Australian Adventure: Week 30, February 12-18, 2023

Wow - what a week it has been! We have been busy exploring as much as we can in Bali, Indonesia.

On Sunday, we flew from Singapore to Bali. We spent the morning enjoying the Marina Bay Sands hotel, having one last swim on the roof, and getting some breakfast. Then, we headed to the Singapore Changi Airport to explore. We saw the waterfall, walked through the shops, went down the three-storey tall slide, and roamed through the butterfly conservatory.

That night, we arrived in Bali, and headed to our beautiful beach resort, the Westin Nusa Dua. We had a late dinner at the Italian restaurant on the property.

On Monday, Webster and I started our day with a bike tour around the village (yes, we made it back for the Super Bowl - they were streaming it at breakfast). Then, we had a much needed relaxing afternoon at the pool and beach.

In the afternoon, Webster went surfing! He has been working hard at physio to get back on a board after his ACL surgery last June. It was so fun to watch him surf!

On Tuesday morning, Webster convinced Selina and Andrew to join him for another few hours of surfing!

That afternoon, we all went for massages at Zahra Spa. There were mixed reviews from the group about the massages but overall we would recommend for $20/hour.

On Tuesday night, we tried the other restaurant at the hotel and had a delicious steak!

On Wednesday, we had a quiet morning at the pool before checking out of our hotel. Andrew, Selina, and Webster spent the day white water rafting on the longest river in Bali. They said the water was gross and the stairs were steep, but they had a lot of fun!

Meanwhile, I took Mom to the airport and all our luggage to the next hotel in Ubud. I checked us in and waited by the pool for the gang. That night, we had dinner in the hotel at the pool.

On Thursday, we woke up at 3:00am (yes, 3am in the middle of the night), to watch the sunrise over the top of Mount Batu. We took knock-off Jeep’s to the top of a mountain and watched the sun come up. It was a cool experience and quite the operation with more than 50 Jeep’s up there.

After the sunrise we went to check out some volcano rocks from the eruption in 1963. The eruption took out a whole village. Now the rock is used by the local people as building materials and for handicrafts. Then, we spent some time at the hot springs heated by the volcano.

Later in the afternoon we went to a coffee plantation to learn about the coffee process in Indonesia and sample a variety of beans. Our favourite was coconut coffee!

That night, we went to a local restaurant for dinner Bebek Tabi Sari. We sat in a table overtop of a koi pond, looking out at the rice fields. It was a great meal, in a unique atmosphere.

On Friday, we had another early start at 4:30am. We met our guide Iko and set out for the North of Bali to see the Gates of Heaven. We waited in a beautiful temple for almost two hours for cool pictures of us in the gates.

Then, we headed to the Water Terrace Palace where we fed koi fish, walked around the grounds, and learned about temples in Bali.

Our next stop was the Tegenungan waterfall. We hiked down to the bottom and explored the caves underneath the waterfall.

Our fourth stop was Tegallalang Rice Terrace, Bali’s most famous rice terrace. We walked around, learned about agriculture, and chatted with our guide about life in Bali.

Our final stop was the famous Monkey Forest. We were a bit hesitant to go to the forest because of the mixed reviews online. Some people say it’s awesome, some people say the monkeys attacked them and took their phone! We were glad to have Iko with us to walk us through the forest. If anyone wants to go to Bali, this is a must see spot, just don’t look the monkeys in the eye!

On our way back to the hotel, Webster, Selina and Andrew tried durian ice cream with our tour guide, Iko. As you can tell by their reactions, they were not big fans.

That night, we went into central Ubud for dinner. We had a Balinese style meal at Cafe Wayan.

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to scuba dive! We drove two hours East to Tulumben where we dove a coral reef and a ship wreck. At the dive site, they were farming coral to bring fish back to the area. We saw turtles, sharks, rays, starfish, and hundreds of other small fish.

That night, we went into Ubud again to do some souvenir shopping and have dinner.

This week we are (slowly) making our way home through Taipei. Then, we will spend some time in Ontario visiting family and friends.