I never knew much about Bali, except for that it’s beautiful and everyone was going.
After 8 beautiful, exciting, and relaxing days in Phuket, I boarded an early morning flight to Bali. I had about a 5 hour layover in Singapore and even though I didn’t leave the airport, it felt so good to be back in Singapore! I think it’s one of my favorite countries I’ve been to… But I say that about every country I’ve been to.
Unfortunately to get the best deal on airfare, my time in Bali was only 4 days. The smart and logical thing to do would have been to stay in one hotel for those 4 days and drive around to the other places. But after doing research and reading up on uber (which is illegal apparently) and the distance of everything, I thought it would have been cheaper to stay in a different hotel each night that was close to what I wanted to do. Long story short, it wasn’t cheaper.
My trip started in Ubud. It was the furthest north I wanted to go and really the most out of the way from everything else. I had ordered a car from the hotel to pick me up from the airport and drive me to the hotel and I ended up hiring the guy to drive me around the next day! Sounds fancy but apparently it’s the thing to do there.
My driver took me to all the tourist places. The Tegallalang Rice Terraces which is where you can try the most expensive coffee in the world. My tour guide called it a “cat poo chino” since it comes from the poop of a cat like looking animal. This terrace is also where you see the pictures of people on the giant swing and all these different poses. The down side, you have to pay to enter this area. I think it was like $15 to enter and to get to take your picture taken. Of course I paid.. mostly because I didn’t know what I was getting into (mistake number 1.. oops!). But I don’t regret paying. I got some nice pictures out of it.
I also went to the monkey forest. Which turns out, is a religious temple ground, complex thing. It just so happens that there are a crap ton of monkeys. Careful though, apparently they are threatened by eye contact and will attack you if they feel threatened. But they’re so cute!
Bali was/is a destination that everyone flocks to. Maybe because there are pictures all over instagram that in my mind I thought it was going to be this amazing, beautiful, and peaceful place.
Honestly, was Bali worth the hype? Not really. Would I go back? I don’t know. But I’m happy I went! I did meet some nice people out there and it was nice to have some time to myself to be honest.
