After my one week traveling through Ubud and more "mainland" Bali, it came time to hit the beach! Then came the oh-so-tough decision making of "which beach?" So EVERYONE I had met in my travels and even in Bali said, "don't go to Kuta or Legian, it's busy, dirty, and ALL Aussies." BUT on the other hand, why is everyone talking about it? So then it became one of those scenarios where the more people said NOT to do it, I wanted to at least check it out and see what all the fuss was about. Actually, gasp, I even decided that it is not even picture worthy to post pictures of it (and picture uploading is time consuming as it is!). Yes, you read correctly.
Well, note to self, listen to what other people advise. Yes, I decided to go to the more "low key" Legian, to find it hectic, loud, busy, and dirty. The beach was just gross, and I saw absolutely NO appeal to it whatsoever. The 1st afternoon I came, I quickly rushed to meet a travel friend for dinner in Kuta, where we both equally bashed both of those places. I was relatively free and had open plans, and as luck would have it, it was relatively cloudy my only full day there, so I pretty much spent it catching up on internet and other stuff. The next day I was off and running to the Bukhit peninsula, supposedly where the "nice" beaches were. And yes, that travel advice was once again accurate. If I were to advise anyone to go to Bali, I would DEFINITELY say to go here. The area is full of cliffs, with little nests of beach in between... and what you imagine Bali to be like, clear turquoise water, white sand. I randomly chose Padang Padang beach, and although small, it was gorgeous.
And of course later I find out that this is where they filmed some scenes in "Eat, Prey, Love," the scene where Julia Roberts comes running down to catch the boat with her new Brazilian boyfriend. Now comes Ellen who practically trips down the steep stairs and lands face first on some locals trying to sell some sarongs. NOT as romantic.
Anyhoo, after exploring the famous UnuWatu Temple, which was built perched on a cliff and is absolutely stunning,
I somehow again avoided some close-encounters with monkeys. When I got there, I waited for about 10 minutes until some other tourists came "for protection." Luckily, a Chinese couple thought it was entertaining and let me join them. Unfortunately, they literally walked through the entire Temple in about 5 minutes. Feeling unfulfilled, I waited until another big group of course Chinese tourists (hello Chinese New Year!), and snuck in between them while we made our way through the monkey area, where I witnessed those darn things snatching sunglasses and other random objects. Then it was funny because as I was staring out into the ocean enjoying the spectacular views, I hear the sounds of repeated camera clicking near me. Not to be stereotypical, but as I was amongst literally dozens of Chinese tourists, I didn't think anything of it. Then I feel a tap on my shoulder and hear, "ALO! I am from China!!! Can I take your picture?!?!?" Literally, exclamation points are not an exaggeration. As I have been to China and after travel in India, this isn't too strange to me, but before I could even smile, I heard what seemed like hundreds of pictures being taken by the whole group, with the man happily posed with me. All the clicks I was hearing was of me. Ahh.... now I can imagine what it is like to be famous... and can't imagine all the random pictures I am in.
Although I have my monkey fear, I thought these were hi-larious:
But anyway, back at the Bukhit peninsula, I spent the next couple of days doing the all-so-tiring task of beach hopping. Oh yes, I know, life is hard. Luckily I found a traveler with a motorbike, and off we went whisking ourselves to the lovely compounds of InterContinental Hotel (pretending to be rich) at Jimberan Beach,
then Dreamland Beach,
and then capping off for a "sunset" (it was cloudy, darn it) at UnuWatu's surfers point for some Gintang beers. Nice.
Then it happened that a travel friend that I had met the weekend before in Legian was also going to Nusa Lembongan,
so we decided to venture there together. Which, again, traveling with someone else is much much cheaper, so I was super lucky that Kim had the same ideas as me and that she is really fun. After settling in the 1st night, aka. lounging by the infinity pool and laying out on the beach, the next day we decided to actually move and rented "push" bikes, as they call them here, and cycled ALL around the island. Okay fine, "ALL" around the island is all of 15k's, but still, a lot of exercise for someone that has been getting out of breath climbing stairs, he he. In the blazing heat, we cycled through some small village towns,
and saw some seaweed action (Bali is a big exporter of seaweed for cosmetic and medicinal purposes),
and of course, more beaches. We crossed the famous bridge that connects Nusa Lembongan with Nusa Ceningan,
where you literally have to go 1-2 push-bikes, motorcycles at a time and then during our ride ended up at this place called Scallywags at Sandy's Beach, which was fab-u-lous! Beautiful beach with an infinity pool (I have a new obsession with infinity pools!),
great food, and great vibe. We barely got ourselves to leave, and as we already had unintentionally passed the famous Dream Beach, we went to Mushroom Bay,
which despite a treacherous descent to get there, it was a gorgeous little nook of a beach tucked between cliffs. Again, gorgeous white sand and crystal clear water. LOVE IT!
Needless to say, we were pooped after that! it literally was a triathlon, cycle, swim, and .... walk :-) Glad we could relax over some beers and see a nice sunset.
Continuing the weekend of activity, we ended up going snorkeling with... no joke, GIGANTIC and massive mantarays. It was probably the coolest thing I ever seen! Long gone are my days of marine biology, but I just did not realize how BIG mantarays could be. And they were literally swimming just meters from us, and there were several. It was sooooo soooooo cool!!!! A seemingly not-so-reliable Brazilian was on our boat with an underwater camera, and if it ever gets emailed to me, I'll definitely post pics! This is the best I could do from above...
We also stopped at Crystal Bay for lunch,
almost being stampeded by little kids yelling, "Allooooo! Allooooo! Necklace? Necklace?"
I do admit they were cute, but it took away from a peaceful setting. Oh well! The beach and the area was still gorgeous.
Then we topped off the day by dipping in the pool, and relaxing over a nice dinner and some beers.
Bali is known for it's scuba diving, and although I went briefly all the way up north, the south is known to be just as good. So I booked a trip to do 2 dives and see for myself. The visibility here is pretty darn good, and the 1st dive we went back to Crystal Bay and saw more beautiful coral and fish, and the 2nd dive was a drift dive, which I had never done before. Basically, at what seemed like a water slide pace, we literally coasted through the waters watching the fish world whizz by (how those tiny fish were at a stand-still and/or easily swimming against the current is beyond me). It was super fun, but a lot of work when I caught myself a few times ahead of the instructor and then had to head fight against the current to swim back to catch up with him. Oops! Then of course, after all that work, I decided to venture to the Coconut Beach Resort, where I had met the manager, and lounged around on the sunbeds and in the pool. Nice.
And hey, move over Justin Timberlake, here comes some Bali local musicians! It was sooo cute, these locals wrote their own song (the song was about this young guy who in his youth goes drinking and partying with his friends. Then years pass and the friends "grow up," like get married and have jobs, you know, become boring (JUST KIDDING!!). But the main guy is still partying and going out, not really moving on from the good 'ol days. BUT he is alone in doing so. Interesting!) and were filming this video (via a small point-and-shoot digi cam, mind you) and asked this other traveler and I to be in it. hhHah! How could I say no? Hey, I may be famous one day! I guess that's what happens when you live in Bali, you have a lot of time on your hands! :-)
