So I am in love… with Bali. I was only there for two days but it was definitely love at first sight and I can promise you that if I were to spend more time on this magical Indonesian island my love would grow and I probably would never want to leave.
Day one started with a local guided tour of the island and our first stop was the Bat Temple. Now many temples in this part of the world are dedicated to certain animals so I was thinking that there would be many statues of bats and so on… However, I certainly was not expecting the back wall of the temple structure to be an actual bat cave! That’s right everyone, a bat cave, with thousands of bats inside all hanging up-side-down, squeaking and flying around! It was an unbelievable site and I am fascinated by the fact that a temple like that actually exists. Can you imagine anything like that being built in the Western world?!?!
Our next stop, the Monkey Forest, made me feel as though I was stepping into the pages of The Jungle Book. This area used to be home to an ancient temple that was dedicated to the monkey, however over the years the temple has been taken over by its natural surroundings and the animal in which it was built to honor. With that said, the temple structure itself is nothing more than ruins covered completely by vines and moss creating a perfect home for the hundreds of monkey families that now live there. The monkeys were so adorable, climbing, swinging and running around everywhere. They were not phased a bit by all the human visitors and actually were quite gracious hosts. (Especially if you brought them their favorite hostess gift, baby bananas!)
After the Monkey Forest we drove for a bit to another part of the island called Ubud. This area has been made famous by all the little cafes, art galleries and boutiques that line its streets. I would guess that you could spend a month just in Ubud and still not see it all. It was definitely a bit overwhelming, but I have decided that when I finally decided to put down roots somewhere and have a home of my own I am flying to Bali and furnishing my whole house with purchases from Ubud. The hand carved furniture, fabric and pottery were all unbelievably gorgeous and I guess for this reason it is a good thing that I am currently a gypsy and have to be able to carry everything I own, otherwise I would have spent all my savings!
As our first day came to an end, we made one final trip to the rice terraces, which are exactly that, dozen of terraces carved into the side of hills where they grow rice. It was a stunning site, especially as the sun was setting… Day one complete now its time for a crazy night out in Kuta!
Kuta was about an hour and a half from where we were docked so we decided to pack an over night bag and spend the night off the ship at a fabulous beach side resort. We arrived in Kuta around 10:00PM, checked into our hotel, changed for the evening and made our way out in search of dinner before hitting up one of Kuta’s hottest night clubs, Bounty. Let’s just say it was a great night full of dancing, drinking and partying that ended with a pool party back at the resort at 4:OOAM…
Going with the motto “you can sleep when you’re dead” we were out the door at 10:00AM ready to explore Kuta during the daytime hours. But before we could do any exploring we had to hit up the amazing buffet breakfast that the resort was serving. On the ship they stop serving breakfast at 8:30AM and you know us entertainers are NEVER up before 10:00AM so it was the first time in a long time that I was able to enjoy breakfast food and it was good! With a full belly and a Starbuck in hand, (There was one across the street from our hotel!) We roamed around, checking out cute shops and galleries. I purchased some beautiful white embroidered pillow shams and a traditional Indonesian parasol, which I love and cannot wait to find a home for in my next NYC apartment.
The day ended with one last dip in the pool before we had to drive back to the ship. What an amazing two days, I will definitely be returning to Bali (hopefully sooner rather than later) and if you get the chance go to Bali; it really is an incredible place!
