|| 002 || p h o t o g r a p h y ||: Bali 2016

Cliff Notes:
- Don't stay in Kuta Beach - too busy! We recommend Nusa Dua or Ubud
- Book your tours ahead of time - we recommend: Suma Bali Tours!
- If need to stay connected to the internet, buy a prepaid sim card; look for one with lots of 3G allowance; forget about the 4G as coverage is limited
- Lots of currency exchange vendors in the city. Stick w/ the vendors in the mini-marts and feel free to shop for rates.
- Full album can be found at: Bali 2016

Bali Day 1 - 12/26/2016:

Arrived in Bali at 1am and check-in to our hotel at the Conrad Hotel in Nusa Dua. Woke up to a cloudy but beautiful sunrise nonetheless.

Went for a walk outside of the hotel and around the block to make a purchase for some bottled waters (because hotel water is overpriced), take out cash from the ATM, and purchase prepaid sim cards for our mobile phones at the same time.
- Some notes regarding ATM withdrawals, there are no local ATM fee's (your bank may charge you foreign ATM fees).
- The streets are littered with currency exchange services; recommend using that in the actual mini-marts and double-check your cash before you leave. Every currency exchange service offers different rates, so feel free to check around before sticking with one service.
- When shopping for sim cards, recommend sticking w/ most data on 2G/3G coverage areas. 4G/LTE is a good option; but limited to the main cities (Denpasar, Kuta Beach, Sanur, Nusa Dua, etc.) and you'll end up burning the 2G/3G allowance quickly.

After taking our walk, it became a pretty hot day, so we just decided to enjoy the resort's offerings and hung out poolside and facing the beach until it was dinnertime.

For dinner, we decided to splurge and go for the "Romantic Dinner" offering by the Conrad Hotel. (click link for details). The dinner was pretty pricey and puts it on par as among the most expensive meals that we've had (even in the US) but it was a nice one in a lifetime sort of experience.

Bali Day 2 - 12/27/2016:

For our 2nd day, we did some morning water activities along the beach including a sea-walk where we checked out an man-made coral while breathing through a helmet and a water-jet board.

(insert sea walk photos)

(insert water board videos)

after completing that, we checked out of the Conrad and made our way to check out Padang Padang Beach and Uluwatu Temple for the sunset. Padang Padang Beach at this time of the year was filled with tourists and surfers. It was explained that the currents at this time of the year is unfavorable because the waves are plentiful and carries trash into the beaches of Bali; which results in not so great looking waters...

Uluwatu Temple gets pretty busy later in the afternoon-early evening because of the cultural dance and the beautiful sunset view. Uluwatu offers great panoramic views of the coast and sunset. One word of advice though is do NOT make eye contact with the monkeys as that is a sign of intimidation and challenge. Doing so will provoke them into attacking you. Also do NOT wear hats and sunglasses; and hold on tight to your purses and slippers and personal belongings. The monkeys are are overly aggressive and if you don't pay attention to them, they will take your belongings and run off it with. Don't say I didn't warn you.

After enjoying the sunset at Uluwatu, we headed over to our next hotel for the next few days at the Citadines Apart-Hotel in Kuta Beach.

Bali Day 3 - 12/28/2016:

Day number 3 was spent relaxing in the hotel and checking out the local sites. Started the day off with grabbing a cup of coffee at Starbucks (mainly to get a Bali sbux card). We then took a walk along the beach to check out the waters. To our dismay, the shore was littered with trash and looked yucky. The waves and water was murky in color and wasn't pleasant at all to look at. As a result, we retreated back to the hotel and enjoyed our rooftop pool instead. Later at night, we met up with a friend travelling to Bali as well and relaxed with a 60 minute traditional massage at the local spa for 100,000 IDR (converts to about $7.50 USD). Afterwards we walked around the streets and looked for something good to eat. We ate at a local restaurant where I ate fried duck and fried rice. If you like spicy chili, then order a side of "sambal matah".

Bali Day 4 - 12/29/16:

Day 1 of our 10 hour tour with Suma Bali Tour. Before getting started on describing our tour, I want to briefly recommend Suma to anyone looking to make a trip out to Bali and making a tour out of it. We booked him for 2 days of touring many temples and sites for a private tour. He's a great English speaker with a great personality and is very easy to talk to. You can choose one of his fixed tour packages on his site, or you can do what we did and give him a list of things we wanted to see and he made it happen.

Started our tour with checking out the Tanah Lot Temple. The temple was a great site to see as it sat on a rocky island that is accessible only during low tide and when the waves aren't so aggressive.

Not accessible during high tide and angry waters

Enjoyed some snacks of grilled corn with a spread of sauces (garlic, spice, sweet) and Klepon

We then headed to our next stop, Gitgit Waterfalls. Not much to say other than if you like chasing waterfalls, then this is a must go waterfall to see. Unfortunately, the falls was kicking up a lot of mist that I had a hard time taking a great picture of it.

Our next stop was at the Twin Lake Panorama spot that overlooks Danau Tamblingan and Danau Buyan (twin lakes). We found a spot where you can take a picture with exotic animals like an inguana and a bat even!

Our last stop for the day was a coffee plantation where we were able to taste all the local coffees for free except for Kopi Luwak. Kopi Luwak was available for tasting for 50,000 IDR (about $3.75 USD) for a cup. It's worth it!! A bag of Kopi Luwak in the amount of 250 grams can be purchased for 700,000 IDR (about $52 USD). 250 grams should be able to make about 20 cups of coffee.

raw coffee beans that have been dried after getting pooped out of the civet.

a freshly brewed cup of kopi luwak

brewing the kopi

a caged civet

Bali Day 5 - 12/30/16:

So we started our last day in Bali by heading out on our tour at 6am. We headed up northeast towards Kintamani where we had a great panorama view of Mt. Batur, a dormant volcano, and Lake Batur. Had a quick cup of coffee while enjoying the view as we started our tour.

After this breathtaking view, we headed over to Pura Ulun Danu Beratan. This temple is featured on the 50,000 IDR bill as well. A temple located along the lake on the mountain, is a beautiful sight to look at.

We then headed over to check out the Pura Tirta Empul, a Hindu Temple known for its holy spring water.

Next stop was the Gunung Kawi Temple. This temple is from the 11th century. The unique fact about this temple is that it is carved from stone in the hillside. You are left with a sense of awe just in thought of how much effort was placed in carving out the temple from the hillside.

We then had lunch at d'Alas Warung. Omg, I highly recommend this restaurant. Food is fresh and clean to the taste and is very flavorful. The chicken and fish are both delicious. Must also order the fresh papaya salad!

After a filling lunch, we headed over to check out the Tegalalang rice terraces. We were pretty full from lunch and didn't want to walk much, so we just did a quick stop for a brief photo-op and continued on.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Sacred Monkey Forest. Monkeys here are very tame and friendly; unlike at Uluwatu. Same rules apply though; don't make direct eye contact and keep your hands away from your purse and zippers as the monkeys think you're hiding bananas in there.