Bali
Hi!
I am a few weeks behind but I've finally run into some free time and will be making posts in the next day or two about Bali, ChiangMai lantern festival, and a small general update... I still don't have all the photos for Bali so check back in a few days for some awesome ones. Just added more photos to Vietnam though!
Bali was an absolutely amazing trip. We left October 26 with a 4 hour flight to Denpasar which is the airport on Bali. We got in and were absolutely assaulted by taxi drivers, per usual. I hate arriving in a new country because they are absolutely viscous at the airport and then you have to remember that while Indonesian Rupiahs are 13,500 of them to the USD and you're arguing over 100k to 200k its actually only like $14 USD split between 4 friends but then there’s also no way in hell you’re paying 200k when google says 150k is fair and you could take a GrabCab (Uber) for 65k… ya, airports are a pain in the butt.
Once you do get a cab driver though they are really nice to you, get you there quickly, and best of all, there is a code among cab drivers that once one of them has you the rest leave you alone so that they don’t accidentally suggest a price lower than the one already agreed on. Our cab driver was a super nice guy (once we agreed on a price) and got us to our villa nicely. Once we got there, walking from the drive through the bright red double doors into our villa was like walking into heaven. We had an open air villa with a garden, pool, cabana, open air living room, kitchen, and dining room areas, and 4 bedrooms with bathrooms off the area. It was beautiful. And one amazing perk was that the staff were there to greet us upon arrival. They told us about breakfast in the morning, some of the things they could provide for us like arranging scooter rentals, laundry, in villa massages, and more, and generally helped us get settled in.
We honestly felt so pampered and taken care of even from the start. The villa was better than any of us could have dreamed and for 5 nights we only paid $120 each. The first day we took scooters to the beach, played in the waves, and watched the most gorgeous sunset. We ate dinner from take out menus at the villa and it was delicious. I think that first night we had Indonesian food.
The first night we went to sleep really early as we had a 7am pick up for our scuba diving day the next day. We were doing a “try dive” so that the non-certified members of our group could go with Felix, Jacey, and I. There were 7 of us in total and we had 2 guides for the non certified members. We had 2 dives in total, all our gear, lunch, and all transportation included for $100 each. It was a really fun day and while Anna and Gaston were a little hesitant at first when I was trying to recruit everyone to go diving with me, they all had a great time. Anna is absolutely in love with diving now and Gaston got to use his Go-Pro underwater the second time and loved being able to take photos. I was just so happy that everyone had a good time. Jacey did a good job and we learned that Felix is actually quite the experienced diver with a family friend who has taught him several things like nitrox diving and several rescue, wreck diving, etc. that would be extremely expensive if it were not for this family friend totaling over 70 registered dives (which is outrageous in my mind).
That night everyone passed out and Felix and I even more so as we had another 3 dives the next day. We were going to a more advanced dive site to see the Mola Mola fish and the giant Manta Rays at Manta Point in Bali. This is a dive site that you must have “advanced open water” certification or “open water” plus some dives to go to from most dive shops in Bali. We went with the company we chose simply because they were going to let me and Felix go without a dive instructor which is like $60 USD extra. I feel confident enough in the water and I had a feeling someone else would be there and take a dive instructor and we’d all just get lumped together anyway. This is exactly what happened as there was this old Australian dude who was with us both trips. He was friends with the owner and brought a guide with him so we just kind of hung out with those two. He was really obnoxious in my mind and not nearly as respectful to the coral and animal life as I felt he should have been but whatever.
Our dives didn’t show us any Mola Mola fish as they were pretty much out of season at this point anyway, but we did see some absolutely gigantic manta rays. I would say they were 5-7 feet or more in size and they were beautiful! Just like the whale shark it was completely crowded under water which was slightly annoying but it was so worth it. When you think of such amazing and huge animals you think you should be able to hear them approaching, when you’re on land you would certainly think you’d hear something so huge at least, but in the water your ears don’t stand a chance and one moment you’re floating along lazily in the current and the next you turn around and there’s a HUGE manta ray coming over the coral and you’re just stunned. It was absolutely one of the most graceful beautiful animals and just humongous. We saw two or three of them and then it was time to move on. Before going though, I got caught up staring at another diver who was somehow using his hands to make bubble rings out of other people’s bubble streams. It was super cool and the guy kept laughing at me for being so amazed at this underwater trick.
After all this we were floating along lazily and then the guide turned to us and made the sign for turtle which is the same awkward turtle sign everyone makes at each other in middle school where you put one hand on top of the other faceing down flat and move your thumbs in sync. That was really exciting too. This turtle was just lazily eating some seaweed or something near the bottom, it was quite large, maybe 3 feet or more, and as the current would pull or push it it would let its body go sideways, up side down, whatever so long as its face could still reach the food it was eating. They’re kinda funny creatures and really cute. I really loved seeing this beautiful creature. Its shell was really pretty too and had small strands of algae or something growing on it as well.
The only downside to this day was that the dive sites were at an island one hour by boat away from the Bali mainland and that nearly killed me. It was an exceptionally rough day combined with a rough tide in general and I was more sick than I’ve ever been in my entire life. I really shouldn’t have eaten breakfast and I think I basically tranced and brain washed myself in order to get to the island. There were times where I literally couldn’t move I was so sick… that wasn’t fun. But all in all I would say it was totally worth it.
The next two days on Bali we drove our motorscooters around the island finding great beaches and seeing the sunset on a beautiful Cliffside temple. We were lazy around the beaches and watched surfers. We even took naps on the beach and bartered the beach boys for beach chairs and had our little chair and umbrella home bases. We drank and ate a lot and on the last night we even went shopping. I spent Almost 1 million rupiah which would have been awesome but not quite and was very happy with my purchases.
All in all, Bali was a complete island paradise exactly as we had hoped it would be. We left on Tuesday which was Halloween to go back to Bangkok and were so sad to go. The villa had become so familiar so quickly and the life on the island was just so wonderful and I hope I get the chance to go back some day soon.