As I mentioned in my last blog, I have started traveling around Asia this week! My first destination is Bali, Indonesia. For as long as I can remember, I have been told by my family and friends that Bali is one of the most beautiful travel destinations! I can, without a doubt, state that I agree! Although I only spent a weekend there, it was an amazing experience filled with so many fun and eventful activities!
I am the type of traveler who enjoys spending my time exploring rather than lounging about. For that reason, my friends and I chose a villa in Ubud, the central cultural hub of Bali. Ubud is about two hours from the airport, so we reached our villa and settled in around dinner time on Friday night. After unpacking and exploring the property, we went to dinner at a cute Indonesian restaurant. I then ended the night with a swim in our pool, as I had planned a busy day on Saturday.
I slept for approximately three hours before our car picked us up for the day. We spent the next couple of hours riding a Jeep up the side of a volcano in the dark! We reached the summit just in time to watch the sunrise over the lake and mountain! It was one of the most beautiful and surreal sights I have ever seen. Our guide was so sweet and gave us a blanket as it was chilly up on the volcano. He even allowed us to climb on the Jeep while he took really cool pictures of us! When the sun was completely rising, we drove back down the volcano to a field of volcanic rocks left from the last rupture. We then said goodbye to our Jeep tour guide and allowed our driver to take us to a hot spring. The water was so warm and overlooked the lake! After swimming for a bit, we had some lunch before our driver picked us up again. Our final stop of the tour was to try luwak coffee and a coffee plantation. We were shown the growth of ingredients for the coffee and then the process of making the coffee. In total, we tasted six coffees, six teas, and one cocoa. All of the options were so good that I ended up buying myself and my family some! Our driver then dropped us off at our villa. We spent a couple of hours relaxing by the pool before heading to dinner. We quickly changed and then called for massage therapists to come to our villa. After specialized treatment, I was so relaxed that I went straight to bed.
The next day involved checking out of our villa and being picked up by our driver. He then guided us to the Tegalalang rice fields, where we were able to see the growing and harvesting of rice! Our driver was so excited because he had never actually been there before! He walked with us the whole time. We then opted for a swing ride above the field. Since it was so hot, the swing was the perfect thing to help me cool off. After that, we made our way to the monkey sanctuary. The monkeys enjoyed playing with my hair and skirt, and I loved the attention! We spent the rest of the day driving south towards the airport, stopping to watch silver jewelry be made and shopping at the art markets by the beach.
