Despite the 40+ mosquito bites, the leaky roof, 3 out of 5 days of torrential rain storms, Felix’s bout of Bali belly, and a sty in my eye… Bali was still AWESOME!!! It was definitely one of the top destinations, and I would recommend it to anyone!
Felix and I were lucky enough to be invited to Freeman and Eli’s Honeymoon vacation in Bali, Indonesia along with 14 other of their closest friends. =) We arrived at our private villa in Nusa Dua, at around 8pm… and it was astounding!! From the moment we stepped onto the grounds, I was rendered speechless. It looked like something out of a magazine… We had a private villa all to ourselves… but really villa is an understatement. It was literally an estate. It was at least 3-4 acres, with traditional Balinese buildings, bridges and towers. It was truly spectacular, especially at twilight, with just candles lighting the way, and soft Balinese music playing in the background. We had different sections specifically for Spa’ing, 3 separate compounds which each included pools and jacuzzi’s, personal maids, drivers, butlers, gardeners, cooks, you name it, we had it! We were truly spoilt rotten! We sat down to an amazing feast that night prepared by the staff, and then had a night dip in our private pool!
The next day Felix and I split up… despite the rain, our spirits were still high; Felix played a round of golf with the boys, where as I went for a traditional Balinese massage, scrub and spa. So relaxing that I literally feel asleep! They had quite an interesting menu of traditional massages and techniques, one of which was for new brides and involves the traditional practice of “smoking the woman’s private areas, believed to stimulate and disinfect the nether regions.” (As quoted from the pamphlet!) Interesting! Learn something new everyday!!! ;) Needless to say, I did not try this out! Felix on the other hand literally golfed in torrential rains and was soaked to the bone… but he said it was a blast!
Another highlight was the day we went ATVing near Payangan and White Water Rafting down the Ayung River. It was quite a miserable day in the morning with rain… and to be honest, not many of us were too enthusiastic about ATVing in the mud, but the guide convinced us that it would be much more exciting. Thankfully, we were not disappointed! Felix and I didn’t have high expectations to start with… and I guess it was icing on the cake, cause it just made us drop our mouths open in awe. The scenery was SPECTACULAR! Once Felix mastered how to drive the ATV, we were on our way, in a line of 10 ATV’s. The landscape was so pure and authentic, and was not at all spoilt by the influence of tourism! We drove through traditional villages, and saw the most beautiful sawah’s (rice fields) on the island. I am sure everyone would agree, that we were awe-struck by the views that we saw.
*I would also like to commend Felix… because as you know I am a little bit of a germo-phobe, and he let me wear his baseball cap, underneath the stinky and wet helmet, where as he wore the helmet skin on skin! GROSS! =)
After ATVing, we had a simple but yummy lunch and then went White Water Rafting along the Ayung River, in Ubud, and again was just struck by the beauty of the jungle. The contrast between the morning landscape, to the ones along the river rapids was like night and day. We paddled through the rain forest with the most magnificent waterfalls, and saw majestic trees that must have been hundreds of years old and 30 stories high.
Larry, Karen, Felix and I were on one raft, and between the type II and III rapids, we still managed to soak in the sites. The definite highlight was the intricate and elaborate stone carvings on the river mountain banks of a Hindu love story, absolutely breath taking! Another #1 recommendation if you ever come to Bali!
Of course no vacation would be complete without shopping, and this is what the third and final full day in Bali was dedicated to… We drove to a store called Jenggala, which was a slice of heaven for me… It’s a Ceramics shop for traditional Balinese pottery, and I had to refrain from buying too much! (You know me and housewares!) We then went to Ubud for a very authentic meal of suckling pig, one word to sum the meal up… SPICY! The girls then proceeded to shop til we dropped. We did manage to squeeze in one famous Bali monument, which was the sunset at Tanah Lot - a temple of worship for the Balinese Gods. The group all got ritual Hindu blessings by the Balinese temple priest, where he sprinkled holy water on us, put a sandat blossom in our hair, and a dash of rice grains on our foreheads. Afterwards, we ate at Jimbaran Bay… which was super yummy! Indonesia Satays are my FAVORITE!
Our last night in Bali, thankfully, the skies cleared and we spent the rest of the evening in the pool, polished off the rest of the booze under the Balinese sky… (Did I mention we had 15 bottles of hard liquer, 6 bottles of wine, and 2 cases of beer!)
Freeman, Eli, Vincy, Karen, Yee, Eric, Elaine, Karen L, Larry, Frankie, Vivian, Vincent, Ronald, and Karen, you guys made this trip a definite highlight during our 6 months of travels…. Thanks for making it sooooooo fun! I hope that one day our paths will cross again and that we can take another trip like this in the future!!! Freeman and Eli’s 5 year anniversary anyone??!!
One last anecdote! =) On our first night in the villa, we soon realized how close we were to nature… because every croak, chirp and tweet we could hear as though it were in our room. It was like a symphony of the night… For whatever reason, I guess I must have been sleep talking, and must have made some comment about how loud the bullfrogs were… the next thing I knew, Felix trekked out in the rain with his umbrella in the dead of the night to try and scare off the bullfrogs. I woke up groggily to find Felix missing! He comes back in all frustrated, because apparently, his weapon of choice, the trusty umbrella we bought in Japan, had no effect on the critters! He told me as soon as he got close to one source, the frog would stay quiet, and another one would start croaking! He was running back and forth in the dark trying to shoo them away to absolute NO EFFECT. I told him how surprised I was that it bothered him, as normally he can sleep through anything, and then he told me huffily… that he was doing it for ME! Hahahaha! Gosh… I had no idea… It was just so funny, cause he was sooo pissed and frustrated that he couldn’t scare off the toads. He had absolutely no effect on them, and the toads just taunted him with his croaks and ribbits when he walked away! What a guy!
We’re off to Bangkok of the 6th of January and then we will be flying to Hanoi, Vietnam on the 8th. Keep the emails and comments coming, cause we love hearing from you.
To Jaime, Freeman, Dai Car, Katherine, Karyanne, Ah B, Theo, Justin, Crithica, Julie, Jim Korea, Carlo V, King and Jim Su… Happy December Birthdays!
We wish you all a Prosperous and Happy 2008!!! =) We will be back home before you know it!!! Just 3 months left!
