So 15 years ago (10 years after my 1st visit) I dragged my hubby to Bali,we had been living in Cairns for a year and I wanted to go back home to Sydney after 5 years away.
First we went to Darwin for a few weeks and did Kakadu,Cathrine ect. then hopped on a plane to Bali, this worked out great for us as we were almost as brown as the locals, we thought it was funny they were complaining about how hot it was, after camping in the N.T. we thought it was heaven, we also looked really street wise because of our tans, and it was fun to tell them we were from Cairns it really threw them, they didn't know where it was so they couldn't pidgeon hole us.
Well like I said I had to drag my hubby along, he is not the type to follow the pack and didn't like the idea of Bali as everyone and his friend was going there. We got there with the first 2 nights booked in hotel ramayana Kuta, hired a car for about 3 weeks and spent the time getting lost ,just about the most fun you could have in Bali 15 years ago.
We drove from Kuta to Candidasa, loved it there stayed in a strange little place right on the water(almost in it) and hubby fished with the locals, then up the coast to Tulamben? and places that I wouldn't have a clue to their names, very pretty up there. On to Lovina the one place we actually planed to go to, for diving, and the one place we didn't like, we were approached straight away by some nasty guy to buy drugs, not our thing even then, we had very bad vibes about the place and didn't stay.
Like I said we got lost a lot from there I don't know what route we took but we saw Singaraja it's so different from the rest of Bali! Lake Bratan, monkeys all over the road we had to stop and they jumped on the car, last time I went I only saw them in the forest?. Mt Batur, here we pulled in late,on a very dark night, when we woke our room door opened straight onto the edge of a drop off with only a path about 2 foot wide very scary to think we had walked along there the night before.
One night we got caught in a massive thunder storm and pulled into this beatiful hotel on top of a hill, it had just oppened and as it was late we only paid about $20 aus.(our budget was about $10 for 2 with breaky I think) in the morning when we woke up we could see all the way to the northen coast it was a breathtaking veiw and just across the road from Git Git waterfall I wonder if it's still there? anyone know?
Another night raining again and getting dark, we followed this big truck, we figured it was going to a town, wrong, we followed it all the way to some little village, they thought we were the funniest things and laughed their heads off, we had no petrol, they got us some and gave us directions.
Best pizza ever in some little place in the mountains,I have no clue where, but it is a strong memory, first time I saw chickens asleep in a tree.
We fell in love with Ubud, the first night we stayed at Ananda cottages we had to walk through the rice feilds on stones to get to our room and it was lit up with torches so beautiful, but at that time above our $10 limit.
We stayed in a hotel just out of Ubud, I don't know the name of it but it had an out door bathroom for plumbing reasons, not because it was trendy!! We spent a while in Ubud, days wandering down many little lanes and meeting many artist, all of them wanting us to visit their house.
I remember wanting to go to the lotus cafe, but we were used to local food and prices, it was way above our budget also you had to wait for a seat as they were so busy, I've been back since the bombs and we ate there, only one other table was in use.
The monkey forest what can I say ? has any one found any thing quite like it anywhere else? I haven't.
Oh the memories flood back, to many to write, we got pulled over by a police man for turning wrong way down a one way street, and he couldn't believe we wouldn't bribe him, he kept hinting that mabey it would ruin our itinary if we go to court, but we were to scared to bribe him untill he made us follow him back to the police station and explained to us in the car park, that was ok and how it works!!
We had an amazing month, I got very very sick the last few days in Kuta it took me months to get over.
We came home wanting to have kids and bring them up in Bali, that never happened, after I was so sick I decided not to take my kids there until at least 5 years old, by then hubby had a brillant job here, we bought a house, had a morgage, and went on nice clean holidays like Fiji and Australia.
I went back to Bali in 2004 wow it's changed, my hubby is there now, last night I text him asking where he liked better now, " Bali or Thailand ?" He texted back "will tell u after Ubud".