Bali Bash

I'm a couple months late with this post, but I'll be writing about my trip to Bali*, a popular island in Indonesia, with four great friends (Sanjeevi, Heath, Eric, me, and Emily from left to right in the picture below) in late September and early October.

* Note: I'll sometimes refer to the whole trip as Bali, even though we visited a couple different islands, one of them (Gili Air) part of Indonesia but not technically Bali.

The genesis of the trip was my friend Eric being between jobs and considering going to Bali on his own but then deciding to invite a few people. The trip was planned last minute and we didn't have flights until within two weeks of departure. After we booked our flights, we went into high-gear planning mode to figure out all the things we wanted to do in our short ten-day stay.

Our first destination in Bali was a cute surf town called Uluwatu, known for its surf and hippie vibes. We arrived at our villa after 3am on September 29 after a long journey starting in Honolulu around noon on September 27. The travel time wasn't actually terrible; we had a ten-hour flight to Manila in the Philippines and then a four-hour flight to Denpasar in Bali that we thought we were going to miss since our original flight from Honolulu was delayed so much that we had a five-minute layover in Manila instead of a three-hour layover. We spent many hours in the morning stressing that we'd miss our flight and talking with airline agents all over the world. Luckily it was all unnecessary as our flight to Bali was delayed enough that we made it and even had to kill some time in the Manila airport.

It took us over two hours to leave the Bali airport because we had to wait in long lines for immigration and customs and get new SIM Cards. We finally met with our van driver around 2am and he got us into Uluwatu a little after 3am. The drive to Uluwatu was kind of spooky since it's very jungly and we couldn't see any of the friendly restaurants and shops; all we could see were the shadows of the jungle at night. We were joyous when we opened the gate to our villa and found it to be an incredible compound with a guest house, a spacious courtyard, and a pool.

Uluwatu was a perfect start to the trip. We were tired from our journey in so it was a perfect place for us to relax and adjust to the new place and timezone. We really didn't have much of an agenda for Uluwatu so we spent a ton of time eating, exploring town, surfing, getting massages, playing cards, and hanging out. There were several restaurants within a short walking distance of us, including one that had amazing smoothies that quickly became a favorite of ours. The nice thing about not having much of an agenda was that we could chill at meals for a while and not be in a rush to get anywhere. We epitomized decadence at the restaurants we went to, often ordering 10+ dishes and 10+ drinks (smoothies, coffees and the delicious local beers, Bintangs) for the five of us. Even in our extravagance, we spent less than we would have eating far more modestly at American restaurants. The cost of living is very cheap in Bali so we were able to splurge throughout the whole vacation without breaking the bank.

The town of Uluwatu was cool. It's very westernized with lots of Australian expats and some Brits and Americans, but there are also tons of local people and traditions present. For example, we accidentally found ourselves at a sound ceremony full of western hippies meditating with weird noises being played and passing around liquid chocolate to drink. But there were also many warungs, or Indonesian eateries, within walking distance selling authentic Indonesian and Balinese food. Much of the land is currently undeveloped so there's a healthy amount of jungle and green space around, but the downtown was still bustling with commercial activity.

The best way to get around town is on scooter. Cars are technically allowed on the road, but the roads in Uluwatu are barely bigger than a bike path so cars have to squeeze by each other when they're passing. The narrow curving roads made walking sketchy since drivers came around corners very fast and we'd have to step aside to get out of their way. Lanes are also optional so aggressive drivers pass other drivers frequently and only swerve out of the way of oncoming traffic at the last second. Many of us had ridden mopeds in Hawaii, but the scooters there were more powerful and the other drivers are much more reckless so it was an adjustment for us to get used to driving around that way.

(Sorry for the blurriness in the below video, the blog lessens the quality of some content. I'll still include it to give a sense of what the roads and landscape were like between our villa and the Uluwatu surf break, which is roughly a 15-minute ride for context.)

Luckily we found some scooters with surfboard racks so we could transport our boards to the nearby surf breaks easily. The first day there we didn't go out ourselves but watched some talented surfers get barreled at a break called Bingin. The break was extremely shallow and we saw many people standing in shin-high water very near where the wave was breaking. We learned that the tide in Bali varies significantly; the difference in water level from low to high tide was about eight feet, which is 3-4x more than the change in tide on O'ahu.

We got out to Bingin ourselves the next day, although the waves were much more mellow since it was high tide. I went to a nearby break called Impossibles the next day with Heath and the waves were much steeper and better. I was surfing on a 6'6" board, which was shorter than anything I'd used before, and I was just getting used to it. The waves were so steep at low tide that they would closeout (crash) on you unless you turned in the direction they were breaking as soon as you took off on them. Surfing these waves required a quickness and technique that were beyond my skill level, so I got closed out on by many of the waves.

I got a few good rides, though, including one where I caught the wave and turned to the left instantly. I was going so fast that I didn't dare try to stand up and just rode the wave on my belly since I was in the barrel of the wave when I turned. It wasn't a legitimate "getting barreled" experience, but I like to say I was "belly barreled". Even though I didn't stand up, it was a really cool experience being inside the wave as it crashed over me.

We also surfed the famous Uluwatu break twice. The break is incredible. To access it, you have to walk down hundreds of stairs carved into these ginormous limestone cliffs. Atop the cliffs are restaurants and bars with spectacular views of the cliffs and the ocean below.

The first time we surfed, the tide was really low and it was pretty sketchy, for me at least. The waves didn't look too big but the water moved so quickly that I'd be lifted in the wave until I was about four feet in the air looking at reef just 1.5 feet below the water's surface. I had a bad first session and lost a fin on my board and cut my legs up when I was scraping reef.

The second session was more fun. We went when the tide was medium and rising and the conditions were amazing. There was very little wind so the waves were crashing perfectly and almost every wave was one of the best I'd seen in my life, compared to the ones I typically surf on O'ahu. The main problem was that the break was SO crowded. There were probably 200+ surfers in the water stretched out across this wide break and it was very difficult to get on a wave without anyone else being in the way. Almost everyone out there was an experienced surfer so I also really wanted to make sure I wasn't getting in the way of people. Even though I only caught one small wave towards the end of the session, it was so fun being out in the water and watching some of the best surfers I've ever seen shred it.

Probably the most fun surf session of the trip was on our last morning in Uluwatu when we went to a break called Dreamland. It's named Dreamland because of its soft sand break that is so forgiving compared to the sharp, dangerous reef at all the other breaks. All five of us surfed together for the first time and we had a blast catching a ton of waves with the break being pretty empty because of the rain.

To recover from our soreness caused by surfing, we treated ourselves to several massages. Our Airbnb host left us the number of some talented masseuses and they came to our villa and massaged us in the comfort of our own place. We all got multiple massages throughout the week and we thought the traditional Balinese massage (basically deep tissue massage) was the best. It was a full body massage and it definitely helped relieve the tension in our necks, backs, and shoulders from surfing. They were also very cheap - about $12 after tip for a one-hour massage, a price well worth paying for the peace and relaxation they brought us.

We had a couple outings we went on when we weren't chilling, surfing, or getting massages. One of them was visiting the Uluwatu temple and seeing a traditional Kecak dance. The temple was similarly positioned to the restaurants atop the cliffs at the Uluwatu surfbreak, but it might have been even higher up. The scenery was dramatic and the temple itself was beautiful. It's about a thousand years old and the architecture is grand. After touring the temple and seeing troops of monkeys roaming around and getting very close to humans (and stealing an unlucky tourist's hat), we went to the main event: the Kecak dance. The dance was a theatrical performance put on by many Balinese men and a couple Balinese women. There was dancing, fire spinning, and lots of chanting. I thought it was going to be good beforehand but it ended up greatly surpassing my expectations. I was mesmerized by the chanting and fire and how all the performers were so synchronized.

Another of our big outings was going to a beach club called Savaya. Beach clubs in Bali are like clubs but on the beach and people typically go to them during the day instead of late at night. We went to a ritzy one where table service was going to cost $1,000 per person, which is an astronomical amount in Bali. Instead we went for general admission at the much more reasonable cost of $20 per person. We still had access to everything in the club; we just couldn't sit at a table. That didn't stop us from having a great time as we swam in the infinity pools, drank at bar tops overlooking more beautiful cliffs and waves, and tore it up on the dance floor.

After spending four days in Uluwatu, we took a taxi to the port of Sanur and then a ferry to the island of Nusa Penida. Our time in Nusa Penida was rushed since we only had a day, but we were still able to see a lot with the help of our driver for the day. Our first stop was Kelingking beach. We didn't make it to the beach since it required a long hike, but we enjoyed the views from above.

Next we went to Manta Bay, which was a cool place to walk around and enjoy some views.

Lastly we went to Crystal Bay. We snorkeled at sunset here and saw some pretty reef and fish. We were going out towards a distant island when we realized the tide became very strong close to the island. We swam out of the current and went back to shore before realizing that we hadn't seen Sanjeevi in a while. We looked around the beach and the places we'd been snorkeling and didn't see her and started to worry as the sun was setting. A friendly local recognized our concern and went to alert one of his friends with a kayak so he could go out into the stronger current to search for her. After some searching and confusion about who the person in the dangerous water was that the kayaker rescued, we were relieved to have Sanjeevi back on shore safely. We were all far more worried than Sanjeevi, who was nothing but smiles and good energy when she got back to shore. Not losing anyone to the ocean was great for keeping the vibes up for the group.

We had a decent time on Nusa Penida but I don't think I'd go back if given the option. It was pretty undeveloped compared to the main Bali island and the roads were terrible so we were reliant on a driver for getting around. There weren't many easy food options around us so it was a little harder to do some things that were simpler in Uluwatu. Our time on Nusa Penida was a bit rushed since we only had an afternoon to do the things we wanted, but we were excited for our next stop so we didn't mind only spending a short time on Nusa Penida.

Our final stop of the trip was a lovely, quaint island called Gili Air. The island is roughly circular in shape with a one-mile diameter, and the only options for getting around are walking, biking, or taking a horse-drawn carriage. We arrived after a two-hour ferry ride from Nusa Penida and walked across a quarter of the island to get to our Airbnb on the coast.

We had barely set our stuff down in our rooms when we started discussing the possibility of staying another night. We were sitting by the luxurious pool and hot tub in the lush courtyard sipping our complimentary welcome drinks and the place seemed too good to only stay there for one day.

We were feeling worn down from taking taxis and ferries around our last two stops and it sounded so nice to stay in this beautiful little paradise and walk around everywhere so we made the decision to extend our stay on the island. The extension was great for making our time on Gili Air more laid back.

The first afternoon after checking in we haggled to rent some bikes and biked around the eastern side of the island before finding a restaurant for a late lunch. We had one of our patent long meals with many drinks (coffees, smoothies, Bintangs) and equally bountiful food. After lunch we biked north on the island, where there were many cool restaurants and bars right on the water. We rode past all of them to find some more secluded beach where we could swim in the ocean and watch the sun set over the neighboring Gili Islands (there are three of them total, all within a few miles of each other).

After our evening swim, we went to a nearby bar and restaurant with live music. The atmosphere was great; it was outdoor seating on comfy couches on the beach and the singer was on a stage with cool lights and pictures behind him. We stayed there for a while before biking back to our Airbnb, which also had live music right outside. We capped the day off by playing some cards and drinking a couple more Bintangs with the live music in the background. The live music right by the ocean was a really fun vibe and we were already feeling solid in our decision to stay an extra night.

The next day was my favorite of the trip. We had a rather late breakfast at the Airbnb and then went on a scuba diving excursion. Sanjeevi and I were the only ones in the group that weren’t scuba certified, but we found a place that let us take a 30-minute crash course in the swimming pool before going out in the water. The instructor was helpful and we picked it up quickly. Then we got on a boat and drove over to Gili Meno, the nearest Gili island, and explored a wreck on the ocean floor. We went down to a depth of 15 meters, which is the farthest under the ocean I’ve swam, and it was awesome being that deep under water. I was expecting it to feel like snorkeling, but being that far under the water felt significantly different. It was almost as if snorkeling was 2-D and scuba diving was 3-D. We saw a giant sea turtle and I accidentally got very close to it as I was still learning the buoyancy controls. We explored the wreck for about 30 minutes before surfacing and getting back on the boat. We stripped out of our wetsuits and basked in the sun on the roof of the boat on the ride back. It was an amazing experience and I'll definitely go scuba diving again in the future.

After scuba diving we had a late lunch and then went back to the Airbnb to regroup. In the late afternoon we left our place and walked north through the interior of the island to get to the chill beachside bars up there. Along our walk we saw a Komodo dragon slither 50 feet in front of us. We'd heard there were tons of Komodo dragons in Komodo National Park, another island in Indonesia, but we didn't know there were any on the island. The island is tiny and we'd also heard the dragons were dangerous, so we were surprised to see it so near.

As we kept walking, the call to prayer at the island’s mosque was going off. Like moths flying to a flame, we gravitated towards the prayer call and inspected the mosque en route to the beach. It was by far the grandest building we'd seen on the island and it stood out in comparison to everything else. When we got to the beach, we walked around for a while, heading to parts we hadn't explored on the west coast. There were many more restaurants and bars along the water that looked cool, but we turned around since that side of the island was windy.

On our way back we took a slightly different route and found a bar that looked inviting but empty. We asked some nearby locals if it was open and they said it was and that we could swim in the pool, too. We got some drinks and relaxed by the pool, amazed how we had a pool to ourselves at this great bar on the beach. We spent hours by the pool talking and swimming, enamored with the place. We had most of the bar to ourselves, but there were a few other locals and tourists chatting and drinking, which gave the place just enough liveliness while still having it feel quiet and secluded. We were having such a nice time hanging out that we didn't even notice the volleyball court there for a couple hours. That was the icing on the cake. We didn't think the night could get any better, but the volleyball did just that. Two young German girls traveling together joined us and we played for about an hour and talked with them after. After volleyball we cooled off with more pool time. We had been challenging ourselves to launch across the pool using just our legs to blast off from the wall to get all the way across but had been unsuccessful. After a couple hours of trial and error and some brainstorming, we found that if Emily launched off my shoulders after I launched off the wall, she was able to make it across. It was a revolutionary scientific and athletic breakthrough for us, and we felt like it was a good finale for us at the bar.

The evening at the bar was so lovely and we were more in love than ever with the magical island of Gili Air. The walk home solidified that notion as we passed a group of several locals joyously singing together around a long table. We also passed some Dutch tourists that told us about their travels and took a picture of us in front of this big glowing heart.

It was a 10/10 day. My first scuba experience was amazing and the beach bar oasis was the perfect place to enjoy the island. For me it was the highlight of the trip.

Our last day in Indonesia was a hectic one. We started the day with a breakfast and then rushed to catch a ferry back to Bali. The ferry ride was a couple hours and then the driver we'd arranged to meet us there drove us towards the city of Ubud, which was the city we'd planned to spend a night in before extending our stay at Gili Air. The ride into Ubud was long and the traffic was at a standstill for much of the ride. We tried to rush around Ubud and cram as much as we could into two hours, which was a rough contrast to our more leisurely vacationing in the other places. We saw a temple, hiked a trail, and walked around a market before driving to the airport to catch our flight.

Our flight didn't leave until 1am but the airport was over an hour away and we wanted to eat dinner and get there in good time. There was still a little bit of the vacation left as we had a 12-hour layover in Manila in the Philippines. We had planned to leave the airport and spend the day exploring the city, but when we landed it took us an hour or two just to leave the airport and we were exhausted so we got hotel rooms near the airport and slept for a few hours before going out for lunch and then heading back to the airport. The flight back to Honolulu went smoothly and our landing marked the end of an incredibly fun and memorable ten-day vacation to Bali. With the exception of a few minor illnesses among the group, the trip went about as well as it could have gone. I'm excited for future travels with this special group.