BALI

After the bitter cold Scottish coast and the icy city of London, I figured it might be time for a warm, tropical escape. I was also overdue to see the love of my life. Five months overdue. Coming from two different countries around the globe {as per usual}, Eric and I needed yet another location to meet up. Since the middle point between London and Melbourne is now Syria, we realized very quickly one of us would need to sacrifice.

Once we chose Indonesia as our lovers getaway, the ‘sacrifice’ suddenly seemed like a privilege.

Now sitting in chilly London once again, reminiscing on my last two weeks, I have never been more grateful for a cuppa and a cold breeze coming through my upstairs window. There are many disclosures that need to be made before I jump into the MANY blog posts that are to follow.

The first being, I loved Indonesia. I loved the culture, I loved the landscapes, I loved the locals, I loved the food, and I loved traveling to the many cities and islands we found ourselves in. However {and that’s a large however} my honeymooners holiday quickly became my holiday from hell. This made it extremely difficult to enjoy the paradise surrounding me.

Luckily, I had the most amazing person by my side. And that made the entire thing bearable. It hurts my fingers to type the word that my trip to Bali was ‘bearable’. It feels like I am sinning to say such an awful thing. But we will get to that eventually. I have an entire blog post within the upcoming posts about Indonesia discussing the events leading to my downfall during this holiday.

But I want to limit it to that one.

Because I did have good days and found myself participating in some pretty incredible experiences. And those are what I want to share. I want to showcase the time I spent in this beautiful country with positivity. To remind myself that despite the painful events that occurred, I am very blessed to be given the opportunity to explore and discover a whole new world.

Second thing I need to disclose: We sweat the entire time we were in Indonesia. We may smile in our photos, but if you look close enough you will see the beads of sweat dripping off of our shoulders. Do not be fooled.

And so we begin in Bali!

Eric and I met at the Denpasar International Airport on the 2nd of April which also happened to be my 25th birthday! {whoop whoop}

Okay, well it wasn’t much of a coincidence. I not-so-secretly wanted to join the quarter century club by arriving in Bali. How many people can say they spent their birthday flying across the world to meet their significant other in paradise? Bragging rights for years to come. This also means 26 is basically destined to be a disappointment in comparison.

We spent the first leg of our trip in Kuta, making a day trip to Uluwatu for surfing and temple admiring. We found an epic surf spot on Bingin Beach {the best thus far in the world according to Eric} where we stopped to enjoy the views and for Eric to join the locals in the water.

^ this cutie

Bali is an extremley humid climate. We arrived at the end of the wet season {October through March} which usually means more rainfall and slightly lower temperatures than the dry season. If these were ‘lower’ temperatures, then I would literally become a human raisin if I visited in the dry season.

We sweat 24/7 over the two weeks we were in Indonesia. You would walk outside and immediately feel sticky. The heat would smack you within seconds and sweat would form almost instantly. And you couldn’t escape it. The only air conditioned buildings were the hotels, and who wants to spend an entire holiday in your hotel room? So we faced it every day. The best way to avoid the heat was to get in the water. So that’s what we did.

Another famous beach and a favorite of ours was just down the road from our hotel. Kuta beach is an extremely popular place for tourists to watch the sunset, so being tourists, we found a spot where we could order unlimited Bintangs {the local beer} and waited for mother nature to put on a show.

My first sunset in Bali was incredible.

And spent with the best company.

Eric and I both wanted to see the cliffs from Uluwatu temple so we hired a driver for the day and made a mission out of it. They were stunning beyond belief.

Our driver entered the temple with us, took photos for us, and scared off the monkeys attempting to steal our sunglasses! The locals in Bali and all over Indonesia are some of the most friendly and hospitable people in the world. Their economy depends on tourism and if you open up to them, they are truly incredible human beings.

We were asked to wear sarongs {provided for us} before entering the temple. This is very common in Bali and we found it a requirement for every temple we entered.

Unlike the monkeys in the Ubud Monkey Forest {blog post coming soon}, these trouble makers would intimidate you and then lunge for your sunglasses, water bottle, sandals, etc. Basically anything they could get their little hands on. We were entertained for a good 20 minutes watching these thieves plan and surprise innocent bystanders. They are too clever for their own good. They took a water bottle out of a woman’s hands, opened it, and chugged it right in front of her. They took a sandal off of a little boy’s dangling leg while being held by his father. Multiple pairs of sunglasses were held hostage. It was fantastic.

At one point, one of the security members of the temple came over to give the monkeys a telling off and they ran for it. He seemed to be the only one that frightened these guys. They would climb up the temple walls and hide behind pillars checking to see if the man had left the area.

After leaving the temple, we made our way to Single Fin for a sunset dinner and drinks. I suggest making reservations for this place, not only because it is a popular restaurant, but you will get the best seats in the house if you do so. We were positioned directly in front  of the setting sun with gorgeous views of the ocean and surfers below.

^ it doesn’t get much better

It finally cooled off enough to be able to sit and enjoy some cocktails {and Bintangs of course}. The food was overpriced, but the atmosphere was lively and such a great place to end our day in Uluwatu. I highly recommend it!

^ those little dots are surfers with the best view in the house

And that concluded our time in Kuta and Uluwatu. It was only a couple of days, short and sweet. But it was probably one of my favorites moments of the trip looking back.

Next we head to Ubud, the culture capital in Bali!