Bali – The land of volcanic mountains, rice paddies and beaches

Just having completed my backpacking trip to Bali I must say it looks like a place straight out of a fairy-tale movie. A place full of majestic Volcanoes ready to erupt at any moment, beautiful calm beaches and immense flora and fauna. It is one of the many Indonesian Islands but certainly the most diverse and hence attracting maximum tourists.

After landing at the Denpasar airport and moving towards my stay in Kuta, I noticed two things very precisely  – The architecture of Balinese houses and the party and open culture. Balinese houses are really very tastefully designed, fully decorated and quite spacious. You can also notice that the town of Kuta and Seminyak are the most happening for a backpacker. If you plan to relax then better stay in Ubud or Denpasar region of Bali.

Lunch with that beautiful view

Exploring rice paddies and watching a Volcano was on my mind as soon as I landed, hence I decided to explore these must do things on the next day morning.  But to my surprise, there were lot more things to do in Bali than just these two bucket list items.

So, here are the places that I found are worth exploring on the tour to Bali:

My Top Picks

• Mt. Batur Lunch

  It was probably the most scenic lunch I have ever had. The beautiful Active Volcano with a huge lake surrounding it and the clouds. What can be a better view for lunch, now let the picture itself justify the beauty.

  

  That view!!

  

  Mt Batur

• Kopi Luwak

  Now, I will tell you that I actually paid to have an actual Shit Coffee!! Yes, you won’t believe me, but it is the truth. This Coffee is made from the part digested coffee berries defecated by a little animal called Luwak. It is then processed and finally, it is up for drinking. This little-guided tour will let you taste different varieties of coffee for free and a cup of Luwak coffee can be bought separately for 30000 rupiahs.

  

  Little Luwak sleeping

  

  The defecated coffee beans

  

  Processing of Luwak coffee

  

  The Luwak Coffee

  

  Free tea testing

• Ubud Monkey forest

  It is a beautifully maintained forest in the city of Ubud. You can play with monkeys, they are mostly harmless. The sanctuary itself is very beautiful with waterfalls and a river to walk around.

  

  Ubud Monkey forest

  

  Ubud Monkey forest

• Sahadewa – Barong and Kris Dance

  It is a beautiful play, having a seating capacity of around 100 people. The play represents an eternal fight between good and evil spirits. A Barong represent the good spirit and Rangda represent the evil one. It was a nice 1hr watch.

  

  Sahadewa performance

  

  Sahadewa performance

  

  Sahadewa performance

• Celuk Village

This is the place where you can actually see how handmade jewelry work is done. You can see the whole process and buy some good quality jewelry as well, but don’t forget to bargain for the price

Balinese Woodwork

• Tegallalang

  You can just click pics and walk through these beautiful terraced rice fields of Tegallalang.

Other Places to Visit that I missed 😦

• Night trek to Mt. Batur. – This is a midnight trek to Mt. Batur and you can experience beautiful views of sunrise from the top
• Rafting in Ayung River – Must do for adventure sports lovers
• Tanah Lot Temple – I regret missing this a lot, have heard from locals that it is a beautiful temple in on the coast and amazing for sunset views

Time for Backpackers secret Tips

• Hostel Stay – I found one of the most tastefully built and clean hostels I have been to. I stayed in Kayun hostel after looking at the reviews on Hostelworld.com. The hostel was a gem. It had really nice and big beds, a lot of space in a common area and a  free swimming pool and jacuzzi to enjoy (although I didn’t get enough time to enjoy it). The hostel was damn cheap, at around 8$, and located in the Kuta area
  

  

  Beautiful Hostel Bed
• Clubbing Scene – If you want to party, best stay in Kuta area. Most of the clubs have free entry, except for Skygarden which generally have the entry fee of 200000 IDR, but it includes buffet dinner and a couple of drinks. But if you want to party for free my favorites are Bounty Discotheque, ViAiPi, La favela, all are awesome clubs to party till late

  

  Clubs in Kuta

• Book the day tour in a group and through hostel: We booked the day tour covering most of the places mentioned above for just 45$ per person and we got a full day car and driver for just two people, with all the entry tickets of above-mentioned places and lunch included, isn’t it amazing. Most of the shop vendors in Kuta will try to rip you off with exorbitant prices for these tours.

Nearby Islands to Explore

Although there are numerous Islands near Bali, the tourist’s hotspots are Gili Islands and Nusa Lembongan. I visited Nusa Lembongan Islands for one day, and they were awesome

Gili Islands: They are a really calm group of 3 Islands, good for snorkeling and with no motor vehicles. These Islands are a bit far away from Bali (around 5 hrs one way), so go for Nusa Lembongan Island if you are on a short trip

Nusa Lembongan: Beautiful Islands around 1 hr away for Bali. They can be explored on Motorbike and have an awesome bit of things to do.

Overall Bali is a total heavenly Island, having all the ingredients for a beautiful holiday. Offcourse do get a traditional Balinese Massage to relax your body after all this travel.