Indonesia!!

After a long travel day, we landed in Bali around 10:30 pm, which to us was about 2:30AM in NZ. We had arranged for an airport pick-up with our hotel since it was going to be so late and when we came out of customs it was absolute mayhem. At least 100 people had signs for airport pickups and after much searching, we couldn’t find our driver or contact our hotel. Luckily, since Will had been to Asia before, he had their version of Uber installed on his phone. We used that to call our car and we safely made it to the hotel after a long day. Woke up the next day and got officially checked into the hotel which turns out was connected to a surf camp and restaurant. After grabbing a late breakfast and spending some time by the pool, we decided to venture out to the Uluwatu Temple. Our hotel was a little more secluded than we had expected and it was a journey to get there but it allowed us to see a good bit of Bali from the car. We arrived at the temple and had to put a sarong on to cover up our legs and then we explored the grounds.

While the temple was on the smaller side, it was on a cliff side and had incredible views. They also offered a show called the Kecak Fire Dance that we had bought tickets to see. The show didn’t start until 7 so we wandered every corner of the temple. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the temple was the monkeys. These monkeys were savages- on multiple occasions, we saw them quickly grab for sunglasses and hats RIGHT OFF PEOPLES HEADS! It’s safe to say I was terrified of them and they were everywhere you looked. Luckily- we both held on to our things.

Eventually, it was time for the performance and they piled us into an auditorium that overlooked a circular stage. The performance was about 45 minutes and started with about 70 men chanting. We assumed that was just the start of the show, but they chanted throughout the entire performance which was so impressive. (There is a video in the Google photos) While they chanted, a couple of other actors (?) Played out scenes from an old religious tale of a wife being taken and a white monkey saving the day. I wish I could explain it better but it’s something you just have to see! They did a great job engaging the audience and we were so glad we went to see it. The next day we took advantage of the hotel amenities and enjoyed more pool time then decided to venture out to the nearby beach. Pandawa Beach was actually recommended by my mom via Instagram and we just so happened to be right next to it. The road to the beach is between two very tall rock walls which had been split through by the Kutuh Society over a decade. Definitely a tourist attraction with lots of people stopping to take photos, but we enjoyed walking through it.

The road led us to the beach which you have to kind of hike down to and the actual beach was pretty small, but the water was so clear and felt great. We walked back and the heat was definitely getting to us (we might be from GA but we hadn’t felt this kind of humidity in over a month.) Luckily our room came with a little plunge pool so we took a dunk in that to cool us down. The restaurant attached to our hotel had a BBQ later that night so we partook in the food and the company. There were a good amount of young people staying at our hotel/surf camp and a lot of them seemed to be solo travelers. We enjoyed meeting a few of them at the BBQ and hearing about what brought them to Bali. Somehow the first 2 days flew by and the next day it was time to check out and head to our second stop in Indonesia.

We drove about an hour to the Sanur Port and grabbed a ferry to Nusa Lembongan, an island located just southeast of Bali. It is part of a set of 3 islands called the Nusa Islands. The ferry ride was about 45 mins across the Indian Ocean and then we walked about 20 minutes to our hotel. Once we got situated, we walked to Devil’s Tear, a popular sunset spot on the island to take in the views. There are many blow hole locations and massive waves crashing up against the cliffs. After a great sunset, we walked to grab a yummy dinner. We could already tell the pace of this island was much slower than the chaos of Bali which we liked. The next day we decided the best way to see the island was by motorbike. We had a healthy amount of nervousness around this because of a previous accident Will had on a motorbike in Vietnam, however, we realized there were very few people on the island which meant fewer drivers so we rented a motorbike for two days. I, being the driver of the duo, was behind the wheel and we explored every corner of the island. It’s only about 4 miles long so it wasn’t too tricky. We made stops at Mangrove Point, Seaweed Farming, Beaches, and Lookouts and it was so easy to just park on the side of the road. There is a yellow bridge that connects Nusa Lembongan to the middle Nusa island called Nusa Cennigan. The bridge is only wide enough for motorbikes or pedestrians to get across so we took the bike over it, which I would say was the most terrifying part of driving. We might need to call in our civil engineering friends because the bridge felt like it was buckling under us which made it even worse when we had to cross back over it to Nusa Lembongan.

Nusa Cennigan had beaches, blowholes, and we got to see some really good surfers do their thing. We headed back to the hotel for some pool time, grabbed dinner, and then went back to Devil's Tear for sunset. We decided to do the motorbike the next day to shop, have food by the beach, and see more sites. And for the 3rd night in a row, we went to Devil's Tear- seriously it was great! This is going to sound so cheesy but I really love watching the sunset and feeling like we're sending the sun over to our loved ones in America for them to kick off the day! We left Nusa Lembongan today and headed back for the big island of Bali. We have enjoyed this stage in our trip for the healthy mix of site seeing and relaxing by the pool/beach.