Bali – Kuta & Gili Islands

I hope everyone who sent me questions about Bali enjoys the detail of this post. Keep reading to find out lots of my tips and recommendations on Bali, it is a long one so kick back and enjoy my lovelies.

P.S I’m guessing you are planing a trip to Bali if you are reading this, firstly you will love it, secondly please take me back with you!

Gem x

The figures included in this blog post are an approximate conversion of Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) to Australian Dollar and GBP. 

If you guys follow my Insta-Stories (@gemkenblog) you will know Bali was a very impulsive last minute holiday.

Niall and I headed back to Sydney for a weekend during our regional work to celebrate our friend’s birthday’s. Whilst there we ended up booking flights to Bali late Sunday night for a Monday morning departure. Last minute at it’s finest.

Were we organised? Absolutely not. Were we packed?  Absolutely not.  Did we have the time of our lives? Absolutely.

Tip: Try to book your flights in advance. Who are these people that find last minute deals? Show me them please. We paid $2157.00 for flights alone. (We could have flew home for that!) I mean being spontaneous is all well and good until you hit double pricing for flights.

After booking our flights we went straight to sleep (so organised, so prepared) and set an alarm for 6:30am to get ready and pack. We were leaving for the airport at 7:20am – 40 minutes is plenty of time to sort ourselves surely….

We were like two children on Christmas morning, running about the house trying to find holiday bits and bobs to jam into a suitcase. Surprisingly neither of us were in any way stressing, it was all laughter and pure excitement which set an amazing tone for the whole holiday.

Arriving in Bali

We touched down in Denpasar airport and hadn’t a clue what we were doing! A few months prior our friends had holidayed to Bali and were telling us about this amazing tour guide they had the whole time. We connected to the airport WiFi and made contact with Epic Holiday Tour & Travel. Vicky Sinatra was the name of our driver and he told us he would be with us in an hour.

Tip – if you are landing in Bali at a peak hour with other aircraft arrivals sprint to immigration! We made a rookie mistake of having a pee before joining the ever growing queue of people, 90 minutes it took us to get through immigration *eye roll*. Also bring a pen in your hand luggage, we waited about 20 minutes for pens to fill out the immigration documents.

Fast forward to baggage claim. We grabbed our bags and ran out to see Vicky standing with a name sign, in we hopped to the car and set off to the hotel. Our 40 minute taxi fare from the airport to the hotel cost 150,000 Rupiah  ($15/ £8). On the way to the hotel Vicky gave us loads of recommendations and we booked him for a few days to tick off some of the suggested activities.

Highly Recommended: Vicky is the most care-free, chill person we have ever met. He was our personal driver/photographer/comedian the whole time! His English is amazing and he is contactable via Whatsapp and Facebook. Tell him you know us and that I’ve recommended him, I told him I would include him in my blog post for which he was incredibly grateful for.  Number: +62 819-1621-0131 Facebook: Epic Holiday Tour & Travel

Tip: If you don’t opt for a tour guide I suggest downloading the Grab App which is basically Bali’s version of Uber.  Uber can be used in a select few areas but it isn’t as accessible in Bali as other taxis.

NIGHT ONE

We chucked our poorly packed cases into our room, changed quickly and headed to the beach to catch our first Bali Sunset on Kuta Beach. I am an absolute sucker for a sunrise/ sunset, they just bring harmony to my soul and a cheesy smile to my face. When the sun had disappeared we took ourselves to the Hard Rock Café to eat our body weight in burgers!

As far as prices go, The Hard Rock Café is not the cheapest when compared to ‘backpacker’ Bali prices. But we were starving and the watermelon mojito was calling my name, so in we went.

Meal price: 850,000 ($85/ £50- main and drinks)

After dinner we made our way back to the hotel via some street markets to call it a night after a long days travelling.

We stayed in the Bounty Hotel, Kuta. It cost around 1,800,000 IDR ($180/ £110) for a three night stay with breakfast included.

DAY TWO 

We got up early to have breakfast and fuel our bodies for a day of exploring.  Vicky collected us at 10am and we made our way Ubud. En route we stopped off at the Tohpati Bali Batik where Balinese locals can be viewed working on amazing garments. Hand stitching, painting, weaving and sewing magnificent pieces of clothing outside one of the last factories in Bali which still use these hand techniques. I bought a cute scarf which was 80,000 IDR ($8/ £4.50).

(Picture credits: Pintrest. I only took videos and forgot to snap a quick pic)

Coffee Plantation

We arrived at the coffee plantation at 12:30pm and by this stage Niall was eager for his caffeine fix. We were greeted and taken on a mini expedition showing us the process of creating the coffee. We were then guided to a cute hut overlooking the beautiful rain forest where we chilled on beanbags and sampled copious amounts of coffee.

Cat-poo-chino

Luwak coffee is the coffee we were there to taste, known as the most expensive coffee in the world due to the process undertaking to produce it… The process goes a little something like this: a small furry animal consumes and digests the coffee beans. The beans are fermented in their tummy and once it’s pooped out the beans go through a few processes of cleaning, roasting and grinding. Hence the nickname Cat-poo-chino.

After 17 tasters of coffee we were all buzzed up to explore the beautiful  surroundings. The grounds around the place is so stunning with lots of cute places to chill and adventure.

We finished up at the coffee plantation and were ready for Vicky to take us to the next destination, the rice fields.

Rice Terrace

We walked through the little markets and purchased conical hats to culturize ourselves (and for the cute insta pics of course).

Entrance into the rice fields cost 20,000 IDR ($2/ £1)  with a donation point nearer to the top also. We walked up to the top to gaze at the incredible view and hang out in the Bali Corner.

We explored the rice fields for an hour. At this stage our friends were due to land in Densapar airport and so we made our way back to them, via a pit stop in McDonald’s. Of course.

The cost of the taxi from 10am-5:30pm was 500,000 IDR ($50/ £30).

We arrived back to the hotel just minutes before the rest of the crew landed. We all quickly changed with strict instructions to be at the bar in 20 minutes. After a few bevvies in the hotel bar we headed out to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant followed by a mad night out in the Sky Gardens.

Jamie Oliver Restaurant (approx $40 per head /£22 -main and drinks)

Sky Gardens

We paid Sydney prices for a table which was a laughable, shitty little table on the side of the dance floor lol – BUT it included a free buffet. I know, a buffet in a club? Life Goals. I was eating mash potatoes in between dances moves. The mash in Sky Gardens was insane, bear in mind all I had eaten for the past 5 months was McDonald’s and take outs (farm life) so I really couldn’t get enough of it hahaha.

There was 7 different levels with different music on each floor. It was huge. We drank bottles and they weren’t too much cheaper than you would pay at home.  Bottle Vokda: 800,000 IDR ($80, £50) Moet: 1,200,000 IDR ($120, £70). We made our way home around 5am after a final pit stop via the buffet, we really got our moneys worth on the spuds anyway.

DAY THREE

It’s safe to say we had a chilled out pool day to recuperate ourselves, dying heads all round! In the evening we took a stroll around the mall which was amazing! We visited a huge candy store and I satisfied my sweet tooth with Reeces Pieces, Pic n Mix and Hershey’s.

The previous 2 nights we had passed a restaurant that was queued out the door both times. On the way back this evening  we were lucky enough to wiggle into a spot. The place was called  Fat Chows, it was sooooo delicious and the cheapest meal we had! (Approx 200,000 IDR per head $20/£11- starter, main and drink)

After dinner we done some street bargaining for trainers to wear on our hike up Mount Batur and went home to get a few hours sleep before our 1:30am alarm.

DAY FOUR

Mount Batur

(Note: none of these pictures are filtered. It really is this beautiful!)

Mount Batur involves a hike up the active Volcano which is 3500m high. It is home to lots of monkeys and quite possibly the most instagramable sunrise in the world.

Vicky picked us up at 2am in Kuta to have us at the bottom of the mountain for 4am. Due to some traffic we were set back 40 minutes and I was stressing in case it prevented us from witnessing the sunrise. We arrived a little later than expected so we jumped straight out of the car, met by our mountain guide, grabbed a torch and began our ascent at 4:40am

About 1 hour in to the trek, we bypassed the clouds and glancing over our shoulders was the most stunning view ever witnessed. Being above the clouds we were shielded from the world below by this thick marshmallow like blanket, and looking up to the night sky, it seemed we were close enough to touch the dazzling stars.

It took us 1hr 20m to reach the top. The sun was set to rise around 6:15am so we had made it with 15 minutes to spare. We sat our bags down and just stood speechless, taking in the view and looking at each other in disbelief. It was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments. I could have cried I was just so happy in that moment in time.

The sun rise was positioned perfectly in front of us and the absence of clouds blocking the view made for the most incredible explosion of colour as the sun peaked up from beneath.

I just couldn’t stop saying ‘OMG’ over and over. I don’t know what it was but it literally felt like I was in heaven, like I could feel something spiritually. Maybe it was because I’ve never witnessed anything more beautiful, or maybe it was because we were so high in the sky and were talking about family members in heaven. I don’t know how to really put it in to words, but when I tell you I could have cried with happiness, I actually mean I was choking back happy tears. Maybe it was just the altitude going to my head… 

We spent the next few hours watching the sun rise higher and higher in the sky, capturing unforgettable moments on our camera.  We walked around the mountain learning about the sacred ceremonies and Niall made mates with some monkeys.

We began our decent  back down, which was slippy AF. The volcanic ash just slides from under your feet. At this stage my feet were killing me, I swear I had blisters (good ole $5 haggled trainers) and I couldn’t wait to get to the Hot Springs.

Tips for climbing Mount Batur

• Get a mountain guide (helps you with the path and provides you with a torch).
• Take a bottle of water.
• Wear a mini backpack so you have your hands free (slidy on the way down).
• Take a pack of tissues for a pee.
• Take some money for snacks / take snacks of your own (there are people selling food and drinks along the way).
• Wear comfy worn before trainers, not the ones you bought for $5 off the market or you will have blisters.
• Take an extra layer as it will be very chilly until the sun rises! I was wearing shorts with tracksuit bottoms over the top, with the intention of taking the tracksuit bottoms off at the top when the sun came up. Even when the sun came up I was still cold because of the crisp, dewy mountain air.
• Make sure your phone/camera is fully charged.

HOT SPRINGS – Toya Devasya

We went to the Toya Devasya Hot Springs to soak and relax ourselves in the natural earth heated pools for a few hours with lunch and drinks. There are four different hot spring pools where you can soak in the minerals, refresh and rejuvenate after the hike.

Price for return transport, mountain tour guide, entrance into Hot Springs: 800,000 IDR  ($80/ £45)

Finn’s Beach Club Seminyak

On to the next location of the day! We made our way to meet the rest of the gang at Finn’s Beach Club. It was Yassu’s birthday and what better way to celebrate than at a beach club sipping cocktails! We got a bed by the pool and lived it up eating and drinking like lords.

Bed- minimum spend: 1,500,000 ($150/£85).  Price Per Bottle: 60,000 ($60/ £35)

We left Finn’s Beach Club around 8pm to go back to the hotel and get changed for a birthday meal fit for our princess. We went to the fanciest restaurant I think I’ve ever been called Double Six, Seminyak. There was a man in a white tux playing a saxophone to us whilst we ate our steak- so extra. To be honest we had all had a few too many bottles at Finns to fully appreciate the experience lol.

Bill: Mains & Drinks for 6 people 4,650,000 IDR ($465/ £260) 

After dinner and a few more drinks Niall and I called it a night as we were on the go 24 hours straight at this stage. We really were squeezing as much into our time as possible because the following day we would leave the mainland to enjoy our last few days in Gili T.

DAY FIVE

We woke up and quickly packed a mini bag to take to Gili T, leaving the remainder of our luggage in the hotel. We all took our seats on the hot and sweaty bus and opened a few Bintang Beer to keep us cool. It takes about 1 hour to get from Kuta to Padang Bai by bus. The boat journey took about 90 minutes.

Price: 750,000 IDR per person ($75/£40) includes return transport from hotel and boat trip to Gili Islands. Bintang Beer: 20,000 IDR ($2/£1)

Gili Trawagan

Whats not to love about island life? Palmtrees, Coconuts, Private Villa, Hammocks, Turtles, Bicycles & the most magical sunsets- sounds like a dream but this is how we spent our last few days in Bali.

When the boat docked at Gili T, we were put onto the horse carts which took us to our Villa. (The only transport on the Island is Horse & Cart or Bicycle, some of the horses would make you cry they look malnourished. We fed and watered them when we could and walked where possible.)

It was about a 10-15 minute trot from the boat to Kelapa Villas which cost 50,000 IDR ($5/ £3).

We stayed on the sunset side of the island at the amazing Kelapa Villas. Our Villas names was Mimpi and she was beautiful- I didn’t want to leave her ever!

The doors opened and in we walked to our very own paradise, greeted with fresh coconuts. We all dibs’d our rooms and bombed into our private pool.

We had left our speaker in Kuta so we paid a staff member to go buy us a speaker and bring it back. We could hear him before we seen him, back he came with Avicii pumping and we were all buzzing! The vodkas were poured and the music turned up. We were definitely living our best lives.

Tip: Split the cost of a villa between friends and it works out similar cost to hotels, and I know which i’d prefer!

We had a few laughs around the pool before we decided we should explore some of the island as we had limited time here. We went to the main strip, where we read many reviews on the great nightlife BUT it was Ramadan and the music had all stopped early. There were still a few places serving drinks so we sat ourselves down on some bean bags on the beach and had a few Bintangs.

On the way home we stopped with one of the locals to book a day out swimming with the turtles and seeing the other two Gili Islands, Meno and Air.

DAY SIX

I woke up, opened my bedroom door, took 5 steps and launched myself into our pool- Holiday Vibes.

We ate our breakfast at the Villa before spending the day exploring around the islands on the boat. We hired out the whole boat to ourselves because it meant we weren’t restricted time wise in places we wanted to spend a little longer.

We snorkeled with turtles at Turtle Point in front of Gili Meno and stopped off for lunch on the beach.

When we got back to the Villa in the evening we were racing against time as it was almost sunset and we wanted to get that famous picture on the sunset swing. We showered and dressed for the evening (pointless because we all got soaked and had to come back to change again haha).

Along the stretch of beach are many swings and hammocks, plenty of opportunity to get your picture without having to wait on others. It is just as beautiful to enjoy them in the day, chilling on a hammock in the ocean is total relaxation!

DAY SEVEN

And so our time in our villa was almost over… We woke up and packed up all our stuff, said an emotional goodbye to Villa Mimpi and off we went to have our last island breakfast.

After breakfast we went to the beach to ride horses along the water and soak in our last morning on the island.

Note: The food on Gili T outside of our villa was not that impressive, or at least the places we ate weren’t. We had two bad evening meals which weren’t even worth including because they were rank.

We grabbed our bags and headed to the boat to make the return journey to the mainland. We sat top deck on the boat, the music was up full blast and the Bintangs were once again flowing for the final time. We had great craic on the boat and really made the most of every second. The thing was,  Niall and I were returning to Australia to complete our regional work so we really wanted to make the most of the holiday, which we most certainly did!

Off the boat we hopped and at this stage we knew if we had of got our prepaid bus back with all the stops we wouldn’t be able to go via the hotel to get our luggage, due to the time and our flight. So we decided to hop in a private taxi and make our way back to Kuta. This didn’t make a difference. The traffic was horrendous, standstill, going nowhere. Each time we asked the taxi man how long his response would be ‘another 1 hour’. 2 hours later he was still telling us ‘just one more hour’. We were cutting it fine to our flight time so we made the decision to leave our luggage at the hotel and pay for the others to bring it back. It was going to be cheaper to pay for our luggage than it would have been to pay for 2 more flights (we had already paid out the nose for the first set of flights).

Luckily I had the passports in my hand bag so we scrapped going back to the hotel and just set straight for the airport. We made the flight in the nick of time. What a whirlwind of a trip, an extremely last minute booking made for one of the best holidays of our lives.

Tip: The weather forecast for Bali often states rain/ tropical thunderstorms, take this with a pinch of salt as we had fantastic weather despite the weather app suggesting otherwise.  A few people I know have said the same.

Tip: Try wrap your head around the Bali currency before you go. It is confusing AF, well at least it was was for me. (Luckily Niall stopped me from paying $500 for a massage & pedicure, it was only suppose to be $50. From this point on Niall controlled the money lol)

I did actually vlog a bit of Bali, but I haven’t even got around to looking at all the footage. It was my first time vlogging so I’m not sure what way it will turn out plus majority of the time we were Bintanged so i’d say it will be hilarious if nothing else!!

I still have my Thailand stuff to post but due to the Bali blog being so requested I wanted to get it up first for you guys. If you found this blog helpful please give it a like/comment/ repost. It really means a lot to me that you guys read my blog and ask me for my advice.

I’ll be working away on my Thailand blog/video and Bali vlog. Ideally I’d love it all up before i go to Fiji in a few weeks! And on that note, if you have any Fiji recommendations please send them my way!

Big LOVE, Gem Ken x

Gili Islands have been shut off due to the recent earthquakes in Lombok. I have included a link to help the Balinese locals if you wish to do so. I donated the price of a G&T, if you want to help use this link to do so. They are almost at the target of $76k!