So the previous page on our Scuba diving experience in Bali was actually meant to follow this post but i just couldn’t resist the urge of updating that one first. Anyways.. here’s kind of the detailed write up on our Bali experience.

I had already mentioned in my earlier post bout how we shortlisted Bali for our honeymoon.. We took the Malaysia airlines flight from Bangalore to Denpasar,Bali with a stopover at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. the stop over is generally for a quick 2-3 hours and then a few more hours of fly time and you land in Bali around noon. While the journey itself isnt taxing, we experienced a slightly hellish experience with our baggage. One of the bags we checked in was lost and it had all of my clothes and toiletries. What a time to lose your stuff.. So after trying to explain our problem to the Lost & Found and no compensation whatsoever being offered, we filed a Property Irregularity Report and left for our Villa… We stayed at the Bali Dyana Villas at Seminyak. You can read our Trip Advisor experience here.  The place is an absolute charm.

The twisted experience with baggage services continued for a whole two days and only then i received my bag… It turned out to be the biggest low down in our entire trip.  Anyway.. we didnt want to be bogged down by that and decided that we will continue to have fun. During our first day at Dyana Villas we took a walk to the places around.. went to the famous Double Six beach and Bintang market. Bought some petty souvenirs.  Day 2 was again enjoying the local sights at Seminyak..

Day 3, we managed to head out on our tours. We started with Mengwi, Bali.. Visited the Pura Taman Ayun, Followed by a tour into the local coffee plantations… Tried a cup of Luwak Coffee… what my wife called “Potty Coffee” experience..  From there we headed to the famous Tanah Lot… temple by the sea for the sunset.. It turned out to be a dull one due to a rather cloudy evening.  After the sunset we set out to see the Kecak Fire Dance and headed back to our villa.  We even headed into the crowded Kuta and Legian streets and partied till late.

Day 4, God only knows how we even managed to wake up early for our Scuba diving session at Tulamben.. It was gonna be a long drive.. You can read the experience here.

Day 5,  Time to check out from Dyana Villas and then head into the cultural heart beat of Bali – Ubud.   We decided to stay at the Ubud Village Resort and Spa. One of the most amazing resorts we have stayed at.  Read our Trip Advisor experience here.  Day 5 wasn’t a great day to do any tours since we reached only by late afternoon and just took sometime walking around in the resort and ventured into the Ubud market only to find it closed. We decided to hire a tour guide at Ubud who could probably drive us around for the remaining 2 days  of our stay and also drop us back to the airport for our departure flight home.. We found a chap and struck a 3 day deal for 900k Indonesian Rupaiah.

Day 6, Started with a visit to Goa Gajah, the famous elephant cave temple.. very calm and serene, followed  by a visit to the terrace rice paddy fields. A short drive from there, we headed to the Pura Tirtha Empul with a sacred spring. We then headed for a tour of Bali Kintamani Volcano and the Mother temple Besakih.. the temple is built from volcanic rock and is built over multiple levels. the view from the top is truly mesmerizing.. Ofcourse you have to make sure you dont get conned by folks at the entrance who expect you to shell out big bucks for giving you a guided tour and for offering prayers and purchasing a sarong..  Dont pay more than 50K rupaiah for a guided tour and you can politely refuse offerings. It is not mandatory. but the Sarong is definitely a must.  Dont miss this temple if you plan to visit Bali. We wrapped up the day by visiting the Bali Bird & Reptile Park and headed back to our resort.  In the evening we decided to take a walk into the market and visited the Ubud Palace for the Legong Dance – also famous as the movie “Dance of the virgins”.

Day7, We started the day by watching the famous Barong Dance at the cultural center at Ubud. Then headed out to the Bali Zoo.. we spent a few hours at the zoo.. held a Bear Cat and also petted a baby lion cub.  post lunch we headed out for a long drive to the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan… The rains played spoilsport through the evening. After a short while we headed back to the Ubud market, had a nice cup of coffee at Starbucks. Its located right next to a beautiful little known Lotus temple.. Pura Taman Saraswati. We were quite tired by the time we finished and decided to give the Monkey forest a miss. Somehow after the various sights of Bali, seeing monkeys in a forest didnt seem very exciting.

Day 8, Departure time.. Signed off from Bali around noon but the highlight was catching a glimpse of the Mt.Agung from our flight and the glow of the setting sun in the Bali sea.

One additional thing we missed in Ubud was the Miracle man Ketut from the Eat Pray Love fame.  This was probably the only thing during the entire trip that me lady love missed. I guess we will have to do another trip to Bali for that.

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