Incredible Bali
Oh how I miss travel and places like Bali!
This is a repost of what I wrote about my visit to the island at the start of 2020. I really hope to visit soon! I absolutely love exploring the island which is filled with so much natural beauty!
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BALI WAS INCREDIBLE (to say the least)! It’s my third time visiting the country and I am honestly blown away by what we discover, each time we step foot on the island. When I went to Bali with my family in November last year, we did the sunrise hike on Mount Batur. Legit, one of the most breathtaking experiences E V E R (apart from the pretty intense cardio sesh uphill at 4am)! Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a camera with me on that trip so I was only able to capture the moment with my eyes and phone (which doesn’t do it justice). If you haven’t already realised (follow me on IG and you would probably know), I am a huge sucker for sunrises and sunsets! Nothing gets me quite like the beauty of these day-to-day moments. It’s seriously one of God’s best creations that I love beholding, each day! And Bali, is one of the epitomes of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets!
This time round, my family and I decided to explore the Nusa Peninda island (inspired by wanderlust travel influencers in Bali). The island’s attractions are split into the East and West, of which, I very much prefer the East! We had to catch a ferry from Sanur port in Bali to the island and boy, was it quite the experience. Thankfully, my sister had read up on other blogs regarding the transit so we weren’t totally caught off guard. Sanur does not have an actual boardwalk when it comes to boarding the ferries. Unknowing tourists wearing long pants or skirts would be soaked from the waist (if you’re unlucky) down because they would have to trudge through the seawaters to get to the ferry.
It’s pretty ridiculous that they haven’t built a pier (at Sanur).. given the influx of tourists and locals visiting the island each day. But, it was nonetheless, funny for a first experience! Nusa Peninda, on the other hand, has piers which makes boarding a breeze. We had taken the Crown fast cruise to the island and the Angel Billabong fast cruise on return. Of which, Crown was docked closest to the only flight of stairs which made our access to the beach and ferry a lot easier. I would recommend taking the Crown fast cruise over Angel Billabong for this very reason. They provide much better service by carrying your luggages back to land when you return. There are also more fans inside the ferry for better air circulation. You pay a little bit more in fare but honestly, with the exchange rate, the difference is minimal for the service. On our return on Angel Billabong, we had to climb over the rocks of the breakwater to get onto land. It was a bit of a ninja move, especially having to carry our luggages with us! Not the most pleasant experience for people with bulky bags..
Prior to boarding at Sanur, our first pit stop was Canvas cafe (see below). The food there was decent but I was vibing more with their aesthetics! Overall, Bali has really great architecture and vibes across the cities (I’ve only been to Kuta, Seminyak and Canggu). Closer to the port is a famous local eatery (called Warung Mak Beng) that only has one set meal on its menu (Indonesian fried fish with fish head soup and rice). The fish was fresh, delicious and a whopping $2.50 per set! We took notice of the crowded restaurant while on our way to the ferry. It piqued our curiosity and we decided to try it out on our return from Peninda. You can’t really go wrong when you follow the local food crowd, right?
Most people prefer to stay on Nusa Lombok island (which we have yet to visit) because of the fancier accommodation options. We decided to stay on Peninda instead because I really wanted to catch the sunrise and sunset there.. and boy were we in for a treat! By God’s grace, it didn’t rain (only a sprinkle here and there) on the island during our stay. The island was relatively quiet because late January is meant to be the monsoon season which makes it an off-peak period for tourists (yay for us)!
We stayed at Arjuna Bungalow which was somewhere in between the East and West and it took us about an hour to get to either ends of the island. The roads are winding and bumpy though, so brace yourselves! That being said, most people travel by motorbikes so traffic congestion is pretty non-existent (I don’t know if that changes during peak seasons).
The only heads up I would give about the island is that it is infested with flies. I’m not sure if it’s because of how quiet the island was at the time or if that’s the norm. It made eating a real challenge because we had to constantly swat the flies away. They were relentless, to the point where it was unappetising to eat. Thankfully, there was a cafe up the street from where we stayed that was air-conditioned. We ended up having two of our meals there.
A tip to deter the flies is tealight candles! It’s pretty random to have on hand but you would be lucky to have it offered/served to you while eating.
Hot water and its supply is also limited (depending on where you stay) so if long and hot showers are a necessity to you, perhaps reconsider staying on the island. The island had a power outage twice on one of the nights that we were there. It wasn’t a biggie but my dad definitely had his reservations after that (he was more so disgusted by the fly attacks). My sister and I weren't really phased by what was happening on the island. If anything, it made the trip even more amusing and memorable!
In our attempts to capture sunrise and also avoid any tourist throngs, we decided to leave our accommodation before 5.30am. I woke up the earliest because I wanted to do my hair and makeup.. which ended up not being really visible on camera anyways 😅 I didn’t have hairspray to fight the humidity either so my curls didn’t hold up for too long. Unfortunately, the sun was already rising on our way to the East. Despite not having those epic sunrise shots at the treehouse *cue in those Bali influencers*, we were able to catch one of the most spectacular views on our drive there! I would suggest staying closer to the East if you really want to maximise your time there.
We hired a driver from the bungalow for the day (at around $100/day) and visited the treehouse and diamond beach first, both of which were breathtaking to behold, albeit, killer to scale by foot. Our legs were jelly by the time we had finished our hike to and from the treehouse (scaling the cliff). We weren’t able to explore the base of diamond beach (another treacherous hike) as a result but it’s definitely on my bucket list to visit again!
By the time we got to the West, we were pretty much exhausted from the day’s thrills. My sister and I were both content with our ‘money shots’ from the morning and any other photos taken in the West were ones we really wanted (which weren’t many). I would say that the coastline of the West (apart from Kling Kling) looks similar to any other coastline in New South Wales, Australia, so we weren’t entirely blown away by the sights of it (perhaps also deterred by the intensely scorching heat that is the bane to my existence). It reminds me of the summer heat in Australia which I avoid (you wouldn’t find me on the beach at midday) because it burns my skin. 🔥😭
Side note, it’s probably best to bring along a wide angle lens. I only had my RF 35mm lens on me which wasn’t wide enough to capture Kling Kling (the t-rex looking headland) from above. We didn’t bother trekking down to the ‘classic’ Nusa Peninda shot because we were all ready to call it a day by then. Also, the winding roads make it unsafe to drive back late so we had to give sunset a miss. Thankfully, it wasn’t a lost cause because the clouds had rolled in by then and we weren’t guaranteed an epic sunset either way.
After spending two nights on Peninda, we made our way back to Sanur en route to Seminyak where we stayed at the Kanvaz hotel. That hotel was lovely! *boujee compared to our island stay*
They serve breakfast all day (from 7am to 11pm), giving you flexibility to order whenever you please! Served as ala carte dishes, you can choose from a variety of western, asian and Indonesian options. We ended up having dinner at the hotel on one of the nights because it was torrential outside. It turned out to be a really great feast of Indonesian cuisine. The pork (babi) dish and ox bone soup were the fav of the lot! We also had fried duck (bebek) and a chicken dish (which wasn’t too great).
Getting a little techie here — I was genuinely surprised that my EOS R (camera) could capture our dinner at Sisterfields / Boss Man burger, the way it did. I only took one shot of my sister’s burger from Boss Man (see below) and prematurely gave up shooting because of the low light situation at Sisterfields. It turned out to be my favourite food shot from the trip! *should have continued photographing that night !*
Although we wanted to visit Ubud (rice padi fields) while in Bali, the torrential rain did not permit us. We ended up recuperating from our intense Nusa Peninda adventures (my thighs and calves were sore for daaaays). I kid you not, that treehouse hike was intense and unforgiving.. for a fairly fit person.
I didn’t photograph much in Bali. The handful being the ones at the hotel, like their pretty blue bird lounge (see below). I have a penchant for greenery and plants too.. 😬
I can’t wait to be back again! We were advised by the locals to check out North Bali in future because it’s less crowded than touristy cities like Seminyak and Canggu. Hopefully next time the weather (especially heat) will be more forgiving! 🙏🏻 Overall, this trip has inspired me to wake up early and seize the day (avoid the crowd too)! It has definitely helped in building my confidence when being photographed around others (like my family) because I used to be an awkward turtle and would miss out on opportunities as I was too timid to be ‘seen’. Also really happy that I pushed myself to drone even though I felt discouraged in the moment when I was flustered (due to my lack of practice and inability to multitask when people talk to me).
