Bali on a Budget

Recovery time from post-Gili depression was fairly quick. It would be pretty pathetic if Bali couldn't rid me of my sadness. Once stepping off of the ferry and through the crowd of persistent women selling sarongs, bananas, fans, quilts, etc, we hopped in a bus and made our way to Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. As we drove through rice paddies and by Balinese temples, I was super anxious to get off of the bus and explore. The place was teeming with culture and I wanted to be part of it. Also, I was starving. 

We found ourselves a cute little hostel and then made our way around Ubud, searching for a delicious meal and getting easily distracted by the array of stores. Seriously, I could have spent a lot of money in this place. BUT, alas, I was poor. Sarah and I realized that we were ripping through our limited baht a lot quicker than expected and would have to institute some sort of budget in our final days in Indonesia if we wanted to make it to Malaysia. Every time one of us was tempted by some beautiful decor or clothing, the other would yell out "Budget!!!" and then we would put it back down... breaking our hearts one souvenir at a time. However, our idea of smart budgeting was kind of skewed because this is basically what it came down to:


 In the Budget:
-Dinner at more bumping and social places
-An "I Heart Bali" tote, a sarong and a batik.
-Accomodation (a little off the beaten road, but, hey, we had beds)
-A 2 hour peppermint massage and body scrub. (Whoops! We almost spent even more of the chocolate option, but came to our senses.)
-Cornetto ice cream (they had new flavors!)


 Not in the budget:
-Lunch
-A trek up Mount Batur at sunrise (upsetting but it was raining that night, anyways).
-A social life
-Entrance fees to various temples and sights. 


Barely in the budget:
-Taxi fare to the airport
-Departure tax


Things got a little scary. We thought the fare to the airport was about half of the actual price and we were clueless about the departure tax until the day before leaving. We literally spent every last rupiah and had very little baht to get us through Malaysia. However, we were still able to see a fair amount of Ubud. We wandered around, saw a couple of gorgeous temples, saw the famous tiered rice paddies, frolicked through another rice paddy (very Eat, Pray, Love), went to a coffee farm and tried DELICIOUS blends, and hired a driver for the day to bring us to some of the more popular attractions. Unfortunately, the rain came...it came hard...and cut our day of tourist attractions short. It was definitely a buzzkill but it gives me a great excuse to come back to Bali. Which, by the way, I WILL. 

Rice paddies!

View of the mountain. Thank you, rain.

Jolly jaunt around the paddies

Gili T Lovin'

I've returned from paradise. I was in Bali...BALI (!!!) and ya know what? It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I felt like I was in Bali and I embraced it for all that it was. After spending a rough night at the airport to catch our super early flight, Sarah and I were very ready to plop down on the beach and enjoy our final weeks of vacation. 

Our beds for the night. Oy. 

We arrived in Kuta, the most touristy beach of Bali, and explored the area. It was nice- nothing special- but like I said....I was in Bali, life was good. 

Spiritual offering on Kuta Beach

Although we were staying at one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in (The Island- it's awesome. You should go.), we woke up before the sun to catch a bus to catch a ferry to the Gili Islands. What in the world are the Gili Islands? I'm glad you asked. They are PARADISE, HEAVEN, LIFE, UNBELIEVABLE, LEGEND...wait for it....DARY! The Gilis are three small islands about 2 hours (by speedboat) from Bali. We had heard from a few backpackers that if we ever found ourselves in Indonesia, we HAD to go there. We were told on multiple occasions that the Gilis were the most beautiful place in the world, so we decided to spend a good 4 days there to soak up its awesomeness. 

As the ferry neared the shore, it was love at first sight. Turquoise waters, coral filled beaches, volcanoes in the backdrop, blazing sun, and blue skies, all outlining a small mass of lush, green hills. We stayed on Gili Trawagnan (Gili T), which is the biggest and most social of the three, but it is still only a 2 hour walk around the entire island (which I advise you NOT to do at sunset, even if you are overwhelmed by beautiful sunsets on empty sands, but then suddenly find yourself even more overwhelmed by fear of being on a deserted beach turned unlit road in the middle of an island in Indonesia with no clue where to go and being completely dependent on the flashlight on your cellphone that looks like it was made circa 2000. But don't worry...that's not not what happened). ANYWAYS, it was true love. We spent our days lounging on the sand or in our own little hut on the water, and moved ourselves over to the array of beanbags/mats on the beach to enjoy some dinner and a mojito at night (that happened a lot). Once the sun was down and I showered in my open bathroom (roofless!), we made our way over to one of a few giant movie screen projectors, nestled into a beanbag on the beach and enjoyed a good movie with some delicious ice cream (that also happened a lot). The island was incredibly relaxed, made even more-so by the banning of dogs and motors (no cars, motorbikes, trucks, etc), so I was one happy chica. Basically, I've been spoiled. Gili stole my heart. It was truly heartbreaking to get back on the ferry to go back to Bali. But when I realized I was going on a ferry to go back to BALI, I knew everything would be A-OK.

True LOVE

Hut action.

This happened

And a lot of bit of this happened. Like my henna?

Soccer with volcanoes in the background. NBD. 

YUM