Bali-mazing or not? Three weeks exploring Bali (Indonesia Part 2)
- Ilene
- Jun 20
- 5 min read
Everyone talks about how wonderful Bali is with its waterfalls, beaches, volcanos and rice terraces making for amazing instagram photos that seal the deal. Recently the socials are also focused on Bali Belly - more on that later.
What doesn’t get much air time is the reality of seeing all the beauty, a reality we weren’t quite ready for. The roads are congested, the traffic gnarly, the very small and narrow roads, scooters, and lack of sidewalks all contribute to a pretty chaotic travel experience. And, we weren’t even there during high season. Even with everything we had heard and read about Bali, we did not understand the geography at all. Ubud, our home base in the center of the island, consists of steep canyons with streams and rivers everywhere and narrow, winding, dark roads that only cross the canyons at specific points. Definitely not a grid, more like a maze! The mountains on the north of the island are ENORMOUS with roads that snake along the ridges creating thoroughfares on winding, narrow, cliff edge roads from north to south. And yet, the greenery of Bali is stunning, its dense jungles, deep canyons, and water runs everywhere on the island.
I have to say a few things about the bugs, the weather and Bali belly. No one talks about the bugs or the weather and yet Bali belly is getting a lot of social airtime. Let me tell you first hand, the bugs are real. We have been bathing in DEET twice daily as the first morning I got eaten alive by mosquitos and didn’t need a repeat. There are ants, small spiders, geckos and more, everywhere - even in the nicest hotels. And unfortunate for me, these bugs really seem to love me - UGH! In fact, I’ve never, ever, ever been stung by a bee in my entire life, yet here in Bali, I got my first bee sting.
And then the weather - hot and humid and this was May, not even the hottest time of year. So dripping through our clothes was the norm on a day of sightseeing, even more reason for the mosquitos to find us!
Ok, so let’s talk Bali Belly, as it’s so fondly referred to. Anytime you travel someplace new, eating different types of foods, spices, etc., there’s a chance for traveler’s stomach. We’ve been fortunate on our travels to have had minimal issues. We both got hit with something early on in South Africa (which was miserable). We were fine in the countries I was most worried about (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and so our concerns for Indonesia were minor. After four weeks in Indonesia though, I had a day with a bad stomach. Some Imodium, charcoal, fresh coconut water and day of rest fixed me right up. I do think the fact that we eat mostly vegetarian with some fish, and cook for ourselves when we can has helped us. These things happen and you hope they are minor when they do. I wouldn’t ding Bali for this, it can happen anywhere.
Fortunately, there were other, more enjoyable surprises that awaited us in Bali. We had understood that Bali is the last stronghold of Hinduism in Indonesia. Outside of Bali, Islam is the main religion in Indonesia. In Bali however, Hinduism is strong. Sometimes referred to as the island of a thousand temples, it’s easy to see why as you slowly travel along the roads. Every home has a temple, every village has a temple, and there are 6 main large temples on the island as well.
They are beautiful, with unique architecture and design and they are not just for show, even today. We regularly saw processionals of villagers with offerings headed to the temple for various ceremonies or festivals, dressed in their traditional garments, often bringing traffic to an even slower crawl.
And yes, the scenery is stunning. Waterfalls are beautiful, the remote areas quiet and enjoyable offering moments of peacefulness. Rice terraces are picture perfect and the mountains beautiful.
And there are plenty of pretty cool activities as well - ATVs, Rafting, Hot Springs, Bali Swings and the list goes on.
Other pleasant surprises - THE FOOD. Ubud in particular, in the center of the island was a haven for us gluten-free, vegetarian/vegan diners. Ubud is known as the spiritual and cultural center of the island and it’s where many people come to find time to rejuvenate, so the food options should be no surprise. The number of yoga studios, also not surprising. We partook in a meditation class and yoga class at the beautifully zen Alchemy studio, and enjoyed a couple of wonderful massages during our stay in the area as well. The grocery stores were amazing, which let us do some cooking on our own. Gluten free and vegan options, including vegan cheese(!) made us feel like we were shopping at home, almost. We also took a Balinese cooking class, the flavors and spices are so good.
Ubud was a great home-base for seeing the island. For us, it was a place to chill-out after a lot of faster travel and a place to start thinking about and planning for our return to the States. We had a beautiful HomeExchange villa that was just outside the center of Ubud, thankfully. Ubud central is very touristy and crowded, I’m glad we didn’t stay in the middle of it all. In fact, we only visited the center one evening and didn’t feel the need to return. The main benefit of the center was the ability to walk to the plentiful restaurants and shopping. From our villa we had to take a Grab ($4/ride, Uber like service) pretty much anywhere. The roads really don’t have sidewalks and scooters would be the best way to get around, just not something we were comfortable with. We did find a couple of great restaurants within walking distance and also used delivery services to bring food in a night or two.
Fast forward a couple of weeks after visiting some of the Indonesian islands and we returned to Bali, this time to Sanur. We were told a quieter, maybe more upscale part of Bali. We had another HomeExchange villa near the beach and spent time strolling the promenade, looking at the cute shops and enjoying more delicious food. From here we’d pack only two more times before being back in California!
Overall I’d put Bali on the list to visit, the pros outweigh the cons. However, I don’t know if it’s a place we’d revisit, due to a combination of factors: weather, traffic and travel distance. However, we now understand why so many Australian's visit. It's not far from Australia, sorta like California to Hawaii, it's inexpensive (think Mexico) and a beautiful, fun place for a holiday. Full transparency, we didn’t visit the west side, Canggu or Seminyak. Many we have spoken to mentioned that this part of Bali doesn’t feel much like Bali anymore with so many foreigners having settled in these areas and the traffic, if possible, being even worse.
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