What do I think of Bali.

Oct 10, 2018
3 min read

Bali has everything. If you are looking for touristy places stay down south or head to Ubud - the yoga capital of Bali. South coast offers good party, fancy bars and expensive smoothie bowls (great for instagraming) and good surf for beginners (just be careful not to surf over another person as it can get very crowded in the water). A placed named Canggu reminded me of Byron Bay in Australia - full of cool bars, young "hipsters" and plenty of night life. A perfect place for youngsters with money. My budget didn't allow me to eat acai bowls and sip matcha cappuccino everyday but I still enjoyed this place a lot.

Another melting point is Ubud. Very nice place where all the yogis will (probably) find their favourite yoga teacher or class. A lot of people are inspired coming to Ubud after reading or watching Eat, pray, love book/movie, wanting to go to all these places Julia Roberts went in the movie. I also liked the book but didn't really think of following her steps. I preferred to make my own. Even though Ubud is a touristy place you can still enjoy it, especially if you come in a low season (like I did). In the surrounding there are many temples worth to visit. And the drive with a scooter is fantastic. Rice fields to your left and right make your eyes hurt of its green colour.

The best part of travelling around Bali is renting a scooter and cruise around. Because of heavy traffic in some areas you must be confident in driving. There are no nervous drivers and they honk just to let you know they will overtake. The people are mostly friendly but keep in mind they will always see money in white people so be prepared to bargain, sometimes even just for a bottle of water.

I would recommend Bali for the people visiting southeast Asia for the first time. It is save, easy to move around, very cheap (It can also be expensive, depending on your preferences.) and with plenty of western style bars and restaurants in case you get tired of rice and Balinese coffee.

And these sunsets...

When my parents came to visit, we decided to take a ferry to Lombok. We stopped at all three Gili Islands and then disembarked in Bangsal which is the main port for the fast boats in Lombok. It is also one of the main areas that was damaged by the earthquakes back in August. We took a taxi down south of the island and had a chance to witness a horrible mess the first and the second earthquake have left. So many buildings collapsed, tons of concrete bricks on the side of the road... Very sad. Many people lost their homes and are now living in tents.

South of Lombok has very nice beaches with white sand and clear blue water (unfortunately now and then with pieces of plastic swimming on the surface) but don't expect to see the green scenery as in Bali. We stayed in Kuta which looks like a very nice little holiday destination. But because of the recent earthquake there were almost no tourists around.

After being in Pacific for three months it is hard to be amazed by the beaches in Bali and Lombok. It is kind of the same as going from Croatian islands to the south of Spain. In my opinion, incomparable. I'll stay in southeast Asia for another while. There are quite some countries on my list I want to visit. Actually too many. The next stop is Singapore for a few days and than Malaysia.

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