At a cliff side temple in Uluwatu wearing a traditional sarong which we had to wear. Can’t beat the views in Bali, Indonesia.
As I mentioned in my last article, I’ve been spending the last 7 months doing a lot of traveling in Asia since I have been working out of my company’s Manila (in the Philippines for those of you who are geographically in the dark) office.
One of the first (and most memorable) cities I had the honor of visiting was Bali in Indonesia.
For anyone who surfs, Bali is one of the best countries to visit for a surf holiday because it gets a lot of swell from Indian Ocean storms.
For anyone from Australia, Bali is a cheap flight and vacation. You’ll be surprised to see how many people from Oz visit Bali on a regular basis and eventually try to figure out how to live there part of the year.
For me, I decided to get in a little bit of a surf (although it was off season when I went) and vacation with my wife.
In a nutshell, Bali is a wonderful place to visit.
The people are kind, the surf is awesome, the spending is minimal (relatively), the food is good, the hotels are beautiful….
I can literally go on for days.
Our Hotel
Let’s start off with the hotel we stayed in – The Kayana Villas in Semanyak. The hotel consists of only 24 private villas, so you can consider it a boutique hotel. There are two types of villas you can get, one with a pool and one without.
Guess which one we picked:
That’s right playa! We get the villa with its own private pool! The only way to go when you stay at The Kayana Villas, Semanyak Bali.
At about $250 a night, these rooms are totally worth the price. Especially since each room has its own private butler.
Luxury in full effect.
Here’s a little video I posted on Instagram at the time: http://instagram.com/p/hNNlcBDeHA/
Other benefits of this hotel:
It’s located right next to the W and Potato Head (two of the most awesome spots in Bali)
They give free shuttle rides downtown
Service is awesome
You feel like you are secluded from the rest of the world when you’re in room
The Surf
If you’re a surfer or even thought about surfing, Bali should be one of your go-to destinations.
Lined along the beach are shops where you can eat, chill and relax before or after a surf. Turtle Island, Bali, Indonesia.
Unfortunately I went in the off season, so the more famous spots weren’t working and I had to go to the other side of the island. We ended up at a break on Turtle Island and quite frankly, it was one of the best waves I have surfed.
It also pays to hire a surf guide for the day. For about $90, you get a surf guide, a lifeguard and a blocker (yep, a blocker) to take you to spots that are going off that day.
Here’s me and my surf guide Hankee getting ready to paddle out:
We had to walk through some reef before paddling. Needless to say, everyone’s feet was pretty torn up by the time we got back. Surfing Turtle Island, Bali, Indonesia.
Since I was out of surf shape, I only lasted for about 2 hours before I called it quits. The paddle out was pretty far so I wanted to make sure I had enough juice to make it back to the beach.
Nightlife
Since I have A.D.D. when it comes to vacations, I always need to go to places that have some semblance of a nightlife.
In Bali, there are plenty of places to go out.
Ku De Ta is one of the more famous upscale locations located right on the beach and they serve amazing food and drinks:
Ku De Ta in Bali, Indonesia. Good food, good location, great drinks, right on the beach. What more can one ask for?
We found another hidden little gem downtown called La Favela which was an eclectic mix of South American design and Bali swag:
A grainy picture inside La Favela – a hidden gem of a restaurant/bar in Semanyak, Bali, Indonesia.
One of our other favorite places to spend day drinking until sunset was Potato Head.
Potato Head Beach Club. Bali, Indonesia.
The building is an amazing piece of architecture from the outside, surrounded by a huge wall of window blinds/frames (it will make sense if you saw it in person) which encloses two restaurants, a pool and a beach club.
Can’t complain when you’re chilling by the pool in Bali and the sunset looks like this. Potato Head is one of the best places to hang when the sun goes down. Bali, Indonesia.
My wife and I spent most of our sunsets there hanging out, drinking and feeling awesome.
Food/Restaurants
For folks that can’t handle Asian or spicy food, my recommendation would be to take it easy when trying food in Bali (aka Bali Belly).
But for those that love that shit, get ready for an attack on your gastronomic senses.
Grilled seafood at a beach restaurant in Bali, Indonesia.
One of our most memorable meals was after doing a tour in Uluwatu. Our guide took us to this amazing restaurant on the beach where we ate grilled seafood until our stomachs were ready to explode.
Check out this video I posted on Instagram to see the view.
Touristy, yes. But we didn’t care.
Monkeys
Yep. Monkeys, bro.
One of the coolest things to do in Bali is to go into the Monkey forest where wild monkeys just hang out and kick it.
They just wait for dumb tourists like me to feed them bananas:
Monkey sneak attack. Bali, Indonesia.
Pretty cool experience regardless.
And Other Things
Other things that were cool in Bali? All the amazing furniture and design.
For anyone on the creative side of the spectrum, Bali will inspire you to create and think of things on a totally different level.
You’ll probably want to get a shipping container for all the furniture you’re going to want to import after your trip to Bali.
Just Go
For anyone looking to have an amazing vacation where you can expand your mind, meet new people and do some amazing things, I would highly recommend checking out Bali.
Although the plane tickets from the U.S. are pricey, once you get there you will be spending about 1/4 of what you would in the States for meals and expenses.
Trust me, it will be worth it.