I Forgot About the Snakes

The second half of our Bali portion of this trip was to Nusa Dua, located on the east coast. The weather is very different from the jungle of Ubud. The location we are staying in is actually hosting the G 20 Summit in November, so it is the nicest part of the area and has a lot of security which always makes us feel safe. It was dark when we arrived so it was hard to get a full lay of the land, but it looked super nice. 

Day 4 Nusa Dua: J and I got to our new hotel last night (day 3) and holy shit, we were absolutely blown away by this place. We had looked it up online before coming so had an idea of what we were in for, but wow, this blew us away. When we walked into our villa, we immediately saw our very own private pool. Again, we knew we’d have this, but damn, it was gorge. There was a giant open air seating area with fan and TV and little kitchen set-up as well. On either side of the villa were our own rooms. J and I each had our own suites in this villa and each one had a giant sleeping area, walk-

in closet, giant tub, and separate shower area. My shower was exceptionally cool because it was
indoor/outdoor. One side was into my suite and the other side was directly outside, no wall. There also was a completely outdoor shower around the corner as well. It was sick, plain and simple. 

Since we arrived at night time, we decided to just grab dinner at the hotel restaurant and swim in our private pool (we may or may not have skinny dipped) and hang in our villa. As long as it was so elite (and private), we wanted to take advantage. 

When we had arrived at the hotel, we noticed there were a number of bikes out front and we knew immediately we had wanted to take them out in the morning to explore the area so we decided to start our day by taking out the bikes to explore the area a bit starting with riding down to the beach. I have never seen the Indian Ocean with my own two eyes and always like to see new things. It was a quick ride down to the water where we then parked our bikes and caught the end of the beautiful sunrise. There’s nothing quite like a sunrise over the water, especially with the huge crashing waves. It was high tide and the water came up pretty high, plus the wind was really strong which may have helped that happen. Sand was blowing everywhere too. 

There was a pretty nice path along the water that we took around for a bit before heading back on the main path to try and find the shopping center around here called Bali Collection. It’s basically like an outdoor shopping center and nothing was open yet, but we just walked and rode around there exploring. It seemed a lot of those shops must’ve gone under during COVID because there were a lot of empty stores and they didn’t look very well taken care of despite apparently being an expensive shopping center. After that, we rode back to the hotel and grabbed breakfast and ofc used our pool for a bit again, because hey, it’s here and it’s ours and it’s fabulous. 

Initially for today, we were going to go to a beach club that our guide had suggested, then head to a different beach, and then another beach club for sunset. Since our hotel had sunbeds on the beach and a shuttle directly there, we decided to save some money and some time by using theirs instead and having a more relaxed day. It was like a two minute drive to the beach and we got our sunbeds and relaxed for a bit. And of course we had to go put our feet in the water. The waves were still pretty big and the current seemed very strong as well, so up the calves was about all I had in me. If you know me, I am NOT an ocean girl. Throw me in a lake anywhere and I’m great, but the ocean is a whole different animal. The rip currents, undertow, jellyfish, sharks, man-o-wars, the abyss, etc.. all scare the crap out of me. Plus, I am not a huge fan of the salt water at all. Needless to say, unless I can see the bottom of the ocean and there are no creatures near me, I am fine; otherwise, it’s just a wading situation, which is what today was. The water was really blue and pretty though and there seemed to be a sandbar if you went out a little, but it wasn’t really a risk I was willing to take, not felt was totally necessary. 

We stayed at the beach for about an hour and a half and then decided we would head back to our pool and order lunch and just chill in the villa before getting picked up to head to the for some drinks and food. We heard it was a cool place to catch the sunset and grab some drinks. The scenery was definitely beautiful and the DJ was really good (which is a high compliment from me), but the crowd was weak. It was pretty empty for such a huge space, which is a shame. We had our drinks and a snack and called it a night pretty early. The sun sets here around 6:30 every night year round so it gets dark decently early, which of course then makes us tired. We had a very relaxing day, but were still tired so headed back to the hotel and called it a night. 

Day 5 Nusa Dua: We had an early pick-up this morning to head out to the jungle again to the village of Umabian.  There we visited another typical Balinese home and did some traditional activities like walking another (giant) rice terrace and making the fruit baskets for the full moon celebration that was taking place that evening. This rice terrace was huge and this time we actually saw rice plants. Neither J nor I fully understood how rice was grown until it was explained to us the other day, but we got to see a plant and actually see the grain in its shell. We also came across some cool wicker (I think) chairs overlooking the rice terraces and took some photos there. Then it was back to the house to make some ceremonial fruit towers. There is a full moon tonight and there was a special ceremony at many temples today celebrating it and on top of their daily offerings (and prayers), there are special offerings like the fruit tower. We learned how to weave the banana leaves for the decorations and then how the fruit is put along the bamboo. 

After those two activities, we had a traditional Balinese lunch that was delicious. It was chicken satay, white rice, vegetables, corn fritters, something with fish, and spring rolls. Everything was super authentic and tasty. 

From there, we headed to one of the most photographed temples in the world, Tanah Lot. It is perched on a giant rock and when the tide is high, you can’t reach it. You can’t enter it anyway, but it is still a site to see. We obviously went during low tide so we could get close and access it a bit. You could see the puddles in the lower rock where the ocean water was and would come up later during high tide again. There was a cave that had holy snakes in it and our guide explained that every time there is high tide, snakes from the ocean wash ashore and make their way to the cave. It is said to be good luck to touch the snake with your right hand and make a wish. If you know me, along with being scared of the ocean, I am terrified of snakes. However, our guide assured us that it would jump or anything on us so I went for it and rubbed the snake and made my wish. I was proud of myself for overcoming that little fear of mine. Our guide also explained when the tide gets high, the snakes wash back into the ocean and new and different ones wash ashore each time. So just to clarify my point earlier about the ocean being a terrifying place, let me remind you, there are also snakes in there, an organism I neglected to mention earlier, but equally, if not more terrifying than the other things I mentioned. So yeah, no ocean for me and made me feel better for being paranoid about getting in the previous day. 

Apparently being a tourist in some parts of Bali is special and the locals from the main lands of Indonesia like to touch and ask pictures of tourists. As we were walking, some woman, looking very happy and proud, basically petted my arm. I had forgotten what the guide had said and was so confused as to why this was happening and then she reiterated it and we all started laughing hysterically once again. 

After exploring Tanah Lot a bit more, we headed back to the hotel, but not before stopping at a local grocery store. J and I usually like to see what those look like abroad and try and grab ourselves some local snacks if possible. We made a quick pit stop there and then got back to the hotel, and you guessed it, relaxed by the pool until our flower bath arrived. Yes, we wanted to try one more time here since the tub looked bigger and whatever, it would be fun again for another photoshoot. The flowers were different this time and in a heart shape but the angles in the tub made it kind of difficult to get solid pics. Oh well. 

For dinner J and I really wanted pizza, but the one negative about our hotel is that it only had one restaurant and it was asian cuisine so there wasn’t much variety. We had it for dinner the last two nights and lunch and were just over it. There is no UberEats or DoorDash here and the one place they have GoFood, but it requires cash which we didn’t have. We asked the concierge to try and get us Dominoes or Pizza Hut or even Nusa Dua pizza and none would deliver to us. This was a whole time-wasting process that didn’t even get us pizza, so we sucked it up and went to the hotel restaurant again then it was time for bed. We were super tired and just wanted to crash. 

Day 5 Leaving Nusa Dua: This was our last morning in Nusa Dua and I wanted to wake-up for a sunrise run along the water. I got up and out and knew the way to the beach which was less than half a mile away. The wind was still strong like the first morning, but the waves were much less dangerous. I ran along the path (which I couldn’t help but think that my mom would love) past a bunch of other hotels and the sun was rising beautifully over the Indian Ocean. Then it was back to the hotel to eat breakfast, hop in the pool one more time, and check-out as we were heading to Australia. Our flight wasn’t until 2:50 so we wondered why we were getting picked up so early, but apparently the guide was told that our flight was at 12:50 so we got to the airport with A LOT (read: too much) time to pass by. We were a little bummed because we could’ve used that time at our hotel to just relax before heading out. But such is life. We both did tear up saying goodbye to our tour guide. She really helped elevate our experience in Bali, and although only five years older than us, we kept telling her she was like a mother figure to us while here. We also think that she really did have a great time with us. All three of us (and our driver) laughed SO MUCH. At one point, we had the driver in literal tears. 

Although we were in Bali for about five days, there is obviously a ton to see and do that we didn’t get to do in the other areas on the islands, but there is always next time. I think we took great advantage of our time here and experienced the culture, some adventure, and got to explore much of the two areas we were in and see some of the others via car rides as well. Now it’s off to Australia...