Bali

I decided to write a separate post about the Indonesian island Bali, because it definitely deserves attention.

When going there, I didn’t know much about the island apart from  seeing it in the movie ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ with Julia Roberts and hearing stories from Stefanie who just couldn’t wait to go and take me there (Bali is a common weekend getaway for people from all over Indonesia, especially Jakarta).

Stefanie and I took the short domestic flight from Jakarta and 1,5h later we landed in Bali. The climate and atmosphere were straight away much different to what I experienced in Jakarta or Bandung. The hotness and extreme humidity reminded me of Fiji and the whole place felt like holidays and relax.

Stefanie found a great deal for accommodation on Groupon so our weekend was spent in a comfortable villa with a lovely swimming pool in Kuta city centre. Stefanie and her friends who joined us for a weekend didn’t let me rest – we hired a car with a driver (which was really cheap) and we visited several must-see places in Bali. The traditional dance in a sunset in Hindu Temple on top of the cliff was just spectacular.

Unfortunately Stefanie and her friends had to go back to work on Monday in Jakarta and I stayed another 9 days exploring Bali on my own. I moved to the North part of the island where I stayed in an unbelievably cheap hostel, right on the beach and where I met a lovely French girl Marine who became my travel companion for the rest of the time in Bali.

Hostel I stayed in for £4/night, including cooked breakfest and free drinking water

I will never forget almost every night nature performance of a spectacular thunderstorm in front of me, beginning far away on an open sea and within 1h or so reaching us with the heavy rain and lightening dancing around our hostel, while I was sitting comfortably on a sofa at the reception patio. For this show only it was worth going to Bali!

I even managed to catch one lightening on my phone camera

After spending in Bali nearly 2 weeks, I can agree with Stefanie – it is a place that no matter how many times you go to, something will always surprise you, there is always something more to see and you will never be bored. Bali offers such a diverse landscape – there are unreal cliffs and perfect waves for surfers in the South, long white sand beaches in the middle coasts, black sand beaches in the North, forests, Volcanoes, rice fields, waterfalls in the middle of the Islands that everyone will find something to do.

And most importantly – Bali is very very cheap.

I definitely felt in love with the place, with the relaxed and welcoming people, cheap and delicious meals. I can easly call it the Paradise Island.

I have been asked if I felt that the place is as spiritual as it’s presented in ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ movie and I have to say that I have not felt particularly inspired by it in that way. That is not to say that Bali is not spiritual – exactly opposite, I just think that because I was preparing mentally to going back home, I missed my boyfriend very much and I was moving around quite a lot I just didn’t fully hit the spiritual spot of the island. But it only makes me want to come back there one day, take my loved ones and experience Bali all over again. I will certainly consider Bali as my honeymoon destination as well :)