On our 4th day in Bali, we decided to stay around the villa and explore the area in Kuta. Although Kuta is far from "chill & relax at the beach" kind of place, we still had fun on that day. We woke up pretty late and went to the beach in the afternoon. Of course everyone was trying to make us buy stuff and it was annoying at times, but on the bright side we managed to negotiate a good price for surfing. We were all beginners so we took 1 hour of surfing with a coach and 1 hour without all for 125.000 Rupiah (~12 SGD).
Let me tell you that I was the worst at surfing, just like in any other sport. I only succeeded one or two times and by some sort of magic Yassine captured the moment. Overall, I stood on the surf board maybe 10% of the time, and for the rest I was probably being taken away by the waves and swallowing salty water. After the first hour I was already dead, so surfing is not for the weak I guess :D
After this fun workout I had a yung-coconut drink. It was okay, not a very special taste.
On day #5, our last day in Bali, we went to Ubud. We started off with the Ride Walk which was around 2km. Considering the heat outside it was quite tough, especially when we realized that we had to walk all the way back at the end of it. For some reason I thought it was a loop but we literally had to walk on the same path on our way back.
I was surprised to see that they're offering cooking classes in French in Ubud. Looks fancy, I wonder if they're from France or Québec...
For lunch, we went to this "instagrammable" restaurant Alchemy. We knew it was going to be vegan food only, but we weren't ready for RAW vegan only. It was an unique experience, although quite expensive. I don't think I would return here in the future (if I ever go back to Bali), unless I become vegan.
Then, we finally went to visit the famous Monkey Forest Sanctuary. I liked it, there were monkeys everywhere, some were cute while others were frightening. It was like going to a zoo where the animals are free. I wish the area was bigger, I didn't expect to be done with the tour of the forest in 30 minutes.
They were all eating sweet potatoes, didn't really see bananas anywhere.
And to finish the day, we went to the Tegenungan Waterfall. The waterfall itself is very nice, but the water is dirty, and there was a snake chasing around people. Quite an experience.
On day #6 we finally left Bali and went to Gili Trawangan. This place was so much calmer, more peaceful and friendlier. The water was crystal clear and we had the chance to do some snorkeling around the 3 islands of Gili.
We booked our room a day before leaving, and we got a very chic place for 15 SGD per person at Resota Twins.
Before leaving for the snorkeling trip we had pad thai for lunch and it was truly delicious!
Here's a video of the trip mainly form Gili and Nusa Penida and you can see a bit from our snorkeling experience as well :)
I believe this photo was taken on Gili Air, an even more peaceful island, great for vacation!
In the evening we cycled a bit around Gili T. and stopped here to watch the sunset. The view got better and better by the minute.
On day #7 we had to leave Gili and go to Nusa Penida since we were on a tight schedule. We had a very hard time figuring out at which time the boat is leaving from our company Eka Jaya and which route it is doing exactly. The customer service is very bad so we ended up spending more money and had to buy an additional ticket with the Golden Queen boat company to get to Nusa Penida.
This is the Crystal Bay in Nusa Penida, a very nice place to swim and watch the sunset.
This is Kelingking Beach, surreal! We had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to be able to visit this place at sunrise, mainly because we had to leave our room at 8am so we don't miss the boat going back to Bali (but we did miss it afterall). Since we were short in time we didn't go downstairs on the cool trail that I would categorize as an extreme sport. But the views from the start of the (very dangerous) trail were breathtaking. I would return to Bali just to go to Kelingking Beach again.
And we made it in time for the airport even after some more complications with the Eka Jaya boat... but that's all in the past now. Overall, I think that going to Bali without visiting Nusa Penida (there are 2 more islands) or Gili islands is not worth it, at least for me. Honestly, the small islands are everything that I was expecting from Bali but couldn't find in Bali (how ironically). I still believe that Bali is overrated and that there are more beautiful places in Indonesia and I wouldn't recommend to people to spend too much money on a trip to Bali unless they have lots of free time and money or that they're discovering more places in Indonesia. I know it all looks wonderful in the pictures, but the vibe there is off.
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