2019

Bali & Serenity Now

If you read my Singapore blog (you really should), you know I mentioned our second stop was going to be Bali in Indonesia. Once again, the thought of actually being in Bali, feet on the ground, would have seemed like some far fetched dream just a couple of years ago. Now that I’ve begun seeing the world, it was suddenly becoming a reality.

We landed in Bali late at night and were met by a representative of the villa in which we were staying. He was dressed in the native garb of Bali complete with headdress and bowed with his hands together and greeted us with namaste. This is a traditional Hindu greeting.

As we got to talking we discovered our Hindu greeter went to college in Miami. It’s just another example of realizing how small this big world actually is when we look closer.

Upon our arrival, our driver became our butler and another woman joined him. They took us to our villa after checking in at the open air lobby with soft meditative music playing. I started to have this very peaceful and ethereal feeling, something that became a constant in our entire time in Bali.

They had us sit on a bench on the patio of the villa and remove our shoes and socks. Then seemingly out of nowhere came these two bowls with warm water. Apparently it is customary to wash the feet of guests entering the villa. At first, I was a bit uncomfortable with someone I didn’t know washing and rubbing my feet, but I have to admit, it felt great and was quite relaxing.

Much like in Singapore the food in Bali was quite unique. In particular the breakfasts. These are not lands of traditional eggs, bacon, sausage and french toast type breakfasts. Eggs are involved, but often rice & noodles, chicken or shrimp could show up in various dishes to start your day.

The resort we stayed in was Awarta Nusa Dua Resort. This place has it all in a very private peaceful setting. One of the funny things that kept coming up in our searches for places to stay was that many only had an outdoor shower. I’m not exactly nature boy and tend to be a little conservative when it comes to those things. When my girlfriend Edmi would show me a possible place for us to stay, it was immediately nixed from the list if it did not have an indoor shower or bath. Fortunately, Awarta Nusa Dua had both, and oddly enough that’s what influenced my decision, as so many places looked beautiful.

For more info go to https://www.awartaresorts.com

Once again our time was relatively short in Bali, so through the suggestion of a friend, Edmi and I hired a driver for a day. It turned out to be close to a 12 hour day. Our driver, Gusti, took us into Ubud and we started with stops watching hand made woven cloth, beautiful carved wooden art work and hand crafted silver jewelry. One of the really fun stops was at a rain forest-coffee plantation complete with a giant swing over the valley. We also tried a coffee that is made from beans ingested and passed back out by an animal known as the civet. Our tour guide called this coffee Poopuchino (sounds like one of my bad jokes)!

We then went to the monkey forest and temple grounds. Edmi had a run in with one of the monkeys that was attempting to get this dangling hand sanitizer she had from her pocketbook. Well he nearly pulled her pants down in the process. Thank goodness I was there. I got to video the whole thing. Someone was not that happy with this response, and I don’t mean the monkey.

We stopped for lunch at this quaint roadside cafe that had a back deck providing this stunning view of a large terraced rice field. One of those moments where you stop and ask yourself, where am I?

We did some shopping in the small towns along the way for some gifts to take back home, and then finished the day at this peaceful, but beautiful butterfly park.

Wrapped around that day we stopped at the InterContinental Bali Resort one late afternoon to watch the sunset at the beach and enjoy a drink with some light snacks. The grounds of this hotel will truly let you know you are in another world.

We also grabbed some time at the beach over the three days and truly spent a lot of time in our private oasis of our villa. We toured a temple garden with beautiful views and statues that tower over you like skyscrapers.

The bottom line to me about Bali is the peacefulness. Outside of going directly through the market area of towns, there is a serenity and peace that pervades everything, including yourself. If you want natural beauty with some interesting sight seeing and great food all in a peaceful surrounding, then Bali is your place.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Once again if you have any questions please pass them along in the comment section.

If you’ve come this far I thank you. Sunshine always.