Yes, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia? Yes, Taxi?

The “Yes” thing is something you hear all over Indo. Yes, Taxi? Yes, Massage? How about No. It just cracks us up.

Ok back to the real topic of discussion, Ubud. Ubud is the “Eat Pray Love” of Indonesia. Overall, Ubud is a great place to get an understanding of the traditional Balinese lifestyle; Compounds with walls all around, with each family having their own “bungalow:. Many generations in one housing area and they all rely on each other.

We stayed in a similar setup. Palace on the outside, but shack on the inside – wait where’s the sink? Can’t complain about $8 a night per person in a fabulous town.

Our humble abode

How do you like them knockers?

Here’s the run down on our 4 last and amazing days in Bali: Yoga Barn. Healer. Legong and Barong Dance Performance at Ubud Palace. Organic Food. Monkeys. Rafting. I would love to live here for a couple months and just zen out. So relaxing. I loved it.

Barong Dance Performance - Ubud Palace

Barong Dance Performance

Yoga Barn's Studio

Rice Paddies

Ready to Raft the Telaga Waja River

Telaga Waja River

At the healer, Tjokorda Gde Rai. Very neat experience.

Ubud also had such delicious food. Best food I’ve had this entire trip. So Yummy!

Ibu Oka Pork Combination Plate

Duck at Wayan Cafe

Art Cafe's amazing fresh fish dish with cous cous. I was in heaven!

How Adorable is Art Cafe?

Snake Fruit - looks like garlic, but I liked it.

If you ever visit Ubud don’t miss:

Art Café – adorable on the inside and I’m still craving that grilled snapper!

Ibu Oka – crispy pig meal, don’t go to the one of the main street. Walk down the alley next to Opps Bar/Ice Cream (the 5-10 min walk is really random). 50 cent fresh juice afterwards is amazing as well, right outside this spot.

Bali Buddha – Healthy Organic food

Wayan Restaurant – a bit more expensive, but so good

Bamboo Restaurant – for a drink & live cover bands

Yoga barn for some hatha goodness

Monkey Forest – Be careful with food, if you have it give it to them – the monkeys will climb up on you to get it.

White water rafting Telaga Waja River – Overall gorgeous, but pay the extra few dollars a person for a better company. Our raft literally disintegrated; went flat and the seat fell off.

There are loads more to do, even 4 days wasn’t enough for us. I will definitely be back here someday!

much love,

bri bri

P.S. I have my own bank & monkey if you didn't know ;-)

Kuta, Seminyak & Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia

I’m a bit behind on posts, but here we go for Part 1 of Bali: Kuta, Seminyak and Nusa Dua.

Our first stop was one night in Kuta. Kuta seems exciting at first, but it’s a shit show. Tons of very young ridiculously drunk Aussies (wanting to “jiggy jig” all night), a must experience but one night is more than enough. Being around 16 year olds made me feel quite old. Gili T was much more fun to go out at night.

The Balinese were very sweet people. Part of our day in Kuta was getting some rays on Kuta Beach and luckily I caught a few waves with a borrowed board (as I said people are so nice! Although being a single blonde could have helped in that).  While relaxing on the beach, we did get bombarded with kids practicing English by asking us a survey, but we were happy to help. It was nice to see the future of the country becoming bi-lingual.

Overall we were blown away at how inexpensive EVERYTHING was - $2 pedi, $4 massage, 80 cent veggie soup or $1.50 chicken curry. If you’re in Kuta go to our favorite spot – Bamboo Restaurant on Poppies Lane 1 I believe.  Poppies Lane 1 and 2 are chalked full of souvenirs, restaurants, massage shops and guesthouses. The markets have lots of inexpensive and cheap goods (if you’re willing to barter it out). Be wary though, I did say cheap - already a few things I bought fell apart. Wait until Ubud to do the shopping if you want anything to last.

Kuta Beach, Bali

Kuta Nightlife

Petrol for Sale...Initially I thought this was Sun Tea haha

Seminyak and Nusa Dua are commercialized resort areas. At both resorts it was nice to just relax, have aircon and a hot shower. Neither of these spots were very eventful since we were trying to make use of the luxuries of the room. Nusa Dua is family oriented, gated and very pricey. I would recommend avoiding Nusa Dua unless you don’t want to experience Indonesia and feel like you’re on a resort in Hawaii.

In Seminyak we were in awe of the W hotel and how ridiculously nice it was. As a backpacker staying at the W, definitely made me feel out of place - too pretentious even if it was stunning. Seriously, music underwater? Retractable roof in our NYC apartment sized bathroom? Bose speakers? $20 breakfast ah!  Although, eating free pizza with a DJ spinning at happy hour while watching the sunset was fantastic.

Seminyak, Bali

Adrian and I rented a couple surf boards one afternoon, only to get our asses kicked. We did get another, more relaxing, sunset surf session in while in Nusa Dua. Amazing just to be out on the water.

While the boys went shopping in Denspar (funny right?), I headed up to Coggnigi to Desa Seni. I highly recommend spending an afternoon here. I was in heaven finally having a nutritious organic meal, yum! All of the produce is grown right there on the grounds. I was so excited to practice Yoga in Indonesia. It truly was wonderful to have a class outside in the “gazebo” studio. 

Desa Seni

Another highlight was Uluwatu temple at sunset.  You could easily do a half-day trip from Sanur or Kuta. Monkeying around as the sun goes down:

If you'd like to see the rest of my photos, check them out on picasa:

Kuta, Seminyak & Nusa Dua, Bali

สุขสันต์วันคริสมาสต์

& A Beachey Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas from Chicken Island, Krabi, Thailand! Sending all our love -David, Sarah, Bri Bri and Adrian 

Gili T, Lombok, Indonesia

Just a short 2 hour boat ride from Bali and bam - Gili Trawangan (Gili T)! My first step on this island and I was reminiscing to Caye Caulker Belize where Sarah S & I were Open Water Scuba Certified.

Gili T is one of three small islands off of the Northwest coast of Lombok.  No Cars, No motorbikes, only horse carts, bicycles or your own two feet.  Very refreshing after experiencing the insanity of Kuta, Bali (Bali will be another post). You can bike around the whole island in about 30 minutes. Now this is island life! I loved it - adorable bungalows, my type of chill nightlife, everybody was friendly and helpful. We finally met tons of great travelers like us. Good memories and great advice for countries to come. It was inspiring talking to year- long travelers and even some living abroad. The scheming begins in my head….

Our Home for 3 nights - Big Bubble Bungalow

Happy Hour at Sama Sama Reggae Bar

This trip was all about diving for me.  Tons of great dive shops (we were staying at one) and with the Similan Island dive trip ahead I decide to get Advanced Open Water certified so I can dive too deeper depths. Thanks Pablo!  5 dives with skill tests within two days was intense! Many many underwater pictures J

Lionfish during my Night Dive

Nemo Aka Clown Anemonfish

Tips for anybody who may be headed to Gili T:

How to get there – Fast boat is well worth it, 2 hours with a snack. We talked them down to $50/per person for a roundtrip including pick up and drop off at the hotel

Places to Stay – Pesona or Big Bubble

Places to Eat – Scallywags

Places to Dive – Big Bubble with Pablo (dive and snorkel trip prices are fixed on the island)

3 days on this amazing island was not enough for me. Who’s coming back with me? 17k more islands to explore!

Here are all the Gili T pictures on Picasa:

Gili Trawangan - Lombok