Bali Life
Let me tell you what we did in Bali. Our days looked like this:
Mornings were spent at the hotel
First we went for breakfast in our hotel, Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali (read my review of the hotel here).
After breakfast we installed ourselves in our swimsuits on one of the semi-covered ‘lounge islands’ in the hotels garden. Sunscreen, bottled water, reading material, iPhone; check.
One of the large, comfy lounge islands in the garden of the hotel.
Before reading my book and the daily newspaper, I would head over to “Curly Traveller’s island Guide to Bali” on my iPhone or iPad, a customized map that I created before (and for) our trip.
On that map are all the places that are worth your while in Bali, be it shops, sights, restaurants, bars, hotels, beaches or coffee places.
Each day I would open that map and pick a specific area. E.g. Seminyak. Or Canggu, Bali’s newest hipster haven.
Tourism at Bali’s South beach strip started at Kuta. Over the years it expanded to Legian, then Seminyak and now Canggu is the next upcoming hotspot. It’s not that developed yet and has still a lot of rice fields close to the beach.
Then I would write down what’s there to do and see in that neighborhood. And make screenshots.
I made many screenshots like this one.
Screenshots? Yes, this is an idea that might be handy for you too. As usual, while abroad, I have no dataplan, so I can only fully explore the map I made, while I am somewhere with wifi. Strolling through Bali, I had no access to my map, hence the screenshots with names and addresses of places that I took before we left our hotel for our day-trip. Works like a charm.
Handy to show to your taxi driver.
Anyway. We would read and enjoy the sun until lunchtime.
Exploring Bali from lunch till bedtime
By that time, we’d take a taxi to our destination for the day and have us dropped off at the lunch-place that I picked.
- Sisterfields (separate blogpost)
- Bungalow Living (more in upcoming blogpost about Canggu)
- The Bistrot (more in separate blogpost)
Enjoying a good cuppa at The Bistrot.
After lunch it was time for some walkies. We would zigzag through streets and lanes going into a shop here…..
- Kody&Ko
We loved Kody & Ko, but we also found some nice, cheap buys at it’s neighbor, this unassuming little shop/stall.
- Bungalow Living (2x)
- House of Feathers
- D’Vibe
- Bali Boat Shed
- Gingersnap
- The White Peacock
- Bali Sensasi
- Ebano
- Krishna Art Gallery
…. a coffee place there, another shop, time for a drink and some serious cooling off (man, it was hot!)…..
- La Plancha (more in upcoming blogpost about Canggu)
- Cloud 9 (more in upcoming blogpost about Canggu)
- Deus Ex Machina (more in upcoming blogpost about Canggu)
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Deus Ex Machina sells customized motors, T-shirts and surfboards. It also has a cafe-bar-restaurant. A very cool place.
- Motel Mexicola (more in separate blogpost coming soon)
If only this was my house!!!
… and so forth, until it was time for dinner.
Same as for lunch, I pre-picked a restaurant for dinner every day.
- La Favela (more in separate blogposts coming soon)
The second before I started pole-dancing…NOT.
- La Laguna (more in upcoming blogpost about Canggu)
We had a nice dinner and sunset at La Laguna.
- Rock Bar (more in separate blogpost coming soon)
A quick selfie before we were transported down the steep cliff by a mini-funicular vehicle at the Rock Bar.
- Unique Bar (separate blogpost coming up)
Unique Bar is part of Rimba Jimbaran Bali (which is part of Ayana Resort). We were blown away by the design of the hotel. It’s grounds stretch out over many levels with pools, greenery and bars and restaurants all over the place.
- Woo Bar ( I wrote about the Woo Bar and the W Hotel here and here )
Chick on a mission
What’s with all the pre-picking, you may wonder. Whatever happened to spontaneity? To stumbling’ upon?
Well, that’s another way of vacationing, of exploring. A fine way too.
We were there only for 6 days and the list of places that I wanted to see with my own eyes was long. If we would have been there for a month there definitely would have been lots of unplanned days. Many restaurants and bars stumbled upon. And so forth. But not now. This time I was a Chick on a Mission.
Coming through, folks, serious bucket-list-crossing-off going on here, outta my way please!
Taxis are affordable
After dinner we had to find ourselves a ride home. Leaving from our hotel, we were always able to get a metered taxi, which worked fine. Returning to the hotel in Kuta from remote places meant that our only option was to go for a fixed-price taxi. More expensive than a metered taxi, but still very affordable. Like a 7 euro taxi ride by metered taxi could be a 12 euro ride in a fixed price taxi. No prices to break the bank for those 6 days.
Due to the terrible traffic in the South of Bali those trips usually took us 45 minutes, meaning that we were back in the hotel around 8.30 pm. All the walking and the high temperatures wore us down, so that most days we’d be in bed by 9 pm. Yes, folks, we were living the wild life!
What’s next on the blog
Upcoming blogposts about Bali:
- Favourite shops in Bali
- Favourite restaurants and bars in Bali
- La Favela part 1
- La Favela part 2
- La Laguna
- Rock Bar
- Motel Mexicola
- Uniq Bar
- Canggu
How do you like to spend your holi-days? Doing nothing? Sightseeing? Shopping? Are you a planner/bucket-lister or a stumbler/wanderer?
I want to go to that bar! Wow!!!
Also…were they selling dick keychains at that first shop? LOL
When we stay at an all inclusive resort we mostly sit at the beach, read and snorkel.
When we go somewhere like Paris or NY I like to plan my days more so we can see more and squeeze more into our days.
They are totally different types of vacations though. I normally like to get one of each in during the year, but this year we’ve had none : (
I hope next year will bring you two lovely holidays then!
You would have loved that bar, but also many of the other places we went to.
Yes, those penises represent the ultimate God Shiva and are available in all sorts of sizes and materials on Bali. And no,we did not buy any;-).