Bali - king of magnificent sunsets
Of course, it's not all sunshine and roses. actually, strike that - it really is all sunshine... Yup, Bali is really hot at the moment (even the locals are griping), has dengue fever-carrying mosquitos(!!) and loud and pungent motorbikes absolutely everywhere... some operated by 14 yo Australian kids. And let's not forget the dreaded "Bali belly" - shorthand for getting either some food poisoning or gastro or similar.
The last on the downer list is why I have been all quiet on the blogging front for the last couple of weeks. I got struck down by some bug (or maybe 3 bugs in a row) and while not being that sick, I've been just sick enough to be stuck inside... for two weeks!!
No wandering on the beach, no massages or swimming and eating anything other than plain rice or toast has been very unpalatable. So basically, ruling out most of my fave Bali activities!! And poor Phil hasn't escaped scot free either, although he has seemed to have a bit more energy than I've had to hand...
Anyway, after some intensive kindle reading and cable watching, we're finally all better now - woo hoo!!! - and although it's been a quiet fortnight, there have been some highlights since we arrived in Bali some three weeks ago!
Amed
The plan while we're Bali is to base ourselves in our apartment in Legian, which is the Australian-heavy southern part of Bali sandwiched between Kuta and Seminyak. But we've also wanted to do a couple of trips around the island to some places we haven't visited yet.
It only took a couple of days after we arrived at our Legian apartment... and we were off to visit Amed in East Bali!
I've always wanted to check out Amed - it's famous for its diving and snorkelling. And we had the perfect excuse - a completely booked out apartment block for a week!
I did some research (okay, I looked at TripAdvisor for 4 minutes) and found a super cheap guesthouse ($27 a night) nestled on the coastal road. It was a great pick!! Run by a fantastic, chilled and friendly staff and only a few minutes walk to one of the best snorkelling spots in the area. Plus, a nice pool and a glimpse of sea view from our veranda and we were happy campers.
Not bad for under $30 a night!
Amed itself is less a destination and more a series of villages dotted across the coastline. We walked through a couple of them and were rewarded with village life surrounding us - there were more chickens crossing the road than people! Plus herds of bleating goats, pigs and friendly locals tending their gardens.
Beautiful beach in Amed
The sand in Amed is black volcanic sand which sparkles in the sunlight - aaannd I'm still sporting the dodgy tan lines!!
Tranquil village life
It's a side of Bali that you don't find in the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak strip anymore and it is so peaceful to be immersed by the calm routine of village life. We had a very chilled out week swimming in the pool and the sea, walking, snorkelling, reading...
A fair bit of time was spent on sitting in bed with a sad look on my face and a gurgle in my stomach - but overall, a fun trip!!
What else?
Trilinguality
Phil has signed himself up for some Indonesian lessons!! He's been working on learning Indonesian all year on his own and finally has a chance to practice. I have been super impressed with his progress since we landed in Indonesia and I can't wait to see how he goes after some more formal lessons.
Hipster Bali
We've also noticed that Bali has been embracing hipster in a big way since our last visit - there seem to be three times the coffee shops, trendy barber shops have opened up on mass, I spotted a "curated lifestyle boutique" just down the road and artisanal gelato shops have popped up all over the place.
Earl grey and lavender gelato... both pretty awesome.
Puppy pedi
I think my top experience for Bali so far was discovering that the spa across the road has a 9 week old puppy... And it turns out that if you head over there at the right time, you can get what I've dubbed a "puppy pedi" - basically a pedicure while holding an adorable albeit squirmy puppy in your lap. If there is a higher level of bliss, I don't know what it is...
Here's the puppy all tuckered out from the (okay, from my) excitement
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Even though we've been in Bali for a few weeks already, we've barely scratched the surface!! Will Phil start dreaming in Indonesian? Will we ever learn to surf?
As always... more to follow.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Okay. So I thought I posted a comment but it doesn't seem to be here. On the off chance it didn't make it, here it is again:
ReplyDeleteApparently if you cut a lemon in half and stick 10 or so whole cloves in it - the spice - it repels dengue mosquitoes. I'm not sure about the others but it's worth a shot. Dengue sucks.
Good tip! Might put one on the balcony in the evening... I actually haven't seen many mosquitos this trip - although I also haven't left the house too much :)
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ReplyDeleteJust in case anyone is curious, our accommodation in Amed was the Barong Cafe and Bungalow
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