I flew with Garuda airlines from London Heathrow on December 27th at 6.30am, which meant that I needed to travel to the airport the evening of Boxing Day. I dropped off the van at my friend’s farm, got a taxi to Gatwick airport and then got the National Express coach to Heathrow arriving at 10.20pm. I was going to get a few hours sleep at the Holiday Inn Express before checking in at 4.30am. I am so glad I did this and I can recommend this hotel if you are flying early from T4 as you just have to walk a few minutes from the hotel over the skybridge straight into the terminal.
My flight time was going to be long as there was a scheduled change of plane at Amsterdam with a 2hr 37min stop and then an unscheduled stop at Medan in Indonesia which added an extra hour. So from check in at Heathrow to landing in Bali it was 24 hours but total travel duration was 28 hours. Not my longest journey ever, that was to the Maldives in 1987!
I was impressed that we got fed three times on the journey including free drinks (alcoholic if you wanted) and snacks. I also got a row of seats to myself after Medan as a lot of passengers disembarked, which gave me 3 hours to stretch out and sleep.
On arrival in Bali, having read someone else’s blog, I headed straight for the paid tourist visa, which had no queue at all. Everyone else was in the long free entry visa queue. I needed to pay for my entry visa as this is the only way you can extend your stay beyond 30 days unless you arrive with a 60 day visa, which I hadn’t been in the UK to organise. It was $35 but I was charged $38 (no idea why). It will cost around $60 to extend it for a further 30 days as I will use an agent, recommended by a friend, so I only have to go to the embassy once, which apparently takes around three hours to give your finger prints (again) and get your photo taken. I guess they have to do something for the money rather than just issuing another piece of paper. You can do it yourself for half the cost but I have read you have to visit the embassy three times and also may need a local sponsor. It just seems far easier to get an agent to do it. After getting the paid visa you get through passport control quickly as there is a separate queue, which was actually no queue.
I then went off to find my baggage, mine was one of the last but fortunately I had factored in an hour to get through customs for my taxi pickup so it was perfect timing. I love the ‘I am in Bali’ poster.
But then it was time to find my taxi driver. As I walked out into the searing heat I was confronted with probably 200 taxi drivers all holding up signs. None of the blogs I read prepared me for this. It did make me smile, I wish I had taken a photo. However, after walking up and down the long row several times looking for my name, my smile was beginning to twindle and I was starting to wonder if I would ever find my driver. I was saved a moment later when I received a Whatsapp message from him with his photo holding the sign. I was even more impressed that my phone actually worked without having to buy a local sim. I duly sent a selfie of myself back and within a few minutes he had located me. Phew, as by this time I was drenched in sweat. Wearing jeans was not such a good plan and the air con of the car was a blessed relief.
It was a 1.5 hour drive to Candidasa, which turned into more like 2 hours, due to the traffic congestion. I could not believe how many cars and scooters there were. It was worse than any city I have been in and I could smell the exhaust fumes in the car. It’s similar to Bankok, where you see whole families on a scooter or someone riding with a ladder! I’ve come to see that it is organised chaos here. Everyone knows what they are doing, it just looks like they don’t. As we headed to the east of Depensar into surburbia, the traffic lightened, which I was glad of as I was a little disturbed by the amount of time my taxi driver was looking at messages on his phone. With scooters weaving in and out of the traffic it seemed like he was dicing with trouble of knocking someone off. It was at that moment I decided that no way was I going to be going on a scooter whilst I was here.
Bali Palms resort is in Candidasa, 25km east of the main tourist resort of Kuta, so is a lot quieter and near to the mountains and padi fields with a view of the active volcano Mt. Agung. No smoke currently thankfully. I chose here as I did a timeshare exchange. Staying here would give me time to acclimatise to the weather and culture, before heading into the more populated chaotic commercialised Bali. It is a very nice resort, although a little tired, but it is clean and for me it is luxury. A big bed, with a walk in shower with hot running water and a flushable toilet. What more does a van girl need?! – Oh and a lovely swimming pool, which I often had all to myself.
Sadly the beach at the hotel is not very inspiring, black sand! However, there are a couple of close by golden sand beaches, one being the Blue Lagoon, which has a reef and is perfect for snorkelling. I did not go as I heard it was very busy, but I probably shouldn’t have let that put me off. I was told there was another close by beach called Paradise beach which is where the locals go and is much quieter. However, the view here is gorgeous.
I didn’t do much the first week as I arrived with a sore throat which developed into a head and chest cold. But there was no hurry to do anything so I spent my days lounging around the pool in the shade of the umbrella and dipping often in the pool to cool off. My most strenuous of activities was walking about 500m to the local shop to get provisions, which were very limited but they did have some microwaveable fresh pasta and indonesian noodle meals which were satisfactorily tasty. Even though it is really cheap to eat here, you can get a good meal for less than £5, that is still over my daily food budget allowance, so I only did that once every few days when my body was telling me I needed a good feed. I did also treat myself to the odd cocktail which were not so cheap.
So New Year’s Eve arrived and the resort was doing a BBQ with a live band, Balinese music and dance and of course fireworks. It was a fun evening and I’ve never seen so many fireworks going off at once. All along the beach front the locals and the various resorts were all letting off fireworks at the stroke of midnight. You could even see the fireworks from the island of Nusa Penida opposite. It was a true spectacle, although I recognise not good for the environment as the debris was now all in the ocean.
I managed to get through the New Year without shedding a tear. I wondered how it would be, being so far away from friends and family. It was probably perfect that I was starting the New Year on an island that feels full of kindness.
On Monday 6th January I was off on my first adventure, to Gili Meno for a couple of days. This is one of three small islands near the larger island of Lombok. I chose Gili Meno as it appeared to be the smallest and quietest of the three and I was not to be disappointed. There are no cars or scooters on this island, just horse and cart and bicycles. I am going to write a separate blog all about the journey and Gili Meno as it’s deserving of it’s own. I booked a beautiful lodge Rust Mimpi for £20 a night through booking.com and I even got a welcome drink of fresh mango juice. A magnificent breakfast of tea, fresh fruit and a choice of hot dishes, was also included. It was the perfect location, just a one minute walk from where you disembark from the transfer boat and set in amongst the palm trees.
But more on this beautiful island in my following blog.
My last day at Candidasa and I had booked Han for $50, a local tour guide to take me to Lempuyang temple, a 40 minute drive, and then on to my next stop over in Nesa Dua, but not before a visit to a waterfall, a small coffee plantation, a wood carving shop, an art gallery, a dying and weaving shop and finally a silver shop! It was an early 5.30am start to get to the temple for sunrise (which we actually missed as we got stuck behind a truck). But we did get there in time for me to be No. 47 in the queue for having my photo taken at the ‘Gates of Heaven’. Despite especially buying and wearing my own sarong they insisted I hire one of theirs for 10,000 rupiah and you also have to pay a donation of between 10,000 and 30,000 rupiah. 10,000 rupiah is equivalent to £0.56p, no money in the scheme of things but practically everywhere you go in Bali you have to pay. They have commercialised the beauty spots like the water falls and temples, which takes away from their beauty. I really wish I had come years ago before tourism arrived. However, I am going to be heading to the far north where it is less commercial.
It is true there is no pool of water in front of the temple gates here. It is a simple trick using a mirror but looks very effective. Below is a photo of how it really is. Only Balinese people are allowed to enter the actual temple for prayer, which is a little disappointing but completely understandable.
Beautiful view of the padi fields on the way back down the mountain.
Onwards to the coffee tasting at Karangasem – Ababi. This Asian palm civet is nocturnal and one of the coffees, Luwak, consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the civet. Sounds disgusting but actually tastes great. It is one of the most expensive coffees of the world. I was assured that the civet was allowed out of its cage at night to climb the trees to eat the premium berries. Whether this is true or not I don’t know. I didn’t buy any of the coffee as I am not a big coffee drinker and ethically didn’t like the idea of these animals being caged, so bought some ginger tea instead. The charming owner appeared disappointed as of course they want you to spend as much as possible.
Next stop a waterfall at Blangsinga. This was 20,000 rupiah but another 20,000 if you wanted to swing and swim. I would have loved to have a swim as I was now feeling wet from all the perspiration of being in 32 degrees of humid heat, but my bikini was packed in my suitcase. I did however, stand close and take advantage of the cooling spray. Everywhere you go in Bali there are swings and hearts, perfect, except for the fact that you have to pay to have a picture taken. I think you are beginning to get the picture, ha ha.
Onwards to the creative area of Bali, wood carving at Kemenuh villages. It is supposed to be a tour of how the wood is carved but that took all of two minutes and then its straight into the shop, of course. I did buy a small something here for a friend but I’m sure I got ripped off by the cheeky owner on the price even though I haggled, I’m not very good at it. I was given a free gift of the hanging monkey and a bottle of water, so definitely was taken advantage of! The tours at the painting studio at Batuan villages, the silver smiths at Celuk villages and the batik collection at Batu Bulan followed similar lines of a very quick ‘this is how we do it’ and then into the shop. I managed to say no to buying anything at all these places apart from the silver smiths, where I have to say I felt a little intimidated by all the sales girls trying to sell me something. There was some nice jewellery but I can’t afford to be frivolous. I don’t mind this in the slightest but it’s still hard for me to say no, to disappoint I guess.
So that about wraps up my first two weeks. Before I sign off I have to say that I have not fallen in love with Bali, as yet, as I thought I would. I think it’s because of how commercialised it is and how much traffic there is here. I am a girl of tranquility and nature. I did really love Gili Meno though so maybe I should have gone to Lombok instead of Bali. However, I am keeping an open mind and I have still only seen two areas of Bali, still much more to experience. I am heading to Uluwatu, to stay with a friend where there is a beautiful Temple, and then on to Ubud to meet up with another friend and then north to Munduk to the jungle.
I do love the people though, they are so warm and kind and always have a smile for you. They take time and care in all they do. They don’t rush. They work hard. They do even the most mundane tasks, with pride and dedication. They cannot do enough for you and although they want your money I do believe it is in their religion and culture that makes them the people they are.
I have been learning a little about the Hindu religion and about the offerings that are made daily and put outside the front of their houses and in the small temples that most people seem to have. It is sometimes hard to navigate the streets without stepping on one.
The offerings are a sacred form of gratitude for what is and a wish for peace and abundance in the world. They are a representation of the Balinese people’s devotion to their (Hindu) gods, but at the core, these offerings are so much more. The time and effort taken to prepare the canang sari offerings honor a daily ritual of self-sacrifice, a spirit of thankfulness, and a significant attention to detail. The creation of these modest offerings model the generosity, faith, and devotion that exists in the hearts and souls of the Balinese people. These values translate into everything they do and everything they are.
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What an interesting update of your travels Suzi…. Thankyou for sharing them with me. I wish you peace and solitude in your Balinese journey.
Chris.
Thank you for reading them and I am glad you found them interesting, and thank you for your good wishes and continued support
Amazing… you really are going for it Suzi… we all miss you but so excited by your adventures… I feel like I am there with you. Happy New Year Suzi. Love Gee
Hi Gee, thank you for letting me know you are following along. I miss you too. Happy New Year, and see you in the not too distant future I hope xx
Hi Suzi, beautifully written. Glad we had the pleasure of meeting you. Makes following your travels more in tune. You’ve got some beautiful photos and great memories. 😘
Hey, thanks Lee. It was great to meet you too. Next Bali blog will be coming soon x
Hi Suzi, brings back memories for us when we used to be there..David & Di
Memories are so beautiful x