The next stop in my travels was to the island of Bali in Indonesia. Bali is a super popular spot for travelers and I had seen so many photos online of the island that I was excited to visit and see it for myself. While it was a beautiful island, it wasn’t my favorite place because it was so crowded with tourists, but I made the best of my time there and had fun.
My flight to Bali landed in the evening so I stayed at a hostel near the airport. Luckily the airport is right in town and I was able to walk from the airport to my hostel, which was a first. After checking in I went out to get some food for dinner and then get a SIM card; after doing both I headed back to the hostel for the evening and made plans for the next day. The next morning I got a Gojek, similar to Uber, to Ubud because in Bali there aren’t really buses for getting around. Luckily taxis aren’t too expensive. It was an easy and uneventful ride to Ubud and I had a very friendly driver. When I arrived in Ubud I found my hostel which was really nice and had a beautiful garden space with a small temple. Since it was too early to check in I prepped my laundry and sent that off before going out to walk around and get lunch. I ended up walking around the town for a little while before finally heading back to my hostel to check in and hang out there for a little while. That evening I went out for dinner with Sinead, who I met in the Philippines. After dinner she and I hung out at the restaurant for a bit before we got on the scooter she rented and we rode around town. It was a lot of fun riding around with no plan. While riding around town it started downpouring rain and we got absolutely soaked. Once we were thoroughly wet and cold from the rain and wind we called it a night and she dropped me off at my hostel. Since I had just sent all of my clothes to the laundry, the clothes on my back were the only clothes I had left and they were now soaking wet, so I left them out to hopefully dry overnight. Unfortunately the next morning my clothes were still soaking wet so I had nothing to wear and I was stuck at my hostel waiting for my clothes to be ready. By the time I finally got my clothes back it was early afternoon, so I decided to just get lunch and casually walk around for the rest of the day. My second day in Ubud was another slow and relaxing day spent not doing much but it felt great to be able to relax in a beautiful space.
On my third day in Ubud I walked to the Monkey Forest which was on the edge of town. The walk there was really nice and because there was heavy traffic, walking was a lot faster than if I went with a vehicle. Before I even got to the Monkey Forest I was already seeing a bunch of monkeys all around. The closer I got, the more monkeys I saw. Once in the Monkey Forest everywhere I looked there were monkeys. What I did see while there was that many of the tourists did not have a healthy enough fear of them; they would go up really close or let the monkeys climb on them. I was not a fan of that; if one started coming close to me I always made sure to move and leave a good amount of space between me and the monkeys. While there it confirmed that I am indeed scared of monkeys; they’re mean and unpredictable animals. At one point while walking down a path a guy going the opposite direction just walked near one and it started hissing at him and following him. Both he and I moved out of the way quickly. Also, while walking through the forest I saw signs that said not to look the monkeys directly in the eyes as this is considered an act of aggression. This was a new piece of information to me and is something I will never forget. After spending some time wandering through the forest and looking at all of the monkeys while maintaining my healthy fear of them, I finally decided to leave. It was a lot of fun walking around the forest, but it was also very stressful always having to watch my surroundings to make sure no monkeys came too close.
My final day in Ubud I had a slow morning before heading out for a hike through nature in the outer area of town. The end of the path I was on led to another path that went through rice fields. It was a beautiful walk and the views got better the further I went. Walking along the rice fields I enjoyed having time to just sit on a ledge and enjoy the view and the quiet. There weren’t many people around so it felt good to just enjoy the view and appreciate where I was.
The next day I got another Gojek ride and headed to the coastal town of Canggu. Once there, my hostel wasn’t properly marked so as I was looking around for it my Gojek driver saw me walking and was kind enough to drive me between the different potential areas. He tried calling and helped me a ton in finding my hostel. In the end I found out that the address I had was the correct one but Google Maps gave the wrong directions and it wasn’t a well marked location. That afternoon, after checking in, I walked down to the water and enjoyed some quiet time on a black sand beach. Canggu is another busy tourist town but fortunately I decided to stay on the outer edge of the busyness where I was still close to a bunch of different restaurants and activities but I was not in an overcrowded area. On my first full day in Canggu I had another slow and relaxed day where I just ambled down to the beach and walked along the water for a while. It wasn’t exciting but it felt good to take it slow and just enjoy nature. The next day I got a Gojek scooter ride and went to Tanah Lot Temple which was a little way outside of town. Tanah Lot Temple is a temple built on a rock and can only be accessed at low tides and by select people; tourists are not allowed onto the small rock island temple. The views of and around the temple were beautiful. There were different areas and temples within the complex and it was fun to walk around the area. The further I went the more nature and rock cliffs and bridges I saw. It was an enjoyable time slowly exploring the temple complex and I was surprised by how few tourists were there. After exploring I headed back into town to walk around the area and find food. On my final day in Canggu I had yet another slow day of casually puttering around the area and the rice fields just outside of town. I also used some of the time to plan and book my next destination and hostel.
Overall, it was nice having a slow laid back time in Bali. While it wasn’t my favorite location and I wasn’t a fan of how crowded it was everywhere, my accommodations were very nice and inexpensive and the nature outside of the towns I stayed in was beautiful. It felt good to slow down and spend time relaxing after having been busy with travel, locations, and people at so many of my last locations.
"Travel. Your money will return. Your time won’t."
- Unknown
Don’t make eye contact with the monkeys … I love that! 😂😂