12 Things You Must Do In Bali

In 2011, I went to Bali for two weeks and absolutely loved it. The people are amazing, the beaches are beautiful, the food is delicious and it's all super cheap. Here are some tips for the things we loved. All the photos are mine unless noted underneath. For the full photo album from Bali, click here. 


Tanah Lot Temple at Sunset 

A gorgeous temple that is located in the ocean, close enough so you can walk there when the tide is low. When tide is high, it is surrounded by water. We visited at sunset and it was just beaitiful. There are quite a few tourist shops around so you can buy snacks, drinks, etc. More info: Tanah Lot Wiki Site

Monkey Forest

You can find Monkey Forest in Ubud. This area of Bali is far from any beaches and home to lush forests and rice fields. It is a spiritual place and was where she stayed in "Eat, Pray, Love". Monkey Forest is free to visit and you can walk around see tons of monkeys. Just be careful, they do like to grab things! More info: Monkey Forest Website

Seafood Dinner on the Beach in Jimbaran Bay

There are tons of restaurants located along the sand that are set up for dinner at sunset. You will be so close to the ocean, that you will have the water sweeping over your feet at you eat. We did this twice and paid waaaay too much the first time. Then we learned the best spot was Menega Cafe which offered amazing seafood and was really cheap. You can actually see the seafood all lined up and pick what you want! Full seafood meal for 2 people (incl Lobster) was about $20 USD. Unreal. More info: Jimbaran Wiki Site

Surf

Photos from: http://biyo2011.wordpress.com/category/about-bali/

There are TONS of beaches for surfing in Bali and they offer everything from beginner waves to ridiculous pro surfing quality waves. You can either walk to the waves, rent a scooter for the day or hire a driver. All the options are very cheap.

Visit the Rice Fields

We actually tried to find these rice fields for an entire day. We probably should have stopped to ask someone.... but we didn't. We want to find something that looked like the photo on the front of our guide book for Bali (we are dorks!). We rented a scooter in Ubud and finally found them at the end of the day. There was even a local man there who charged $1 for photos with him... it was worth it. More info: Trip Advisor Rice Terraces

Echo Beach Sunday Night

Every Sunday at Echo Beach they have a live band and a seafood BBQ. This means you can walk up a huge layout of fresh-caught seafood and pick what you want them to grill for you. Then you get to devour this fresh seafood with amazing cocktails (try the ) and listen to a great band as the sunsets. Not much is better than that. More info: Echo Beach Website 

Rent a Scooter

We were VERY apprehensive to do this at first because of the craziness of the Bali streets. It is very scary. But after a few days we decided it would be the best bet to get around. They change less than $5 USD/day for the rental. Just remember to always get a good helmet and be VERY careful.

Rock Bar at Sunset

I celebrated my birthday in Bali and we decided to try out The Rock Bar for birthday drinks and apps. It is situated on the edge of a cliff with ocean views all around it. The only thing to remember for this place is that it isn't cheap. The drinks and food is pricey but definitely worth it to splurge on this one. Call ahead to see if you can reserve a table and make sure to stay for an unbelievable sunset. More info: Rock Bar Website

Try the Local Cuisine 

I absolutely LOVED the food in Bali. Here are some of my favourites: Nasi Goreng (pictured above) - Fried Rice topped with an egg, Chicken Satay - marinated chicken on a stick with peanut sauce, TONS of fresh seafood, pancakes - more like crepes with bananas or mangos, Fruit drinks - fresh fruit mixed with ice and some sugar (my favs were watermelon and pineapple) and of course fresh coconuts with a straw!

Temple at Uluwatu 

This temple is located on the edge of a cliff and offers amazing views. You have to wear a traditional sarong when entering the temple, so it's a bit more traditional than some of the other tourists spots. Watch out for the monkey's here! They like to steal your cold drinks and cameras if you aren't careful. Close by you will find Padang-Padang Beach which is gorgeous white sand and clear water, a must do as well! More info: Trip Advisor Uluwatu

Get A Beach Massage

I am a sucker for a good massage. In Bali they are unbelievably cheap. In town, you can get a full hour massage for $5 USD. We did that a few times! Also, on the beach, they come right up to your beach chair and offer you massages. (you don't even need to move!) These ones run about $5 for 20 minutes but you can always barter with them. Oh man, I miss this SO much :)

Drinks at Ku De Ta

Photos from http://indonesia.travel/forum/

One of my biggest regrets is that we didn't get to check out this beach front restaurant. We were headed there one night but were too tired and didn't make it. We will definitely have to check it out next time we are in Bali! More info: Ku De Ta Website

Cuddling Koalas in Australia

Last week I was lucky to be given a chance to visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and cuddle with one of the cutest animals on earth. I was able to see them being fed, go inside the enclosure to take photos and also cuddle with one for a photo!

Here are some facts about koalas:

• Koala's aren't actually bears. They are called Koala Bears since they look like Teddy Bears, they are actually a marsupial mammal.
• There are only 2,000-8,000 koalas left in the wild
• Koala's can sleep for up to 19 hours a day!
• They live, sleep and eat in Eucalyptus trees
• They eat up to 1KG of Eucalyptus leaves each day, this doesn't provide much energy, so that is why they sleep so much
• There are over 800 different species of Eucalyptus leaves but Koala's will only eat 50 of them

The setting at Lone Pine is perfect for learning about and seeing all the animals. It's a smaller sanctuary so it doesn't take as long to get around and doesn't have an many tourists to fight through. I went at the very beginning of the day so there was hardly anyone there. Midday on the weekends can be busier but weekdays are great if you like a quieter experience.

Here are some facts about the Koala's at Lone Pine:

• They have approx 130 koala's
• They are split up into Boys (teenaged), Kindergarten (toddlers) and Retirement (older ones)
• Lone Pine has 4 eucalyptus plantations around Brisbane. Each day 2 leaf cutters visit one of them and cut 3/4 of a tonne of leaves for the koalas
• They have a strict policy about how long each koala works (pose in photos with people) They aren't allowed to work longer than 3 hours a day and no more than 3 days a week.
• Queensland is the only state in Australia that let's you cuddle koala's. You won't be able to experience this in Melborne or Sydney!
• There were photos on the wall of all the celebrities that have come and held koala's here. They included: Pope John Paul II, John Travolta, Queen Mother, Janet Jackson, Eric Clapton, Taylor Swift, Marilyn Manson and many more.

Special thanks to Lone Pine & Tourism Queensland for this awesome experience!

Check out their sites here:

http://www.koala.net/

http://blog.queensland.com/

Here are some more photos from Lone Pine:

A Day in Cozumel

So I had 48 hours to spend in Playa Del Carmen with a friend I met from Texas so we decided to spend one of the days in Cozumel. We took a 10am ferry from Playa Del Carmen to Cozumel, its about $20 USD for a round trip.

We rented a scooter from one of 100's of booths when you get off the ferry. It was about $30 USD for the whole day. They gave us a map and highlighted some of the cool things to check out. We headed out to Chankanaab which is one of the best snorkeling spots apparently. When we got there we found out it was set up like an amusement park type place with $20 USD admission and various costs for snorkel equipement. When you rent equipement you get a free locker so that was good. We headed out and found a few fish but had to look for quite awhile before we found spots filled with TONS of fish.

Jon with a statue

There are also statues at the bottom on the ocean that you can look for those and take some cool pics with them. Jon from Texas was a little more adventurous than me so he checked out the statues and I took his word for it. The photos below will really show what the snorkeling was like.

Me and the scooter!

Next, we headed, or should I say 'scooted' back to the main town for some lunch. I got a recommendation from a friend to check out a locals spot called La Choza. Since it was a little off the beaten path (and very damn street is a one way) this took us quite awhile. Finally we found it and had a great lunch of soup, fajitas, and beers. They bring out fresh natchos and spicy cheese sauce when you sit down and it is sooo good. We were too full so couldn't try the avocado pie for dessert. I will always wonder what avocado pie tastes like.

La Choza

We asked the waitress where the best spot to hang out before the ferry and she suggested No Name Bar so we headed over there. This place is hidden from street is a little alley. You go in and find a huge back hotel with bar, beach, hammocks, pool and tons of people swimming and partying. It is owned and operated by an ex cruise ship crew member.  He started it for crew members who were in town for the day and looking for a place to relax. We hung out, swam and rested in hammocks for an hour and then went back to ferry.

No Name Bar

Scooter guy said that the people who came in after us to rent a scooter had it break down on them. They were stranded on the street and I think had to walk back. We were very lucky our scooter worked well all day. Scootering is definately fun.

Oh and it was damn hot. 41C with humidity. wow. The sunset on the way home was incredible, a HUGE red glowing sun over the ocean. Too bad my camera didn't capure it nicely.


 

Halaekala Sunrise (Maui, Hawaii)

Viewing the sunrise from above the clouds is a once in a lifetime type of thing... I highly recommend this if you are in Maui.

Halaekala is an old volcano that is 10,000 ft  high. You can drive all the way to the top and watch the sunrise there. It is recommended that you get there 2 hour before sunrise so you see all the crazy colours from above the clouds. It's a good idea to bring an SLR camera, lots of battery and memory card space!

The drive up is very crazy. It will be dark and the road curls up around the crater, tons of turns and very small road. Make sure you have a driver that is alert and not sleepy. It is very cold at the top. You can borrow blankets from hotel front desk. It was 1.5 hrs from our hotel so we left around 3:30am. Generally people are apprehensive to get up this early. Have two alarm clocks set in case your boyfriend turns one off and threatens to break up with you if you make him get up at this hour. You can stop at the 24 grocery store and get snacks before the trip there.

On the way down the volcano, check out the spots below...

Kula Lodge - This is a great place to get breakfast after driving for 2 hours and standing in the cold for an hour. I think it opens around 7am and breakfast is sooo good. Try the traditional eggs/bacon/potatoes and also the pancakes with coconut syrup. Delicious. The views are incredible and the staff is great. Keep your sweater on, still very cold.

View from Kula Lodge

Surfing Goat Dairy - Little goat farm with surfboards everywhere, free tours and sampling. All the local restaurants in Maui use their goat cheese, Mmmm. If you're lucky, you might even be there when one of the goats gets onto the surfboard. Best. Moment. Ever.

Full album of Maui pics: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjpHPUid 

Here I am.

I have decided to capture some of my experiences traveling over the past 10 years. Please bear with me as I am new to this whole crazy thing. Feel free to leave comments about how bad I am at blogging or about how I'm not as witty as I think I am.

Bon Voyage.