Six Days in Bali: Ubud and Nusa Penida
It’s been 6 days since we left New Zealand to begin the “vacation part” of our vacation as Grady keeps calling it. Yet somehow we still managed to rack up 53 km of walking during that time… whoops!
It all started in Sydney where we intentionally booked a long layover to allow us to explore some of the city. We took the train to Circular Quay by the Harbor and had flat white coffees in the business district. They’re a somewhat unique variation of lattes made famous in New Zealand and Australia so we figured it might be our last chance to enjoy one this trip! We landed at 7:30 am and were fortunate that there weren’t many people in the harbor area other than people commuting to work.
We walked around the Rocks to get views of the Harbor Bridge and made our way over to the Opera House. We walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair lookout which had stunning views of the city and harbor.
From there we kept racking up the kilometers by walking to St. Mary’s Cathedral and Hyde Park. By this point, the heat and humidity were really getting to us so we took a quick stop in the State Library of New South Wales. The architecture of the building was stunning, but what drew us in was a photography exhibition showcasing 400 photos - one from each year from the 1600s to now. It was really cool to see. We had Açaí bowls in the outdoor Pitt Street Mall and made it back to the airport, 12 kms later!
It was a perfect quick tour of Sydney before our flight to Bali. People asked us if if was our first trip to Bali and not only was it our first trip to Bali, but to Indonesia, and Asia as a whole! While it was planned to be a little beach getaway before more hiking, we were most excited to hopefully see and experience the culture along the way.
Turns out, Denpassar (city where the airport is in Bali) is pronounced “den-PA-suh” which was very different from our previous pronunciation attempts of “DEN-pa-sar, “DES-pen-sar”, and “de-PAN-a-sar”. We were really glad that was corrected by the airline in the Sydney airport before we butchered the name upon arrival. Our arrival and first impression of Bali was chaotic and we loved every second of it. Once we had cleared immigration and collected our bags, we snaked through the longest route out of the airport past dozens of people selling sim cards and even more taxi drivers. We had arranged a driver to pick us up through our hotel, but everyone yelling “hey, hey taxi!” was fun and enlightening to the chaos to come.
The streets are wild, even in the populated areas, because there’s limited traffic signals and tons of cars and motorbikes constantly passing in the other lane. The motor bikes narrowly swerve to avoid oncoming traffic as if it’s just a normal day driving. The crowds at the local warungs (local, casual food spots) were spilling out into the streets adding another element to the mix. We stayed the first night in Seminyak, which is a fun beach club type area, so a lot was going on when we arrived around 9:30 pm. Our hotel greeted us as Ms. Allison and Mr. Thomas, mistaking Grady’s name, but we just rolled with it. The mixup became even funnier when we stayed at this hotel again on our last night in Bali before our flight to Kathmandu.
We were so happy to wake up to sunny views of the ocean because it felt like our Bali trip had truly begun. The first part of our Bali adventure had us heading up to Ubud for a few days. Ubud is more of a jungle paradise and a cultural hub in Bali. On our drive we were amazed by how consistent the developed villages and shops were. We thought we’d go through more undeveloped areas of jungle or farmland on the hour and a half drive, but it was pretty consistently developed. A highlight of the drive was seeing all of the temples and decor from the recent Galugan celebrations. The tradition is to make Penior poles of bamboo that are adorned with coconut leaves, fruit, and flowers. They tower high above the roads and create this beautiful display that symbolizes prosperity and the bounty of the Earth. We really appreciated that our driver was open and sharing of the cultural and religious practices so that we could learn more about the communal spirit of Balinese Hinduism.
We drove through some artisan and craftsman areas where they make a bunch of the beautiful products we later saw in the art markets. As soon as we left Denpasar, we noticed that fuel was only sold in water bottles or Absolut bottles on shelves on the side of the road - simply labeled “petrol”. It’s hard not to appreciate the simplicity of it. There were even other spots where the petrol was in what looked like lab beakers and you could drain some of it out into your own little gasoline potion.
Arriving into Ubud was far more crowded than we expected, but apparently it wasn’t actually very busy because it’s not the high season yet. I know we couldn’t live in the chaos of it all, but seeing it and being a part of it for a few days was so fun. There were no traffic lights, no stop signs, and the center line of traffic is treated more like a suggestion. Sometimes there are impasses, but somehow it just works.
Our hotel in Ubud was a little jungle oasis. The views from the pool were incredible, even with the hazy skies. On our last morning, we were lucky to see glimpses of the big volcanoes looming in the distance. The pool music was a vibe too. They played slow, acoustic covers of upbeat songs by Queen, Katy Perry, and a bunch of others. It was relaxing and honestly, great pool music, but so funny when you listened closely. Needless to say, we were disappointed when they omitted the Snoop Dogg lyrics from California Girls. The slow, acoustic rendition of that would’ve been something!
We stayed on one of the streets right off of the center of Ubud, which was great because we could walk everywhere. That’s what led to all of the km’s! Our first stop was the Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. We were both excited about the idea of seeing monkeys, but thought it’d be pretty touristy. It far exceeded our expectations and is absolutely worth the hype. First of all, monkeys are adorable. They might be my second favorite animal behind Keas - and similarly, they like to steal things from people! We took off all our hats, earrings, and jewelry to try and disincentivize them and it worked. Just like how we tried to keep all of our gear packed up to deter the Keas in New Zealand!
We saw the monkeys eating, fighting, cleaning each others furs, and just hanging out. They had remarkably human-like features and mannerisms. One of the best exhibits of that was when one monkey was trying to crack a nut and was pounding it and scraping it along the ground with his hands to try and get it to crack. Relatable! The monkeys here grow up to 25 pounds and we saw babies, young monkeys, and mature adult monkeys. It was really cute when the babies were being carried around by the momma monkeys.
One of the things we didn’t expect with the monkey forest was how beautiful the setting would be. We were a bit worried it’d be more like a zoo, but it was a bunch of open space in these beautiful temples and sacred grounds. The high tree canopy and huge trees made walking the grounds alone a really great experience - let alone the 1000+ monkeys running around! When we left the Monkey Forest we couldn’t believe that the monkeys were in all of the surrounding areas too. They were climbing on the telephone wires and running in the streets. It’s cool how when you ask someone from Bali what animals they have in the jungle they just list off monkeys so nonchalantly because they’re so ever-present.
The next day, we went to the Campuhan Ridge for an early morning walk. It was beautiful seeing the rice fields, villages, and the lush green forest! We were also amazed when we saw how rice grows in the ground. It’s cool seeing how they plant the rice in low-laying, wet areas so it can grow independently of rainfall. There was a ton of new development in this area and they were framing the houses and hotels with bamboo. Grady was analyzing the choice and determined it was a great strength to weight ratio for loading in compression. We’ve noticed most people here wear flip flops or are bare foot and we couldn’t believe that was the same at the construction sites. The guys framing the buildings were barefoot!
After a quick stop back at our hotel for breakfast, we re-traced our steps back into town to visit the Ubud Art Market. We visited some of the temples and were so impressed by the intricate art and sculptures.
The Art Market was full of vendors with tiny little pop up tent shops with merchandise spilling into the streets. The expectation here is to negotiate prices, which made shopping so much more fun! The funniest things they said to lure us into their shops were, “Special price for you big boss!” to Grady, and when I’d say “Oh no thank you, we’re just looking” they’d say “Come lady, just take a look. Just looking? Look here!” We saw a few things we liked so we ventured into those shops. If the asking price sounded really high, we’d often say that the price sounded a little high and we were going to look around since many shops carried similar locally-made merchandise. They’d quickly say, “What price do you want?” Some even said, “Just negotiate down slowly”. The expectation for that type of negotiating was wild, but it felt good buying from these people because they seemed genuinely excited each time they sold an item. Plus, it was the same set of items we saw being made in the craftsman / artisan neighborhoods! We were so excited to find things for ourselves, for our home, and gifts for family.
The only thing we wish we could have bought was a dining room table or coffee table, but there was no way we could’ve transported that home. They had these incredible, solid wood tables with live edges that were just gorgeous. Our driver told us the wood comes from Borneo, but it’s all crafted here in Balinese style.
We wrapped up our time in Ubud with one of the best dinners we’ve ever had together. The reviews drew us in with comments about “Michelin star quality food”, “creative, passionate chef with highest quality ingredients”, and “a fraction of the price of comparable European or US restaurants”. There were several reviews noting that multiple dishes they ordered were some of the best food they’d eaten. We felt like we had to go.
The reviews were right! Everything was amazing. We ordered soba noodles with lobster, pork belly, duck breast, and the “lava chicken pieces” that were charcoal fired with the sauce inside the coating. They were out of this world good. The menu offers a cocktail pairing where you can get a cocktail that perfectly pairs with your entree - it was a really cool concept. We loved the atmosphere and couldn’t believe how quiet and intimate the vibe of the restaurant was even though it sits right in the midst of the loud chaos of central Ubud. We’d go back in a heartbeat!
The next part of our journey took us to Nusa Penida. Nusa Penida is a small island of about 40,000 people. It’s less developed and more of a native jungle. We boarded our boat at the brand new Sanur harbor. There was no safety briefing on the boat like, “this is your captain speaking, life vests are located under the seats” - it felt like a fend for yourself situation. There were packets of laundry detergent hanging from the ceiling as air fresheners so the boat smelled lovely. When we got off the boat in Nusa Penida they didn’t tighten the ropes to the docks so the boat just kept banging into it. This made getting off the boat a bit more challenging because they set up a gangplank where people were holding a plank from both sides - likely sturdy enough when stationary, but on a rocking boat was a whole new challenge. From the gangplank we stepped onto a Bintang beer box as the step stool to the dock and we’d made it to Nusa Penida. It might have been hot and crowded, but the vibes on the dock were immaculate. When we arrived to Nusa Penida they were blasting Hips Don’t Lie and when we left a few days later, they played a whole mix of Eminem, Miami by Will Smith, and Temperature by Sean Paul. It’s funny how the music is so universal even though all the lyrics are in English. We were loving it and so was everyone else.
Our driver met us at the port and we saw immediately how difficult it is to drive around Nusa Penida. The roads are 1 lane wide, but with 2 way traffic. The entrance to the port was parked full and people were moving each other’s cars to try and get by. We waited for about 30 minutes before there was a narrow path we could use to exit. Honestly the delay was kind of fun watching the chaos of creating the exit path and the super young local kids riding motorbikes around.
There are no traffic signals or apparent driving restrictions on Nusa Penida, but it seems like locals have their own code to honk for right of way. They’d honk to let a motorbike know they were passing, honk to give right of way, and honk to alert oncoming traffic as they entered a blind curve. Lots of honking, but it seemed to work! There were tons of dogs running freely on the island, but the cutest thing was the dogs riding on the scooters at the driver’s feet.
The road to our hotel was a bumpy, hilly, one lane road - not terribly different than the rest of the island. It led us to this little paradise of a hotel with only 8 bungalows and a gorgeous pool where we posted up for the rest of the evening.
Nusa Penida has some incredibly picturesque, famous beaches so we planned to go see a bunch of those the next day. Our first stop was Kelingking Beach and it was just as spectacular as we’d seen in photos. It’s colloquially called T-Rex beach and it’s easy to see why! We were most amazed by the bright colors of the water and sand. There were even some monkeys that joined us in soaking in the views of Kelingking!
From there we went to Thousand Islands Viewpoint and we couldn’t believe that the water color was even MORE blue than Kelingking Beach.
To get to the Thousand Islands Viewpoint you have to walk down a bunch of stairs. On our way down we heard a guy coming up say to his friend between exhausted breaths, “We’ve gotta stop smoking!” The steep stairs were definitely not easy in this heat.
Our journey continued to Diamond Beach where we were blown away by the beauty of the beach and the stairs that were carved into the sheer rock face. It was super impressive.
The surf is too rough to swim at Diamond Beach so we instead ventured over to neighboring Atuh Beach. We were fortunate to get to see the ending of a religious ceremony at the neighboring temple as we descended the stairs to the beach. It was 33C (91F) and felt like 100% humidity so we were really glad to be able to finally swim!
That night we went to a local restaurant Amok Sunset for sunset - which felt right given the name! We loved the architecture of the buildings here and many of the other places we’ve eaten and stayed in Bali. The cool, unique shaped roofs were beautiful and it seems like they source a ton of local materials for building. There were great views of Mt. Agung, the biggest volcano in Bali, and views from all around the restaurant.
Plus, the sunset just wouldn’t quit! It kept getting better and better and I think we had nearly a full hour of color. I was a bit concerned about mosquitos because of the more likely dengue fever and far less likely malaria possibilities. I brought bug spray everywhere and used it each night, but only saw 2 mosquitos total - both this night at Amok Sunset. Grady doesn’t even believe I saw them, but regardless - I think we’re safe!
The next morning we racked up some more kms by walking down to Crystal Bay Beach. We thought it’d be a quicker walk, but it was nearly straight downhill to get there and straight uphill to come back. In hindsight, we wish we had rented a motorbike from the hotel! The owner of our hotel recommended a “secret” local beach that was a 10 min walk from Crystal Bay. It was a bit longer than that and straight up and down stairs again, but it was beautiful and we were one of only two groups there.
When we got back to Bali it was pouring down rain. We stayed in Seminyak again and had made a reservation at a local beach club to see a little bit of that scene while we were here too. We walked the 2 minutes there from our hotel in the pouring rain and flooded streets, but soon after we arrived it cleared. It ended up being a beautiful evening and the DJ was playing amazing music so we totally lucked out.
The people of Bali were so friendly everywhere we went. When we arrived back to our hotel in Seminyak they warmly welcomed us back as Ms. Allison and Mr. Thomas, greeting us by name at the door. We also loved the Indonesian cuisine. For almost every one of our meals we ordered from the local section of the menu and loved the Nasi Goreng and Ayam Betutu. Bintang beer quickly became a favorite too. We even (accidentally) tried Balinese coffee which is a very strong coffee where the grounds are left in the cup. It was actually pretty good! The only sad thing was that Grady finally had to say goodbye to his “side of the road” shoes. Several winters ago, our truck slid off the road in an icy storm. One of those shoes got deeply buried in the snow along the highway when we were trying to dig the truck out. We stopped at that spot in the summer to see if the shoe was there, and it was (see photo below)! He’s had those shoes for 10+ years so it was a tough goodbye in Bali! Not a bad place to take their final steps…
We loved our time in Bali. The culture was so cool to experience, the sights were beautiful, and the people so friendly and welcoming. We hope to come back!
From Bali, we flew through Singapore to get to Kathmandu. We didn’t have enough time to leave the airport, but we spent our layover “sight seeing” in the Singapore airport. We went to the butterfly garden, enchanted garden, and the sunflower garden. We were blown away by the robot bartenders and baristas too. We took the airport tram through the Jewel Complex where the waterfall, jungle gardens, amazing restaurants, and hiking trails are for a quick sneak peak. The Jewel Complex in the airport is public and requires you to leave/renter security, so we plan to see it when we come back through Singapore after Nepal. For now, we’re off to Nepal to trek for the next 17 days! We’ll share more soon.
