Introduction
ANA Business Class Chicago to Tokyo
United Club – Tokyo Narita
Thai Airways Business Class Tokyo to Bangkok
One Night in Bangkok
Thai Airways Business Class Bangkok to Bali
D’Wina Villa Kuta and Exploring Bali (Part 1)
Exploring Bali (Part 2)
Exploring Bali (Part 3)
Ethiopian Airlines Bangkok to Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine Lounge and Addis Ababa to Seychelles
Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Exploring the Seychelles (Part 1)
Exploring the Seychelles (Part 2)
Exploring the Seychelles (Part 3)
Ethiopian Airlines Seychelles to Addis Ababa and Back to the US
Upon arrival into Bali, immigration was rather chaotic. Indonesia has a Visa-On-Arrival process, which costs US$25 per person. The lines are rather long (and there are even longer lines if you have to use an ATM). It took about 20 minutes to reach the counter where we paid and received our Visas, and then about 20 minutes in line to reach the actual immigration counter with our passports and visas. By the time we cleared, our luggage was waiting on us, and we headed outside to find our hotel transportation. It was a bit of a zoo, with all the hotels/drivers awaiting their passengers:
Luckily, it didn’t take too long to find our driver for the D’Wina Villa Kuta:
Our driver helped load our luggage into a nice, air conditioned van, and we were off on our 15 minute ride from the airport to an area called Kuta. Bali technically is a province of Indonesia, encompassing the island of Bali, and a few small surrounding islands. The island of Bali itself isn’t tiny – it’s about 62 miles long (North to South) and 54 miles wide at its widest. The northern area is relatively mountainous, and most of the more popular areas are part of, or near, a peninsula in the south. There are dozens and dozens of places to stay, and I spent a lot of time researching the various options. Private villas, often with private pools, are very popular and I ended up deciding on a place called D’Wina Villain Kuta. The place was absolutely stunning. From the main walkway through the palms, we entered a locked gate that led into our private courtyard, with 2 lounge chairs and private pool. The pool had a small fountain, which could be turned on and off, and was a beautiful place to relax.
Directly off the pool were sliding doors with floor-to-ceiling glass that led to a living room and kitchen. The living room had plenty of seating, with a half bath. In the corner of the living room was a staircase that led up to a balcony overlooking the pool, and off the balcony was the master bedroom.
The hotel staff did a great job adding some nice touches to welcome us on our honeymoon:
There were 2 other bedrooms directly off the pool, and you could book the villa as a 1-, 2-, or 3-bedroom unit. Since we only needed 1 bedroom, the other 2 rooms were locked (nobody else could book the other bedrooms – the villa was private to just us regardless of how many rooms we booked).
After we checked in, we went for a swim…the pool was a little chilly, and didn’t have direct sun since it was almost 5:00, but it was still refreshing. We started to walk to find a SIM card for my phone so that we could navigate more easily with maps, but we quickly found that most areas of Bali are NOT conducive to walking. There aren’t many sidewalks, and we almost got hit by about a dozen mopeds during our 15 minute walk. Eventually, we found a shop selling the right SIM card, and found our way to the popular restaurant district in Kuta. Almost all restaurants are open-air, since the temperature in Bali rarely drops below 73 or is above 85. We settled on a tropical looking place called the Kopi Pot, which was absolutely delicious. My meal of beef and rice was served as skewers of seasoned steak that were still cooking over a miniature clay grill with charcoal inside. The entree was around $4.75 – I had heard that Bali was inexpensive, and this proved to be true:
After dinner, we were pretty exhausted, and after our near-catastrophic walk earlier, we opted to take a taxi back to the hotel. It was about 3 miles, about 7 minutes, and cost about $2. Once we realized how cheap taxis were, combined with how difficult walking was, we took taxis everywhere for the rest of our time in Bali. One morning, we had a taxi take us to a grocery store, wait while we bought food, then to a Starbucks, and then to a pharmacy to get sunscreen, and then back to the hotel…all for about $6.
On our next day, the first full day in Bali, we were still adjusting somewhat to the time zone, so we woke up around 6:00 am and watched the sunrise from our balcony:
We decided to tour around the southern part of the island a bit, checking out Geger (pronounced ger-ger) Beach in the southeast corner. We had a taxi pick us up, and the driver (Gusti) immediately began telling us stories about Bali. Gusti’s English was very good, and he seemed very genuinely interested in sharing about their island and culture. There was a lot of traffic heading to the southern beaches, and it took about half an hour to get there. The taxi fare was around $11 when we arrived….we told Gusti that we had also planned to go to another beach, Padang Padang, about 20 minutes west of Geger Beach, and he offered to be our private driver for the rest of the day, also recommending that we visit the famous cliffside Uluwatu Temple. After a little negotiating, we agreed that we’d pay him $35, which included the first trip from the hotel to Geger Beach. So we essentially hired Gusti for about 7 hours, about 40 miles of driving, all for $35!
Geger Beach was beautiful – the water was teal and calm, and the sand was soft and white. We rented 2 lounge chairs and umbrella for about $2. We ordered lunch and drinks right from our chairs. The views of mountains and sea-side temples were incredible:
We stayed at Geger Beach for about 2 hours, and Gusti just waited for us. After lunch, we walked back up to the parking lot, and there he was, ready to take us to our next stop. Padang Padang was a beach surrounded by rocks and cliffs, and we spent about an hour there:
After Padang Padang, we continued west for about 30 minutes on winding roads to Uluwatu Temple, listening to more of Gusti’s stories about the schools, government, children, and family life of Bali. At the entrance to Uluwatu, we were warned of the monkeys that will steal anything they can – cameras, sunglasses, etc. So we carefully guarded our possessions, and headed down the path leading to the temple:
When we reached the cliffs, they reminded us of the cliffs on the western coast of Ireland – naturally breathtaking. We couldn’t actually enter the sacred temple area, but we took lots of pictures walking all around:
On the way back to the hotel, Gusti offered to take us on a full-day private tour to see the sites in the northern part of Bali. Since we really liked how personable and informative he was, we took him up on his offer, and agreed to hire him for a full day on Friday for $55. There were many other tour companies advertised in the airport and hotel, and practically every taxi driver offered to be our private driver, but we really liked Gusti. After a long but enjoyable day, we ordered room service for dinner (about $14 for the two of us), and relaxed in our oasis of a villa.
Continue to Part 8: Exploring Bali (Part 2)