We have been trying to get to Bali for at least 2 years, but Indonesia is a large country. We have always wanted to include Komodo National Park, which gets a bit difficult, as flights from Hong Kong into Bali and on to Flores never match up, so a day is needed on either side for travel. This year we finally got our asses into gear and booked a 10-day trip. A month before we were set to travel, myself and Chris decided to get married, we planned our wedding around this holiday and made it our ‘honeymoon’.
The flight from Hong Kong into Bali’s Denpasar airport takes 5 hours and conveniently there is no time difference. The air tickets were surprisingly affordable, considering that we were entering school summer holidays and high season in Indonesia.We usually check-in online, but with all the chaos of the week leading up to our Bali trip, and saying goodbye to various family members who had come to Hong Kong to see us get married, we forgot to do so. Big mistake! There were no seats left next to each other, which I found a little distressing considering we were starting our first adventure as a married couple. Despite me shedding a few tears at the airport, I pulled myself towards myself and put my big girl panties on and convinced myself it was not the end of the world.
On arrival at Denpasar airport we were confronted with chaos. Multiple planes had arrived at once and the queuing system is non-existent. We, as South African passport holders, can get a 30-day visa on arrival at the airport for free. It took close to an hour to get through passport control, after which we walked through to the arrivals hall and were met with even more chaos. We had arranged an airport transfer to our first hotel and had been told they would be waiting for us with a placard. What they didn’t tell us was that there would be another 100 or so people also holding placards. This was incredibly overwhelming and very awkward when trying to read signs but trying not to get in the way of other people.
We decided to take a break from looking and buy a sim card from Telcomsel. We didn’t shop around, so Chris was fuming when he saw other vendors around the corner selling for cheaper. The disorganisation of the arrivals hall definitely threw us off and had us snapping at each other in frustration. We still couldn’t find our name so decided to walk to the front, find a quiet place and call the hotel with our new sim card. As we turned the corner, we came across another crowd of tour operators searching for their tourists, so we began meticulously reading what felt like another billion placards, and luckily this time round located our name.
We then drove 45min (29km) inland north to Ubud – the cultural centre of Bali. I had initially been quite hesitant about it, as I thought it was going to be very touristy, but the fact that many crafts/furniture/arts comes from this region had piqued my interest. We arrived at our hotel in the early evening; I had booked Bali Shanti via booking.com. The hotel is very small, with only a few rooms. We had a massive room, which was more than double the size of our tiny Hong Kong flat, with a big outdoor self-catering kitchen, couch, and jacuzzi. Breakfasts were sufficient and served on our covered terrace, and staff were helpful and friendly. Location was a little off the main stretch but still close enough to walk. We were able to rent a scooter directly through Bali Shanti which was super convenient. We really enjoyed our stay here and would happily recommend it and even stay there again.
To us, Ubud had a bit of a hippie vibe, catering for yogis, vegans, vegetarians, and the very environmentally conscious. I have not seen the words gluten free, coeliac friendly, vegetarian or vegan so many times in my life! Being a firm believers that every meal must contain meat, we were actually pleasantly surprising at how wonderful some of the food tasted, despite not containing meat. It has reminded us that it’s good cooking and not necessarily only the ingredients that makes food tasty. A few restaurants stand out that we would happily recommend:
Bali Budda – this turns out to be somewhat of a chain but we were not disappointed and we could not fault it. We had amazing food here. The flavour combinations were inspired. This was our first meal in Ubud and we were quite sad after the meal as we knew this food experience was going to be hard to beat. Dishes that stood out: Zucchini poor man’s pesto pasta, chicken burger in charcoal bun, and the chocolate mud cake. They also have these little squares of planted grass you can place at your feet and use as a foot rest. I thought that was very fun.
Warung Falafel – is known for its…you guessed it…falafel. We went for an ‘appetiser’ before supper after seeing it in the Lonely Planet, and we were not disappointed. I only wished we had gone earlier so I could have eaten a bigger meal as falafel is one of the few truly veggie things I enjoy.
Warung titi – this was Chris’ pick and he did well. It is owned and run by a man who opened the restaurant a year ago; he grows all his own veg on the property and is clearly incredibly proud of what he has created. He and his staff wear fancy earpieces, are very professional, and the service is spot on. They have added special touches like lemon grass/citronella mozzie spray on the table (as all the seating is outside) and the owner himself explains the menu. The menu is varied enough to cater to many tastes but also small enough for items to be done properly and to a high standard. The location was 700m down the road we were staying on, which was great for us, but everyone else there had either caught a taxi or had come by bike. We were again very happy with the meal but the fact the owner himself was present and very attentive during the experience gave it a personable feeling. We also loved that we were eating produce that was home grown, especially coming from Hong Kong where fresh is a relative term.
In between all the eating we did manage to see some sites. Our first day out it was raining, and chatting to the guys at the hotel, it had been unusually wet considering it was the ‘dry’ season. Of course, we hadn’t considered this, so had no waterproof stuff (when will we learn!). We hired a scooter and headed toward the Tegallalang rice terraces and got a poncho en route to protect my camera gear in case the rain got a little out of control. We passed the ‘main’ touristy stretch near the rice terraces, more by mistake than anything but landed in a parking lot near the swing at Dewy Cafe. The parking lot was large with plenty of space and way less chaotic than the main stretch. We entered a section of the terraces from this point. We had read online that along the route there would be multiple people requesting ‘donations’ to allow you to ‘pass’ – as a result we had come prepared with small denomination notes. We, however, only saw 2 donation stations one at the top and one a little further down which was un-manned.
On our way down, we were asked by local farmers, wearing the typical tented hats, to have photos with them – I am so wary of this, as there is usually a demand for money after the photo has been taken, and it can become very awkward. We opted out, but another girl we met along the path said she was duped into paying up after the fact. We continued down the path not really knowing where we were heading; it was very wet and muddy and the path a little precarious. This section was void of tourists and thus we had it to ourselves, which was fantastic, but also meant it was a little bit of hit and miss with the path picking.
Along the route we met a girl from the UK who joined us. It started raining and I was very grateful for the bright blue poncho I had bought earlier on. We made our way into the valley and back out on the other side and had a drink at a local lady’s hut, and enjoyed the view while the rain continued. Once the rain had stopped, we made our way back and had a quick lunch at the Dewy Cafe, which has wonderful views and is a nice spot from which to appreciate the scenery if you are unsteady on your feet or not interested in walking down. I would highly recommend closed shoes, sun hat/sunscreen if it is a sunny day, and raincoat/umbrella/poncho if rainy. It was very slippery, and there was more than one occasion that my foot slipped and my converse shoes were submerged in mud.
After this, on our scooter, we headed to the Elephant cave. We were so distracted by all the craft shops on the main road out to the rice terraces that what should have taken us 15min took us nearly 2 hrs. We stopped to look at carved skulls, which we loved, and met a few artists who were doing the actual carving themselves.
After this detour we arrived at Elephant cave (Goa Gajah), which is a temple site so all men and women are required to cover their shoulders and knees. Sarongs are provided by the staff at the entrance, it costs IDR15,000 per person, and we had come prepared with our sarongs we had bought on our trip to Sumatra last year, which have become very useful and are packed with us for every holiday and kept in our backpack for tourist sites like this. On entering the complex, a man approached us to offer a guided tour but was charging what we thought was a lot, and so we decided to not do it and rather look around and read up later – he then became quite upset and rude, which is all too often the case with tourist sites like this. We had a look around; the gardens of the complex are very beautiful and the carvings on the outside of the cave are impressive but overall we weren’t terribly enthralled by this destination – glad we did it but not likely to ever come back. Maybe we would have gotten more out of it if we had paid for a guide? We will never know!
On our 2nd day we headed to the Water Palace, Ubud palace and Ubud crafters market. The Water Palace, it turns out, is an Instagram hotspot. Chris, unfortunately, is not the best insta-husband and I am not the biggest poser, so we just watched the other poor men who were working their insta-magic. The main section of the palace was not open so we only had access to the lily ponds.
We then headed to the Ubud palace (Puri Saren Agung); the architecture, carvings, and intricacy of the design was very beautiful. We wandered around, which didn’t take very long, sometimes I prefer to just look and appreciate something, rather than get bogged down in all the history and long-winded explanation for every little detail.
The Ubud crafters market is just across the road from the palace. We had already seen many of the Indonesian trinkets sold here along the road out to the rice terraces, and buying directly from the crafters themselves is much cheaper. That said, I did still manage to find a few things to buy, despite living in the tiniest house ever, with NO space for decorative items.
Our evenings in Ubud were spent wandering along the main road and its tributaries. There are so many vibey bars dotted along this stretch, interspersed with interesting shops and what seemed like an excessive number of ice cream parlours.
So that was Ubud…next stop Flores, Labuan Bajo…and flying foxes…
We caught a flight from Denpasar to Komodo airport (Labuan bajo– the main town of the island of Flores). Our flight was delayed and this put us under some pressure as we had booked with Flores Awesome Trip to go see the flying foxes and needed to hit the ground running. Ofan the tour guide was in communication with us the whole time and was downright fantastic, and was happy to adjust times to fit in with our new schedule. We made a quick dash to the hotel to check in and drop our bags and then met up with Ofan to start our tour. Ofan had arranged a local lunch of chicken and rice, and provided water and crisps for our boat journey. We headed out on a local boat which was incredibly slow with a loud engine; however, given the scenery there was a lot to take in. The hills of Rinca island as you enter Komodo National Park are sparse, dry and golden in colour and with the contrast of the blue sea makes for a unique setting. As we were running late, the snorkelling part of our trip was cut out completely, but we still managed to walk up to the view point on one of the little koppies. The path was a little dusty, steep, and I must say more of a scramble, but the view from the top was worth it. I was quite worried climbing up as I had no idea how I would climb back down. It was, however, relatively easy and all the worry was for nothing – slow and steady wins the race!
After this we had a few moments to put our feet in the water and take some photos, then back on board to head to ‘bat island’ aka Kalong Island, which is merely a mangrove tree island where very large bats, aka flying foxes, come to roost during the day. They leave their roosts just after sunset every evening and fly up to 50km to their feeding grounds where they eat fruit. They will stay out until dawn after which they will fly back to their roost on the same island.
This was one of the highlights of our trip – we were initially very sceptical as the sun went down and a few normal size bats emerged and then nothing…but after a short wait we started seeing large bats emerging and then more and more and more until I could no longer count them. They were massive with wing spans of some being at least 1m tip to tip. They flew into the strong wind and towards the full moon and they just kept coming and coming. It was truly spectacular and something I wish we had had time to do again. It was amazing and so worth the boat trip out. We had to leave to get back to shore on time, but even as we were leaving (around 18:45) they were still flying out.
On the way back to Labuan Bajo we used the StarFinder app to map the sky, and spent the rest of the boat ride back to shore discussing the constellations with our guide and his friend. Stars are something we don’t see in Hong Kong, and on these trips to sparsely populated places we appreciate them all the more. Back on dry land we headed back to our hotel –Bayview Garden Hotel which is a Lonely Planet recommendation. The drawback with this hotel is that it is perched on the hill overlooking the harbour, making its views great but the walk not so much. It offered well sized rooms with a nice balcony where breakfast is served, but seeing as we were only there for 1 night, and since our flight was delayed, we didn’t really get to use the room and enjoy the view as much as we had hoped. While in Labuan Bajo we had a very below average meal, but ended it with a very above average dessert at a place called Happy Banana. We had heard about the vegan chocolate mousse from a lady we had met in Sri Lanka earlier in the year (she had also told us about the flying foxes!) We made a point of heading there and were not disappointed; we shared one and instantly regretted that decision.
Into Komodo National Park we go…
The following morning we headed to a private island for a little bit of luxury and all-inclusive enjoyment. We had booked 3 nights on Angel Island Eco Resort– a 30 min boat ride from Labuan Bajo. There are only 10 villas on the island, 3 beaches to enjoy, and an amazing house reef complete with baby black-tipped reef sharks that you can see from the shore. The all-inclusive offer is pretty sweet, with the staff encouraging you to order food and drinks whenever and wherever you wish. I was obsessed with the honey coconut pancakes and literally had them at least twice a day! Chris loved the fresh seafood sourced from the local fishermen who fish with lines outside the protected areas. They don’t serve shellfish, squid, octopus or cuttlefish as these are often obtained using destructive fishing techniques. Every afternoon the hotel staff found us, wherever we were on the island, to give us the chefs treat of the day – doughnuts, cake, scones. We were never hungry!
Our afternoons on the island were spent snorkelling, paddling a kayak around the island, lounging on the beach and enjoying the sunsets. The best beach to view the sunsets is a short walk from the chalets through a woodlands area where a migratory duck some to nest and many crab caves are seen. Most evening myself and Chris had the beach to ourselves.
While staying there we organised 2 day trips. The first to Komodo National Park to dive and the other to Rinca Island to see the Komodo Dragons (The largest lizards in the world and the real reason for the whole trip).
Everyone we know who has ever gone to Komodo says the diving is absolutely world class – not just the quantity of fish but the diversity of species as well as the corals, that are less damaged than other parts of the world. The Angel Island Resort dive staff were great, the dive master was very thorough with safety checks, and gave detailed briefing on the sites and what we expected to see. We did 2 sites, one of which was Makassar (aka manta point). I had read about this spot and requested to dive it in the hope of seeing manta rays. We were not disappointed – but where some divers report seeing multiple rays, we only saw 1 – again nature is unpredictable and your gas tank only lasts so long (and between myself and Chris I am the weakest link, I guzzle air like there is no tomorrow). We did see some other very cool fish to make up for it – massive napoleon fish, loads of black and white-tipped reef sharks, eagle rays, black and white sea snake and sea turtles among many, many more. The size of some of the fish was outstanding, and for them to reach these sizes is phenomenal considering the decimation of the ocean.
A visit to the Komodo Dragons is about a 2-hour boat ride from Angel island. We headed for Rinca island, as Komodo island is just a bit too far if you are not staying on a live-aboard within the park. When you arrive on the island there are multiple guides offering their services; one of the guys on our boat organised a guide and tickets. We unfortunately got a guide with a less than desirable attitude. He explained we had 3 options – a short 30 min walk, a medium 1 hour walk and a long 2-hour walk. Our guide was visibly unhappy when we requested the long walk. I figured we have come all this way we might as well make the most of it. What we didn’t count on was the guide hating his job and life. We started on our walk and half way up a not so large hill he was panting heavily and said he needed to rest, he then muttered that we would never see dragons on this walk. I then asked him what he meant and he said he had already told us… it was midday and the dragons would be hiding in shade, plus it was mating season – already less chance of seeing them anyways. We were with 2 other people on the tour and if it weren’t for them we would have hedged our bets and just done the long walk; I did not, however, want to be responsible for ruining their trip. We didn’t come to hike but rather to see dragons. Our long walk was thus amended into a short walk.
We were guided around with the guide refusing to answer certain questions until HE felt the scenery warranted the question – e.g. I was not allowed to ask about dragon reproduction until the nesting site. It was all very odd. We had heard from another traveller that many dragons are seen near the park ranger’s kitchen. The locals deny feeding them but they tend to lie around this area anyways. We eventually finished our very artificial (and short) walk and ended at the kitchen were BINGO the dragons were lying. To say I was angry was an understatement. I felt cheated and super upset that the asshole guide had forced us to do what he wanted and not what his client wanted. How I think it should have happened is that we start at kitchens, get the obligatory photo posing behind a dragon and then go on our long walk and maybe we get lucky and see more dragons or maybe we spend 2hrs in the sun for no reason.
When coming back to HK we chatted to our friends who did do the long walk – they saw dragons and water buffalo and they even saw the dragons eating a buffalo. The way we saw the Dragons makes me sad, but I guess looking at the positive we at least saw them on the island they’re natural to, so I try not to dwell on the negative too much. They are fascinating creatures and if you believe everything on Wikipedia (Varanus Komodoensi), they have some really weird adaptations that have enabled their survival. I will definitely try return and next time do things slightly differently – maybe do a live-aboad, dive more in Komodo, and see dragons on Komodo island with, hopefully, a happier guide!
On to our last leg of our journey and as per usual our flight was delayed…surprise surprise…
Nusa Dua….Where do I begin…. hmmm… I thought forcing relaxation at a resort would be good for myself and Chris. Ha, was I wrong. All I found out is that WE ARE NOT RESORT PEOPLE. Sitting around a pool sipping on cocktails and reading our books is great for about an hour, then Chris gets bored and starts bugging me. In addition to that we both get FOMO about eating….yes, there are 3 different restaurants on site, but what about all the others in the area? So we found ourselves leaving the resort more than we stayed. Nusa Dua is not my ideal place; it is known for its resorts, the beach was very average, and Chris (a sea lover) didn’t even venture in. Overall, I was super disappointed with my choice (We stayed at Bali Tropic, the resort was beautiful but needs a lot of improvements); in addition to that, I even walked out of a massage! It was not a high-end spa so wasn’t expecting luxury, but I did expect some sort of a Balinese massage which is nothing near what I got…I was lying there being basted in oil while the massage therapists chatted away, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and it was stressing me out more than it was relaxing me, so for the first time in my life I didn’t just accept shit quality. I walked out and gave them a bad review on TripAdvisor while waiting for Chris to finish his massage. While checking out other reviews on TripAdvisor, I realised this was the ‘norm’ for this establishment. Not ok!
There is a shopping area near the resorts (Bali Collection) but after being in Ubud and knowing what all of the tourist tat actually costs from the guys making it, it made us even more upset as there was a serious mark up, and they were just ripping the tourists off. Despite all the negatives, we did however have one great meal in Nusa Dua. Chris’ choices again…Raja Bali serves Balinese food and we had their ‘Balinese Rijsttafel’ which is a tasting platter for 2. The service was fantastic, food was delicious and there was heaps of it, more than we could eat. It allowed us to end our trip having tasted many of the major Balinese dishes, experiencing warm friendly Indonesian service, and reminding us why we love this country.
Overall thoughts…
There will always be things on your travels that do not go to plan and are not what you expected or hoped for. We have realised that you cannot let things like this get you down or ruin your travels. Despite knowing this, I still spend many an occasion in tears, but usually after a while Chris has talked me down and I stop looking at the negative and flip the story and focus on the positive (something I have to work at). When I recall these holidays, I don’t remember the bad, only the good. The memory is an amazing thing!
We will be back to Bali, and we will make an effort to visit Ubud again. We will go back to Komodo National Park, and we will dive more. Flores has an international airport opening up in the near future which will make it more accessible, and we look forward to exploring more of this little bit of paradise.
Practical travel info
Sim card at the airport:
- Telcomsel- US $24 for 12GB + 30min local talk time
- Scooter rental: +/- IDR 70 000/day- Helmets are highly recommended. Check the bike before you take it and it’s probably a good idea to take a video/photo so you have a record of what state you took it in.
- Get the number of who to call should you be involved in an accident. It happens fairly frequently and many tourist’s spoke of being ripped off my rental shops or repair shops.
Flights within Indonesia:
- Don’t expect flights to be on time- work on everything being delayed rather than be disappointed.
- Garuda Air is the more expensive airline but they were more delayed than the lower cost airline. That said, one of the low-cost airlines, Lion Air, recently had a plane crash into the sea.
Rice terraces:
- When the rice terraces are harvested, they can look less picturesque. We arrived a few days after the harvest which did not bother us but on TripAdvisor I had seen many people who were unreasonably disappointed.
- There is an option to go on a massive swing suspended from 2 coconut trees – we weren’t particularly interested – but can see the appeal as the photos are beautiful. There was, however, recently a death in this area that was swing related.
Ubud and Water palace and crafters market:
- If visiting the Ubud palace, Water palace and crafters market and going by scooter, park at the museum parking lot, its off the road and no payment needed.
Shopping:
- All the crafts along the route out to the rice fields are sold in the crafter’s market at much higher prices. It may be a little less convenient but buying directly from the artists themselves always makes more sense for both the artist and customer.
- Carved skulls: Do not buy non-carved skulls. They checked all our skulls at the airport – we were asked to unwrap them to ensure they was carved. I am not 100% why it makes a difference?
- We only purchased cow and sheep skulls. The water buffalo skulls were enormous and beautiful, as were the crocodile and wild boar, but we were just not 100% sure what the sustainability is – the last thing we would ever want to do is add to the demise of an animal species. We understand and accept the use of bones as a by-product of the meat industry – which, being meat eaters – we are comfortable with.
- There were also numerous shell carvings which were breath-taking but I highly doubt such large specimens were sourced ethically. Think before you buy!
What we wished we had brought with us:
- Ponchos/rain jackets
- Refillable water bottle
- Waterproof cell phone pouch
What we used over and over again:
- Reusable shopper
- Cardigan (despite it supposedly being the height of summer)
- Bug spray
