Hello Peeps!
*just a mini PSA: I am starting over with this blog (yes, again) but I truly hope that this attempt will follow through. New post weekly, then!
So I recently got back from a super fun, activities-packed girls trip to Bali with 2 of my closest friends from high school. And, boy was it tiring! From planning excessively to skipping activities for our sleep sessions, I would say that this trip was definitely one of my favorites. So, if you are a fresh-out-of-high-school graduate (congratulations, by the way!) looking to plan an adventurous trip to Bali, read on!
Before sharing my itinerary, let me just explain our aim for this trip: we wanted to get the most out of Bali, and since we were young and strong (apparently), we wanted to have a real adventurous journey around the island. Meaning, almost no time to lounge by the pool at the hotel/villa areas. Here is a map of Bali Island, and below that with the red circles are the general places we managed to visit for the 6-days-5-night trip we had. We basically covered the South-Central-East regions of the island—the most touristy parts.
(from Bali Tourism Board)
So here begins our trip!
Day 1:
0500—flight took off from Singapore to Bali. It was about 2 hours and 30 minutes, nothing special really. We basically just died serenely on our teensy Jetstar seats. What was there to complain anyways since we got our tickets for about S$200 without checked-in baggage.
0800—we met our s u p e r incredibly nice driver for the entire trip: Putu. If you are genuinely interested in contacting him, you can dm me via Instagram for his contact! He mostly uses WhatsApp and is fluent in English, so that's a great relief for us. Putu literally gave us the best deals for the activities we planned on doing and he doesn't smoke. (yes, this is quite a game changer since people in Bali smoke pretty openly and secondhand smoke can be excessive at times). He charged us S$45/entire day including petrol and his service. This is definitely a reasonable price for Bali and since his service was really good, we gave him tips/ invited him for meals with us too, so it was really chill and fun with him.
0830—we made out first stop at Babi Guling Pak Malen nearby the airport. Balinese food is quite affordable, at about Rp. 40.000.000/plate or equivalent to S$4. But they can be really spicy, though. Both of my friends actually struggled to finish half the plate so... if you cannot take spice, please opt for the non-spicy option! So sorry to Grace for crying during her first meal, but honey was it hilarious!! ;;) Here's a snippet of what a Babi Guling package looks like:
Next, we hopped on the car to catch some sleep while Putu drove us to Ubud. We immediately went for White Water Rafting at Ayung Dewata Rafting. Since we told Putu beforehand that we wanted to white water raft, he arranged a 3-hour-rafting package for S$30 per person. This was a mega steal because the brochure at the rafting place showed the price of Rp. 900.000.000/per person (~S$90 equivalent). Sometimes getting a local who knows people from the tourism industry really has mega perks, so, highly recommended! The rafting people basically gave us our paddles, helmets and floating jackets. Before going for that adrenaline-filled ride, you have to traverse through flights of stairs (which we did barefooted and we recommend that for lighter packing!) with gorgeous paddy fields as your views until the starting point of your raft.
The rafting itself was quite an experience! This was easily one of my top 3 things to do in Bali. A definite must-try for first timers! The waters tend to be clearer, but when we came they had a recent asphalt layering of roads nearby and it was raining a few days prior to our raft, so the water was a little bit murkier—but still very fresh and clean. We were accompanied by a guide per raft and were told simple instructions on how to use the paddles. There were some parts of the river where you will see small 'waterfalls' and you can totally hop off the raft for a small swim too! You have to listen carefully to the guide before doing this, though. At some parts of the river, the current can be quite strong and dangerous otherwise. Moreover, the coldness of the water, as well as the intriguing sounds of nature, will certainly take your minds off things, so despite it being a rigorous activity, it is calming to its own degree too. We hella loved it!
A small reminder before I insert the pictures: if you want to take your GoPro or phone with you, be extremely careful. We bought those plastic phone covers as necklaces and one of my friend's had a loose end in its knots, and she lost her phone to the strong current. :<
you also have to climb those stairs after your raft—be prepared!
oh, how lush! <3
1530—It was about then when we finished rafting, and holy moly was that an exercise! We took some time to dry off and we did not take the meal provided after rafting by the rafting company but instead, we went off to one of the sites overlooking Tegalalang Rice Terraces, specifically to Dewi Cafe. The view from there was sooooo gorgeous<3<3 Besides the beautiful view, Dewi Cafe was more of a hidden gem known to locals, and that made it very peaceful for us. It was kind of cold, but the view was breathtaking that we could not sit still to wait for our food. We basically snapped pictures right away. Also, Dewi Cafe is a stone throw away from the super Instagrammable Bali Swing, so extra points for convenience. We were too hungry and too lazy to queue up for pictures at the Bali Swing, so here are the pictures of our decently-priced food and the sceneries. (pro tip: Bali Swing closes at 5pm, so come earlier as it can get crowded. For about S$15 for a few snippets, we thought it was not worth it, so if you are tight on schedule and budget, definitely skip this!)
Had our meals while waiting for sunset with this gorgeous view!
The three of us almost died tryna climb this egg o_o it's free and right next to the Bali Swing by the way xD
Alrighty, we were soaking wet, well-fed and justifiably VERY exhausted. We only had 2 meals that day and we checked in at night (sneakily) into our very spacious 2-people room at KajaNe Yangloni Ubud. (Sorry no pics because we checked in after the sunset and we needed to sneak the third person in... but it was LOVELY!!) Do give that hotel a check if you are planning for a serene getaway in Ubud. We were super pleasantly surprised by the entire space and facilities they had. Definitely worth your bucks, and even more if I am being generous!
Overall, our Day 1 in Bali was as you can tell... pretty tiring. But it was really jam-packed with so many natural sceneries that let our eyes feasted for as much and as long as we wanted though. Honestly, it felt like just the perfect amount of adventure for a just-outta-school-girls-trip. Especially the white water rafting. We felt that the 3-hour course, although daunting at first, was actually really worth it. There is just something magical about that first dive into the cold water that replenished the soul with vitality so as to continue paddling past the rocky riverbeds. So we ended our day with a good skin care routine and some girls talk and headed to bed at around 10+pm. We had to wake up early for Nusa Penida the next day. So keep following this travel diary if you want to peek through what to wear, where to go and what to do during a day trip to Nusa Penida :)
To be continued,
Maretta Simon x
