As many of you following my stories thus far may know, I dubbed 2019 my official YES YEAR and spent a lot of my year delving into new experiences. So, when my friend Serena brought up the idea of traveling to Bali, I held true to that motto and thought to myself – sure, why not?! I mean, who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to indulge in gorgeous scenery, delicious eats, and an abundance of culture? Just then I hopped on the internet and researched how much flights were. Despite the fact that she wasn’t really inviting me on an existing trip, my YES attitude had me eager to see if the travel and accommodations would be affordable, because when it comes to traveling, I’m the type of person that likes to get a lot of bang for a sparse amount of buck. After sifting through a few travel websites, I found that flights were pretty reasonably priced, and so were accommodations. From there, the idea was cemented in my mind… I would travel to Bali SOON. Thoughts of Bali sat in the back of my mind for months; I daydreamed about tropical settings, adventures, and partaking in daily massages. But at the time, I didn’t pull the trigger on buying flights because there were a few other travel ideas that I was toying with – like vacationing with my cousins in Hawaii, visiting my best friend in Chicago, and attending Burning Man. All of which were going to burn a major hole in my pocket, so I thought I could only swing one. But of course, I kept receiving flight price tracking emails that would bring Bali to the forefront again. After several inbox messages with the subject line reading NEW DEALS TO BALI! I decided to follow through with my YES YEAR outlook and bagged some flights to Indonesia to live out my “Eat Pray Love” fantasies with my old-roomie-best-friend-sidekick Serena by my side.
As the trip neared, I solidified a good portion of accommodations at certain villages that were recommended by friends and blogs that I had read online. Since I’m no snorkeling fanatic, I opted for a few relaxing beach communities – Kuta, Canggu, and Seminyak, and then rounded off the trip with an inland destination – Ubud. Aside from the 3 Airbnbs I booked in advance, I reckoned we would figure details out while we were there so I kept some days open for winging it. Then, after much anticipation, the day of our departure finally arrived. Serena and I woke up at 4am to pick up a rental car from the SD Airport and made the drive up to LAX for our departing 24-hour flight. After traveling for over 34 hours, we landed in paradise… except it was midnight, dark, and we couldn’t tell that it was paradise just yet. But that all changed when we woke up the following day and took in the landscape. It was beautiful! The air was dense, the sky a gradient, and the people had such great energy. Aside from highlights like cost, culture, and the chance to really relax, there are three Bali experiences which I’ll cherish forever.
The first is the Mount Batur excursion. This consisted of a privately guided trek up to the rim of an active volcano to catch a magical sunrise which was followed by a trip to natural hot springs and a coffee plantation. Sounds amazing, right? Well… in order to make it to the top of Mount Batur before sunrise, this required that we get up at the crack of dawn! On the day of, Serena and I got picked up from our hotel in Seminyak at 1:30am after getting a literal wink of sleep in. On the drive over to the hike’s start, I was able to catch some extra Zs, but a car nap proved difficult for Serena since our driver thought he was racing in the Indy 500 (I guess I’m just used to remaining calm amidst crazy). When we arrived at the starting point around 3:30am, we were given a hiking stick, a flashlight, and began making our way up the mountain with our guide. Altogether the hike was 5 miles roundtrip, with the most challenging part being the 2,624 foot gain. When we finally made it to the top around 6am, we were exhausted, but the breathtaking sunrise views managed to invigorate us enough to survive the steep downhill climb. Once we made it back down we moved onto the next part of the excursion – unwinding at Lake Batur’s natural hot springs where we steeped for about an hour. Once we got a proper muscle soak in, it was onto the next… the coffee plantation featuring the obscure kopi luwak coffee (which is made from poop!!!). Once at the plantation we were given a tour of the grounds, got to see their civet (the animal responsible for digesting the coffee beans), shown their general processing system, and then got to taste a variety of their beverage offerings. Bottom line, the poop coffee wasn’t everything it’s cracked up to be, but it was definitely worth trying! Altogether, this day packed in a bunch of adventure and I can’t recommend it enough.
The second experience which I loved was a traditional Balinese cooking class. This was something that I booked through Airbnb as well. It was hosted by a Bali native at her own family’s compound, which follows ancient architectural guides outlined by Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. Before going to the host’s home, our group of five was taken to a local market to get an inside look at the type of provisional food offerings from the area. While at the market, the guide tested our knowledge of the regional fruits and vegetables by pointing at things and asking us to identify them. The informal quizzing was a fun way for the group to bond and get acquainted with one another! Once we made our way back to the compound, we found that there were about 15 more people joining the cooking class. After being given a run-down about traditional Bali houses, culture, ingredients, and the food we would be preparing, we were coupled off and began cooking! The dishes that we made included pepes de tuna (steamed tuna wrapped in banana leaves), tahu tempe goreng basa manis (deep fried tofu and tempe in sweet soy sauce), gerangasem (stew chicken and chayote with basic yellow sauce), gado gao (mix vegetables in peanut sauce), jukut urab (balinese vegetable salad), and bubuh injin (black and white sticky rice pudding) for dessert. Once the food was ready, the whole group sat down together to enjoy good conversation and the delicious eats that we had prepared together. This class was awesome because it allowed Serena and I to connect with others from different cultures and walks of life.
The final experience I loved were the yoga classes that I took at Yoga Saraswati. These classes gave me the opportunity to really connect with myself amidst all of the external discoveries I was making on holiday. The yoga studio, which was nestled in the heart of the Ubud village, offered a variety of classes for the very low price of five dollars! These classes were the cherry on top of all of Bali’s offerings and I highly suggest participating in a class if you make your way to Indonesia; they were great for yoga novices and veterans alike.
All in all, Bali was a dream that I can’t wait to revisit and I will never forget the experiences that this YES YEAR brought!
