Island hopping (Part 1: Bali)

As the plane landed on Ngurah Rai international Airport, I still have no idea where I’m going, or where will I stay for the night.

But boy, Bali has that sort of comforting feeling as if everything is gonna be alright. So I just walk out to the nearest coffee shop. And rest myself outa there before a friend is coming to pick me up.

I finally stay at my friend’s place in Kuta. Not much to see in Kuta Bali, except that I finally got a sense of how is Bali’s tourism feels like.

So to realize that Kuta Bali is not my cup of tea, I then decide to spend Nyepi day (or Bali’s day of silence) in Ubud. I was thinking that I’ll just take Uber to get there before I googled and found out that it’s 34 km away from Kuta. But worry not, because Bali has many shuttle bus option we can take to some of the well-known destination in Bali. So in the end, I took the Kura-kura bus and got a pretty great deal of 120k IDR for round trip Kuta - Ubud that I can use in 3 days. You can check their website to find out their route & where to buy the ticket.

Then here comes the Bali’s day of silence or Nyepi day. Nyepi was one of the purest moment I’ve ever experienced in my life. Even the day before, shops open just for a half day, ATM services has been shut down, bakeries has been sold out (Like, of course people will hunt them!). No cars or anything in the road. Everything was so peaceful. I can’t thankful enough that I took this decision to come in this year.

I end up stayed in Ubud for 2 nights. I took my chance to explore Ubud in the third day before went back to Kuta. I searched for some places the night before and decide to pay a visit to Agung Rai museum.

The museum is located in Arma resort. They have cafe, restaurant, villa, and even green paddies inside their resort. Ticket to the museum was 80k (include a complementary drink you can exchange in the cafe).

I’m not usually into museum, to be honest. I’m here just out of curiousity of how’s Balinesse art & culture looks like, and because the museum was so close to where I was staying. But I pretty much enjoy my visit.

Many of Arma’s collection shows traditional culture in Bali. You can find portrait of almost everything about Bali in this museum, including portait of beach, paddies, cockfight, gulungan tradition, cremation ceremony, and many others. My favorite one was the Golden Rice painting by local artist named Made Kedol. It was unbelievably pretty!

Other than that, they also got not only the largest collection of a well-respected German artist in Bali, Walter Spies, but also the only painting in Bali by the great 19th century artist in Indonesia, Raden Saleh. A visit to this museum was a well-packed culture tour I definitely recommend.

From Agung Rai museum, I decide to go to the traditional market in Ubud. I’m not too surprise to see that most of the tourists are foreigner. The market itself, is surrounded by some Pura so I took my chance to visit some of them.

I went to Saraswati temple (which turns out to be closed) and Puri Saren Palace. Took a few photos, then continue my journey to Campuhan ridge walk.

I took the pedestrian route from Ubud Street and walk until I realized that it was an over than 6km walk! But the view was totally worth the sweat. So I will not complain.

I conquer Ubud in a half day, but I promise that I’ll be back for its peacefulness. The 3 days Kura-kura ticket push me to go back to Kuta even if I wish to stay longer.

I decide to spend the night in Jimbaran to consider that it’s close to the airport and I want to see Nusa dua in the next day.

So the next day, early in the morning, I went to Waterblow to catch the sunrise. The beach was pretty acceptable, but it was early in the morning so the tide was still low. I decide to get my self a morning yoga with the view of Agung mountain that was seen from the park.

Then I went back to hotel, pack my stuff, then went to Jimbaran beach to take a little walk and look for something for lunch. Too bad that the beach is super dirty even if the water is still crystal clear.

Not much to see in Jimbaran, I decide to go straight to the airport and work from coffee shop before take a plane that took me to my next destination.

I travel alone a lot in the past. But mostly for particular purpose (meaning that I didn’t decide, but I had to go). And this is the very first time that I choose my own destination and immerse myself with the city, alone.

And for me, this journey was a training. I challange my Judging self (I’m such a super organized person) to survive in uncertainty. I went with no expectation, and even with only a one way ticket and not a single hotel reservation so I basically figure out everything on the way.

And I must say, I enjoy it!

There are more stories to come from another islands. So, until the next post. (;