A trip to Southeast Asia

First stop, Bali

#traveltuesday

April of 2018, four months of dating and we were off on a HUGE adventure together across the globe. We had planned out the places we wanted to go, the places we would stay, and checked our packing list twice, or more like six times.

WOW, it is a long flight there — almost 19 hours to Taiwan and then 5.5 hours to Bali. I’ll do another blog post on what to pack in a carry on to survive such a long flight.

We stayed in Alila Resort in Ubud. WOW is all you can say when you arrive; it is that amazing. For one, the staff are accommodating and friendly. The resort tucked into almost what looks like complete isolation of a jungle. In the mornings, we would have monkeys all along our patio wall. Then we would enjoy THE BEST breakfast out by the pool overlooking the forest. The breakfast included fresh-made bread and pastries, juices and smoothies on top of whatever entree you ordered from the selection of the day. I will cherish those mornings forever.

The first day we went out and rented a scooter, we might have been crazy. Has anyone seen how people drive there?? Forget stop signs, traffic lights, lanes, and oh basically any rules. There are also hundreds of stray dogs that don’t even think twice on walking into the road.

Anyways, the first day we went to the Sacred Monkey Forest. IT IS UNREAL!

When you go there… do not make eye contact with the monkeys! Also, the monkeys are smarter than you think. They will unzip your backpack to look through and take things from it!!

The first monkey we saw, I gave Kevin my phone to take a picture of me standing in front and before I knew it jumped onto my shoulder! But it doesn’t stop there. It grabbed my boob!!!!! Oh and then monkeys jumped on Kevin’s head as we took a selfie and got a bit frisky! When you scroll through the pictures, you’ll see what I mean! Another exciting thing that happened is a mama monkey BIT ME — just my luck. A baby jumped onto my arm and before I could say how cute it was… mama was on my arm, locked eyes with me and bit down. I don’t think I have ever screamed louder in my life. We quickly found first aid services and got my arm scrubbed raw. (my biggest concern was rabies, but apparently, they test one monkey a year because it requires them to kill the monkey to check for it and if one monkey had it, then multiple monkeys would have it).

After the monkey incident, we grabbed some yummy lunch and then got pampered with an hour and a half massages for less than ten dollars for both of us! (I want to go back just for the massages).

The next morning we watched the sunrise from the Tegalalang rice fields. It is a little confusing on getting into the fields. Basically, in the mornings, the businesses are closed, and you have to jump over the gate to hike down.

Mornings there are SO worth it to see those gorgeous sun rays!

We were supposed to have a photo session in some waterfalls but unfortunately crashed on the scooter and ended up at the ER the night before. Somehow I didn’t get a scratch on me (thanks for breaking my fall babe!), but Kevin was scraped up badly and was told to not get any of his injuries wet for at least TEN DAYS.

So we did a quick change to our sunrise photo session to the rice fields, and I’m glad we did our photos there. We had our pictures done by Gusmunk, he is local to Bali, and we LOVE our photos!

We also spent a few days on the south end of the island near Pandawa Beach. We went to the Uluwatu Temple, located on the cliffs of the ocean. You have to have your knees covered to enter, but there are skirts that can be used to slip over your clothes during your visit. The Cashew Tree is my favorite restaurant in that area! Kevin and I ate until we were stuffed. The food and smoothies were delicious.

I would highly suggest Bali to anyone looking for some very HOT humid weather. Everyone was very accommodating and kind. I felt very safe while traveling in Bali (I would have even if I was traveling alone). The mosquitos weren’t bad like most people assume. We both didn’t get any bites! We did wear those rubber bracelets that are mosquito repellent, and they last for 72 hours. I also brought a bottle of the Avon Skin So Soft, which works well as a repellent and doesn’t have the nasty smell because its a moisturizer.

The food was super delicious with a ton of vegan options and very cheap, including the fresh smoothies. Be careful about not drinking the water, though. And of course my favorite, the massages. If you go, get as many as you possibly can.