Radhika Mahtani – Travels & Adventures in Bali

I traveled to Bali, Indonesia around the first week of July 2015. It was a summer vacation and the family decided that we needed to explore a scenic location.

With very little planning we decided to visit Bali in Indonesia for a week (including travel by flight and stay). It was an amazing experience mainly because I had only heard about Bali and how beautiful the place was. It was indeed an enriching experience: Not only getting to stay at the place for the first time and experiencing its beauty, but also getting the chance to understand a different culture altogether, learning the simple lifestyle of  the people of Indonesia, hearing their sweet sounding language, and embracing how simple but beautiful life was over there!

It was not something I had as a long-planned excursion, but the idea for visiting Bali came up a few months prior to traveling there.

So, over about 5 – 6 months, when I had an opportunity to make use of a set of days off from a hectic work schedule in Dubai, I decided to use part of it to visit Bali. I decided to make this trip to Indonesia with my husband and we both agreed on visiting the place since we had heard from friends and family that the place was beautiful with many scenic locations, beaches, temples, islands, and a host of other beautiful places to visit in Indonesia.

The hardest part about this dive was getting on a flight back to Dubai, since toward the end of our trip we were held up at the airport due to a volcanic eruption that occurred right outside the Denpasar Airport in Bali, Indonesia on the very same day of our departure!

All flights were cancelled and the news updates stated that the airport would only re-open after two days. We were in a state of shock and never really planned for an event like this.

We ended up staying in Bali for another two days, mostly worried that we had work commitments. But nonetheless, we got an extra two days to stay in Bali and managed to make it memorable with all the chaos and worry about how things will fall in place! We made good use of the extra time and visited a few additional places that weren’t on the list previously!

Also, this was a semi-long-haul flight of about 15 hours and it was my first long haul flight (this being another difficult part of this dive!) Then another particular thing was the unavailability of food/cuisine that we were accustomed to back at home. So we noted that 90% of the eateries and restaurants weren’t vegetarian friendly and we had to take cabs to distant eateries that offered Vegan, or Vegetarian food, which was a pain to actually find.

The easiest part of this dive was that we stayed at Hotel Ibis, Kuta-Bali. It was a centralised location where we got to visit many of the tourist attractions within 20-25 minutes.

1. One must plan ahead and decide the details of their stay in Bali, Indonesia – firstly check a suitable time of the year to visit the place.

2. Secondly, gather information related to the latest happenings in the city, since volcanoes are known to erupt frequently all though the year, along the islands and can be a cause in delay to your travel plan.

3. Third, I would recommend checking for a place to stay a lot closer to supermarkets and restaurants that offer a choice of cuisine/food that suit your diet.

Day 1, we seemed to be really exhausted with the first experience of a long haul flight and decided to take some rest before exploring the place over the next few days.

Day 2, we visited the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary at Ubud, Bali. We took a cab from Kuta to Ubud which was around an hour drive down to the actual forest location. It is known to be a natural habitat of the Balinese long tailed Monkey. The forest has been in conservation for a long time and their aim is to promote harmony. All tourists are given a pound of bananas to feed the monkeys as they are attracted to the visitors and happily sit beside/on any of them who offer them bananas. The village’s residents who reside all around the forest view the Monkey Forest as an important spiritual, economic, educational, and conservation centre for the village.

Day 3, we visited the Turtle Island located in Nusa Dua which was around 30 minutes from our hotel. The place was very beautiful and had a lot of water sport activities to offer.

A suggestion: it is best to pre-book a package for the water sport activities offered at every location of an island and beach within Indonesia as at the actual time of booking you might be over-charged. The packages offered are high priced and one needs to be cautious of who you are dealing with, so it best to find a reliable contact before making a decision to spend your money here. We did enjoy our choice of water sport activities as well as got to visit an island known for the conservation of green turtles. The island has been in conservation to save this species of turtles – slowly getting extinct due to its use for various purposes.

Day 4 and 5, we took it easy and did some local shopping and researching of good vegan or vegetarian friendly restaurants. We took those days to just relax and enjoy a swim at the private pools located in our hotel.

Day 6 and 7, we decided to spend some time at the beautiful beaches that were popularly known for the hue of the sands – red sand and black sand. We visited Kuta Beach and Semniyak Beach too – mostly known and popular among surfers. These beaches also offer glorious views of sunsets and the nightlife is beautiful with people from all over the world relaxing and dancing the night away to good music.

Day 8, we spent exploring the Kuta city. We visited the tea plantations around Kuta-Bali, and also visited the local malls to see what was different from the ones back in Dubai. 

The highlights of the trip were the beaches and beautiful weather. We did not want to go back, since we were relieved being away from the scorching heat we often faced in the month of July, back in Dubai. This trip was a memorable one but, the only issue we faced was our flight home being cancelled at the time of boarding.  I felt that after enjoying a hard earned vacation and just a little exhausted with all the exploring, experiencing your flight being cancelled is totally not what one expects at the end of a nice trip!!

I have photographs that we took at various places that we visited in Bali. I also shared a photo from my passport.

Yes, I will definitely be pursuing this dive and excited to get to the next level because I want to explore various other places to experience the way of life, the cultural settings, and the food too! I may not be able to travel this year, but I will make it happen in the next year or so!

No Rules. No Excuses. No Regrets.