After a veeery long flight via Singapore and another one to Denpasar, Bali, I finally arrived in Bali. I traveled by myself because there I was going to meet Radena, my friend, and her mother. This was a girls’ vacation. I was, honestly, a bit worried, because they travel in a different manner than me and Fill, i.e. they have no plans for daily tours whatsoever, just flights booked and that gives us a few days on each place and main pinpointed places to see, but company to go with, pre-booked trips? No such thing.. so the plan was to create the plan on the go once we are there. They were there already for a few hours when I arrived at like 22.30 PM. I got my SIM card at the airport and connected with them while waiting for my passport/visa checks which took about 1h. So I arrive at the hotel and Radena greets me at the entrance. We went to the reception and asked them if they offer some tours and what were their options. They gave us a booklet with trips to choose from which helped (me, since I didn’t really research a lot) to figure out places/things I’d like to see and do. She mostly wanted to see the Tanah Lot temple and stay on the beach all day long, but luckily, this did not happen. I took a bit of her way of traveling but she also got of mine – we had a tour almost every day except for days when we felt really tired and needed a break. Overall we had 2 days like this. One in Lombok and one in Bali. The good thing about having no certain plan was that it meant that we can change our “plan” on the go.
The taxi driver who took me to the hotel in Bali was also a tour guide so when the hotel staff never got back to us with any tour details we called the taxi driver and asked him to take us around spots that we liked. He did a very good job, combining sightseeing places in more or less the same region for one day and the same way on the next day so we wouldn’t spend all day in the car. We got to visit the rice terraces in Ubud, and we checked out in the two days the Taman Ayun Temple, Ulun Danu Beratan Temple, Tanah Lot Temple, Goa Gajah Temple, Uluwatu Temple, Pura Puseh Desa Batuan (even though its name says Batuian, it’s actually a Visnu temple), all were sooo beautiful. I really love the Asian temple architecture style. It’s insane how much detail you can see in their stone and woodwork. All sorts of figures, faces, gods, daemons, and scary creatures are made our of stone in the temples. In general, they have three types of temples – for different gods – Visnu temples, Brahma temples and Siwa temples. We went to the market, and got ourselves a new Sarong. We got the best looking ones which were, as the lady told us, the best quality sarong for ceremonies at the temple. We visited a butterfly garden where one could see insanely beautiful butterflies of all colours and shapes. So mesmerizing to see them all around you. Beautiful creatures and the gardens were pure artwork – full of lush greenery, huge plants, and trees with all sorts of colours. The only thing i disliked a lot, were the animals and birds in tiny cages – e.g. a barn owl and sugar gliders 🙁 . They also had a place where they bred the butterflies, but also had some huuuuge night butterflies. They were as big as 1.5 palms of mine. I was a bit worried about going close to them 😀 But they were sleeping during the day so luckily i didn’t “enjoy” them suddenly take off for a flight possibly in my direction 😀
Next, we went to a place called the “Sangeh Monkey forest” where they protect and feed the macaques. The place is unique not only because of the monkeys, but the place is just waaay too enchanting, especially when you listen to the sounds of the jungle around. Sadly we were with a group and there were people around and we had to move fairly fast, so i couldn’t stop and just listen for like 30 min like i would’ve loved to 🙁
the cheeky macaques are super cute but at the same time a bit scary, especially if you are holding a banana, they may even jump on you without you knowing. The issue is not that, but that they might bite. And again, a bite is not such a big deal, but if the monkeys have rabies, THEN it’s a serious problem. When i asked the local guides walking around the area, they said (also confirmed in the internet) that their monkeys are rabies-free, so no problem, just enjoy but keep your items safe – they are very mischievous and LOVE to steal your sunglasses, bottles, phone, or whatever else you are holding, so make sure to keep your bag closed, do not take out of your bag any plastic bags etc, remove your glasses from the top of your head etc. Just use common sense and you should be fine. And.. if your common sense doesn’t work, there’s always a ranger around so if your belongings get robbed by the monkey, they offer food to the monkey in return for your items. The monkeys have learned that, very smart 🙂
The rice terraces were amaaaazing too. Soo green, lush, and beautiful.. but also overcrowded. Sadly the terraces where we went, the Ceking Rice Terrace, was soo touristy, full of people. There were also civets, the animal that eats a certain type of berries, it passes through its digestive system and it’s then collected as poop, washed, dried, and sold as the popular and super expensive Kopi Luwak. Unfortunately, the civets are kept in cages and the industry is using them in a very bad way giving them only berries which is not their only diet in the wild. We didn’t want to support this but nearby the Tanah Lot temple, up a narrow street, on the right side we found a coffee place with 4 civets that the owner was caring for as pets and giving them cat food. The animals looked calm and friendly and not mistreated so we decided to try the coffee and went inside. The coffee wasn’t super special in my opinion, but at least we didn’t support the bad treatment of the animals (we hope!), while at the rice terraces, the civets were in a small cage locked and when we were coming back they took them out and removed their hideouts, the little houses they could use for shelter, idk why, but it didn’t look right. They said they would give them a new, bigger enclosure, but tbh i’m not sure this was right and they didn’t look like happy animals 🙁 Not at all and not like the coffee place ones.
Last but not least, we tried to visit a mangrove forest, but it was sadly closed. They said it’s not the season, but we got to drive a bit around so I took some photos and noticed some very cute blue crabs living among the trees in the mud. They were very cute 😀
The funny thing was that Wayan, our tour guide and taxi driver in Bali, gave us a better price than the tours in Lombok and Labuan Bajo where we went after. And Bali is the most touristy place. But Wayan did a great job planning everything for us and helping us out. Probably he was the most devoted guide we had and also liked the guide in Borneo, Agus, and the guide on Labuan Bajo, Richardo.
But all of them did their best to help us and bring us to good places, and of course, deserved and received a tip from us.
But I didn’t tell you the story of the tiny sparrow baby you see in the photos. On the first or second evening, I suddenly heard some loud screams from outside our hotel cabin. And I rushed outside to see what was going on – there was something in the water. I thought it was drowning. As I went closer I realized it was a tiny bird and was trying to get out of the water but with no luck. As I was thinking what to do and whether or not to take my clothes off before jumping in, I noticed that it was coming my way, i waited a few seconds to see and it came close enough for me to grab it. The poot birdies’ legs we covered in huge red fire ants that were biting its legs. I started plucking the ants from its legs but they were stuck, like super strong, it felt as if I’m pulling one of these round grass balls that attach to your clothes with hooks and you cannot pull them out. That’s how hard it was to remove the ants and i ended up breaking them in halves or something while i was pulling them. Finally, the poor birdie calmed down a bit but was all wet. I decided to go ask at the reception for a cardboard box, filled a bottle with hot water, slightly smashed the bottle so it wouldn’t roll around and crush the bird, wrapped it with a textile bag i had with me, and put the bird in the box next to the bottle. It was really hot so not sure the bottle was necessary but added it anyway with enough room for the bird to move away if it felt too hot. The next morning the birdie was trying to fly off as I opened the lid slightly and I decided to look for someone to put it back on the roof, where there were more sparrows around. A nice gentleman who didn’t speak Engish understood what I asked for after I showed him the box with the bird and pointed at the roof, he got a ladder, got the box, and put the bird up there. So the story ended well bc he said the other birds came to the baby. He deserved his tip at the end <3 This was a happy story and made me feel useful to nature too <3
