bali. Every evening there are thousands of beanbag chairs sprawled out for tourists and locals to grab a few drinks and bites while watching the sunset.
3. Balinese culture
Bali is the perfect island to visit if you want culture and beaches. There were so many jaw-dropping sites and views that I will forever cherish in my memory: volcanos and lakes, UNESCO world heritage site temples and rice terraces, and even the daily sites of local Balinese people giving their Hindu offerings to their Gods.
Kintamani Village overlooking a lake between 2 active volcanos.
Ulun Danu Temple, a lakeside temple and UNESCO World Heritage site
Taman Ayu Royal Temple
Taman Ayu Royal Temple
Jatiluweh Rice Terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage site
Tagalalang Rice Terraces in Ubud
Tirta Empul Holy Springs in Ubud
Tirta Empul Koi Pond, Ubud
Hindu prayers at Tirta Empul, Ubud
This monkey was laughing at something! I wonder what?
Angsri Hot Springs
Hindu offerings to the Gods.
4. Balinese Cuisine
Balinese food is tasty. I had the honor of taking a Balinese cooking class and learned some of my favorite dishes including Nasi Goreng (fried rice); Gado Gado (spinach green bean tofu Tempe salad with peanut sauce); Fish and Chicken Sate (different from Satay), Pepes Ikan (steamed fish wrapped in banana leaves) and desserts Dadar Gulung (coconut pancakes) and Burbur Injin (black coconut rice.)
Bali will always be a special place for us.