Good morning! Today (June 5, 2023) is our first full day in Bali. Our goal today is to soak in some relaxation and plan activities for the days ahead. The hotel sent us a bunch of activities they offer, so we wanted to pick a few. Once we woke up, we jumped into our pool to wake up and boy, was it refreshing! As we sat poolside, we looked at all the activities and picked out one for each day. We were interested in a sunset tour tonight, a trip down the Ayung River Tuesday, an Ubud tour (the jungle area of the island) on Wednesday, and a trip out to Nusa Penida on Thursday. After our planning, we walked to the beach for a beautiful sunrise.
Our private pool
Walking to the beach
Good morning Bali
Cool artsy seating
Beautiful empty beach
Another friendly crab
These were the coolest flower ever!
Birds of paradise
After enjoying the sunrise, we headed to breakfast. We have heard excellent things about the breakfast here and were so excited to see what was on offer. We were greeted with many smiling faces and were sat at a large round table in the middle of the room. The wait staff took our drink orders and showed us the menu where we could order some specialties. I picked the french toast to start and Hunter tried the egg nouvelle. Once we placed our orders, we headed to check out the massive buffet, and it did not disappoint! There was so so much good food to eat!
Koi pond by Boneka restaurant for breakfast
Delicious drinks
Yummy!
Did not take long for us to dig in!
Amazing french toast
This is our super cool room key card
Buffet granola section
Milk and yogurt
Fruits
Yummy frozen treats
Soup
Sausage and hot items
Charcuterie selection
Cheese!
Freshly made items
Breads/pastries
Special fried rice dish
Egg Nouvelle dish Hunter loved, with lobster and caviar
More french toast, but with ice cream!
Menu pictures of all the yummy choices!
After we stuffed ourselves full, we returned to our villa to lounge. I ate so much good food that I felt a little sick! Around noon we went to talk to the concierge about booking our activities. They were happy to help and organized everything, however, they were not able to accommodate a sunset tour for tonight, which was understandable as we were trying to book it very last minute. After booking we went back to the villa for an afternoon swim and I reached out to a few drivers I had found online to see if they could take us for a sunset tour. The guy who I used for our airport transportation was happy to accommodate and would have a driver at our hotel at 3pm. We had to leave pretty early in the afternoon because traffic is really bad in Bali. We also used some of our free time to walk around the resort and found some very pretty spots!
Our room made up after breakfast
The main pool
Orchid garden
Hammock garden
The main pool again
Our villa!
A mid-day snack
Yummy fried peanut treats
Hunter and I got ready and met our driver at the hotel lobby at 3pm. We were heading to Pura Uluwatu Temple which is a beautiful temple situated on some very steep cliffs. We arrived at 4pm. We purchased tickets at the entrance and were given sarongs to wear as we were both wearing shorts. Sarongs are a piece of cloth tied around the waist, like a skirt, that cover bare legs. Our driver, who also was being a guide for us, was wearing pants already, so he just had to wear a sash which was like a belt. Once we entered the grounds, we started walking to the temple and saw a monkey in the trees! I was so excited. We were hoping to attend the Kecak sunset dance ritual, but our guide showed us the lines, and they were LONG. We decided to pass on that and instead hiked along the cliffside path.
Waiting to be picked up at the lobby
Driving past many temples
Love this shirt
Another temple
Cool VW Thing
Monkeys
The amphitheater where the sun dance is that we decided against
Some adventurous local people fishing down there
Temple
Massive statue
monkey with glasses
More glasses
We are going to walk all the way out there!
Surfers
Beautiful flowers
Halfway there, looking back at where we started
There are monkeys down there!
Sea monkeys
We made it!
More cool flowers
These were tiny flowers
Angry monkey looking to steal glasses or something
On our hike, there were quite a bit of monkeys. These monkeys were very smart and aggressive. They are well known for stealing glasses and phones, which we witnessed happen many times. Hunter and I stayed clear of the monkeys and kept our sunglasses in our bags when they were nearby. We walked to the end of the trail and then all the way back, where we waited for sunset.
The sunset and golden hour were pretty amazing! Once we got our gorgeous photos, we left. We were pretty thirsty after our hike, so we stopped at a shop to purchase water, and they wanted 15,000 IDR for a bottle of water, which is only $1 usd, but we had been in multiple shops previously where you could get a water for 7000 IDR or even less, so we skipped this shop and the driver was nice to stop at a different shop on the way back to our hotel, where we got 2 waters and 2 snacks for 35,000 IDR! It's crazy how tourist tax works sometimes.
Another pair of glasses!
Sunset
Monkey Thief Family
Quite the negotiation occurred
We returned to our hotel around 7pm and headed to the beach to see what stars we could see as it was pretty dark. The ocean waves were crashing and with the beautiful night sky, it was so peaceful. In the distance on the reef, you could see something light up with each crash, it was probably some bioluminescence plankton, but we weren't certain. I left before Hunter and I was feeling pretty sweaty and dirty from our hike (it was hot!), so I went to shower and get ready for bed. Hunter stayed a bit longer and captured the most incredible moon rise!
Once Hunter returned and also showered, we ordered some room service dinner! Hunter ordered the Nasi Goreng Ayam (spicy fried rice with chicken fried egg, Balinese spice fried chicken thigh, and chicken satay) and I ordered the Mie Ayam (fresh egg noodles, spiced chicken ragout, fried wontons, meatballs, and fragrant chicken broth). Both were delicious and very filling. Even if it's not the most authentic to order it as room service we always try to order mostly local food since the chefs generally do a great job with it (and it's often cheaper because they can source the ingredients closer).
After dinner, we got into bed and watched a little bit of YouTube, but were both very tired. I quickly fell asleep and Hunter went to sleep soon after.
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Date: June 5, 2023
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