Day 1

Arriving in the rain

To the Island of Gods, one of the few purely Hindu islands in Muslim Indonesia, I fly with my friend Veronika directly from Dubai with Emirates. My boyfriend will join us a few days later. Emirates has great service on board, we have to admit that they are better than our airline, although we shouldn’t say that. And maybe it’s just that the grass is always greener on the other side. When we arrive to Denpasar Airport after 9 hours of flight, we are surprised by the rainy night. The taxi driver, who is taking us to our villa in Seminyak, says that it rains like this for the third day in a row. I know, I know, the rain season. But it is also well-known fact that the rain season in Bali means it rains an hour a day and the rest of the day is nice. Also last year we were here during the rain season, practically in the same time, and I do not remember that it was raining at all. I hope that three days of raining must be enough and it will be nice again since tomorrow…

Smiling Balinese people

But it still pours, even the next day. It’s raining and raining like if it should never stop. We don’t mind yet. We have a beautiful luxury villa with a swimming pool and a large Buddha head, two bedrooms, a common room, amazingly friendly and helpful staff and two huge bathrooms where I could spend the day. At first I was against luxury accommodation, believing we could be satisfied with something more modest, anyway for most of the time we were planning to be running around. However, discounted offer on Airbnb was too tempting and Veronika convinced me. Now, when it’s raining outside, I’m glad we have such a nice accommodation. Ava villas Seminyak is now our temporary home. In the morning, Putu, one of the staff, wakes us up by ringing the gate. He stands outside in a heavy rain with our breakfast covered by umbrella for couple of minutes until we finally get out of bed. But when we open the door, he smiles warmly. The boy with the most beautiful and genuine smile in the world. His smile doesn’t disappear out of his face for our entire stay. But the Balinese people are like that. They always smile and approach each other with great humility.

In the afternoon, when the rain slightly slows down, we go to check our neighborhood. When we pass the Balinese people in raincoats, they all smile and warmly greet us. We come across several spas, beauty salons and yoga schools. Near the studio of Bikram yoga (yoga, which is practiced in a room heated at 38 degrees Celsius) is also the Café Organic bistro, which will soon become our favorite place. Fruit bowls, smoothies, vegan specialties, raw goodies and organic coffee with milk of every kind – from almond to coconut. After a healthy lunch I go for a Balinese massage, Veronika have her eyelashes extended. It is great that in Bali the simplicity of the locals meets the Western civilization brought here by many immigrants from Europe and Australia. Thanks to this combination, you simply find quality services of every kind, restaurants with cuisines from all over the world and bars with good music, all at affordable prices. It is really comfortable to live in Bali.

Gifts to Gods

It’s still raining. But we don’t give up. Early in the morning, we take our morning class of bikram yoga and after the class we go for a healthy and vegan lunch. Afternoon we are just resting in the villa, and when the weather is finally nicer we head out to the center of Seminyak. They have great shops with bohemian fashion. It’s a good shopping here. For dinner we choose a Greek restaurant. I notice that Balinese people leave their small sacrificial gifts in front of each store, villa or restaurant entrance, on the sidewalks and on every altar, even in taxis and on scooters. Usually it’s a small bowl of banana leaf with flowers, leaves, rice, biscuits, coffee, money and a cigarette. It is said to sacrifice at least one gift a day. Those in the temples serve the gods, those in the streets are for the demons. The Balinese hope that they will honor them in such a way that the demons will not bring to their house or on the road misfortune. I guess it really works because I haven’t seen any accident on the road yet, although the roads are full of scooters and crazy drivers. There are almost no rules. Forget about the red, green, right-hand rule, most will do the loud horn, which says: “watch out, I’m coming!”. The common thing is that on one scooter can easily fit a whole family of four with little baby included! Nothing unusual is even a wardrobe tied to one bike! In the evening, I wonder how many gifts I should prepare for the demons to finally take away the thick clouds from the island…

Still raining

Still raining. Bikram joga. Raining. Organic café. Raining. We watch the raindrops on the glass and begin to be seriously desperate. If we have said so far that Bali is also great in the rain, we are taking the words back. But did you know that many young skillful Slovaks live and do business in Bali? With one of them – Mimi we are going to meet tonight for a dinner. We’ve been following her on Instagram for a while. Along with her Italian husband, they own a few restaurants in Bali, they rent villas, and Mimi also does business with jewelry and a sports fashion collection. We meet her at their restaurant, Susheria, which is an interesting fusion of Japanese and Mexican cuisine. Mimi tells us that she doesn’t remember when it was raining for so long in Bali. Not even during the rain season. We got the bad luck. After dinner we move to a neighborhood where the party is slowly starting up like every weekend. It is full of locals but not Balinese but immigrants from all over the world who came to Bali to do business. They own restaurants, salons, villas for rent. We meet mainly Italians. Many of them invite us for traditional after party next door called Hacienda. I have to reject the invitation, my boyfriend is coming to see me tomorrow. But Veronika quickly finds a new company, so I can go back to my villa…

No money, problem…

Finally, it doesn’t rain !!! I’ll pull Veronica out of bed, because I need her driving skills. Our dear manager Ketut (it seems to me that everybody is called Ketut or Putu in Bali) prepare a motorbike for us, of course with a gift for Gods hanging on the steering wheel. We decide to take a trip to Pandawa Beach, which is about an hour’s drive from Seminyak. Mimi advised us to go there. It is said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Bali. The beaches around Seminiyak and Kuta are quite busy and dirty. Mostly because of the volcanic black sand. But Pandawa beach has white sand and turquoise blue sea. We both sit on a motorbike and set off. Veronika forgets to take her driving license with her. Never mind, nobody cares about driving license in Bali anyway. From the passenger seat with my mobile in my hand, I navigate where to go. When we come to the highway bridge, we miss motorbike lane and end up in between cars. From the booth where the toll is paid for the highway, a cop runs out, shaking his head and asking us the driving license. Damn! We try to explain to him that we have forgotten the driving license and that we have not noticed the sign. We’re here for the first time. We are apologizing, begging. The officer is showing us the piece of paper that shows a fine we have to pay – 500,000 rupees. I have barely 300,000 in my pocket and a credit card. The cop shakes his head over the card: “No money? Problem. Money,  problem finish.!” And when we show him empty pockets: “No money, motorbike taken, tomorrow court… Money – problem finish!” Finally, he is happy with the 200,000 that I pass to him: “Problem Finish?” “Problem finish,” he admits with a wide smile. And we can go on. Pandawa beach is really beautiful, worth to visit, but the neighborhood is still raw, unfinished…

How I got burned

But I can’t really enjoy the sun and the sea after all, my skin is burnt already. After three days of raining, I had no idea that I could burn in Bali and forgot to apply some sun block. My pale skin on the road turned red. I’m starting to understand why all the local bikers wear long sleeves and gloves, even when it’s hot outside. Sun burns more on the bike than on the beach. I can survive all ride back just covered with everything we have found in our beach bags. When we park in front of our villa, I’m already red like tomato. And when my boyfriend finally arrives to Bali, he finds in the bed one big grilled lobster instead of his girlfriend. Together with Veronica they giving me the first aid for the rest of the evening – applying aloe vera, serving aspirin and exchange cold compresses. I got a decent heat stroke, I guess…

Potato beach club

Another sunny day. But I have to cover myself from head to toe because my skin is still burned. We laugh that it must look funny to our villa staff that I used to hang around wearing just bikinis and shorts, but since my Arab guy joined us, I have gone completely covering myself. We all go to the Potato Beach Club, which is great, but I don’t enjoy it very much because I sweat so bad in that long dress. I just find a table right under the fan and enjoy at least some cold beer and good food.

In the early evening we go on our rented motorbikes to the Tanah Lot temple. Along the way, we get a little bit of rain. After an hour or so we park in the large car park. Walking paths to the temple are lined with stalls with masks of gods and demons and other Balinese souvenirs. Until we reach the temple, it starts raining again, but at least rain takes away all the tourists around so we have a better chance to take nice photos. After the storm, the temple on the rock looks even more dramatic, standing there in the midst of a stormy sea. Later we take a picture with a huge snake. Abdul hesitate first, but as he does not want to be humiliated by the girls, he also takes the snake on his shoulders. It looks simple when you see others holding the snake. But when the snake’s body starts to wobble around your body and its head focuses its hypnotic eyes on you, everything matter to you. Moreover, it is terribly heavy!

Surfing day

While my boyfriend, the night-bird, sleeps till late afternoon, me and Veronika pull out a motorbike again and go to Kuta Beach, which is full of surfing students. Veronika pays for two hours of surfing, while me, still burned, prefer to relax in the shade. In the afternoon we spend our time in our pool and in the evening we go to the bar where Mexican tortillas are served and tequila is poured from the bottle straight into the throat…

Driving around Kuta

Beautiful sunny morning. Bikram joga. Organic breakfast. And my boyfriend is still sleeping. Violent wake-up call. Pleasant afternoon by the pool. Later, Veronika makes an appointment at a hairdresser, while me and Abdul take our motorbike and go to the busy crazy Kuta. Same place where we spent our vacation year ago. When we are driving around familiar places, we are remembering funny times. On the beach we watch the sunset, then we just wander around and enjoy the ride. Later in the evening, we meet Veronika at the villa, open beers and try to play some social games, but we just fall asleep very soon…

Waterfalls Tegenungan

The time has come to take advantage of a day for some good trip. We decide for the iconic Tegenungan waterfalls, which are about an hour and a half away from the Seminyak by bike. While we ride to the waterfalls, it starts raining again. However, the rain will at least clear area from tourists and after a while the sky is clear again. Because of the constant rain, the water in the waterfalls is not just the cleanest, but still it is a beautiful view. Till another group of tourists arrive to the valley, we can enjoy the place. We are wet enough from the rain, so we don’t really want to jump into the water, but many people swim under waterfalls. When we go back up the stairs to the parking lots, I notice the small stream with a sign saying “holly water”. We wash ourselves in the spring, drink well and go on up the stairs. In front of us, a bare-foot, hunchbacked old woman is carrying a bag full of plastic bottles of water on her head. I’m stunned. I wouldn’t be able to take as many bottles myself, can’t imagine to do it up the stair and in her age!

When we return from the trip back to Seminyak, we get a taste for a juicy steak. Trip advisor recommends restaurant Tokyo Skipjack. And recommends very well. After a great dinner, we dock in the awesome Zappas Bar, which bears the name and blessing of legendary musician Frank Zappa. Rather than name attracts us live music. The funky-jazz band on the stage creates an unique atmosphere. There seems to be a lot of other musicians sitting beside us, because some of the guests are given the opportunity to change their place with the band, and some will grab the microphone or drums like real professionals. Live music and a relaxed atmosphere is what I often miss in Abu Dhabi. While dancing with Veronika, Abdul meets new friends from Ireland on the bar and when the band finishes their show, we all move to Favella, one of the most famous club in Seminyak. A long night in front of us…

Goodbye, Bali!

The last day in Bali, we all find it hard to get up. The staff will allow us to checkout by 6 pm. Until then, I can get a hairdresser, Veronika massage, and then one more delicious dinner at Tokyo Skipjack Steakhouse for all of us. And then we have to pack our suitcases, return the bikes and get on the taxi to the airport… 

On my birthday, our schedule planners put me on one of the easiest and most satisfying flights at all. Jakarta flights are usually full of tourists who are going to Bali island for vacation or the Arabs looking for the housekeepers, or the Indonesians themselves, who return home from a pilgrimage route to Makkah and Medina. Indonesia is again a Muslim country, but very friendly and peaceful. After two “turnarounds” to India (so we call short trips back and forth, without a layover – a break in a destination), I am totally exhausted. Anyway it‘s a deep night in Jakarta. In the morning, with my Hungarian colleague Emoke, we are going for a traditional Indonesian breakfast in the streets. In the small street stall we choose Nashi Goreng (fried spicy rice with egg, vegetables and shrimps) and chicken satay on the stick with a special rice cake or bread, I’m not quite sure. Emoke buys fruits I have never seen before. Their exotic names I did not save in my memory, but their taste I did. After a short walk through the bustling, noisy, dirty and quite poor city, we choose to have a massage in the famous Indonesian spa Marta Tilaar. The building looks pretty raffish in the backyard and it is also far from the hotel’s luxury wellness centers, which we are used to at home. The interior is very simple, in the middle there is a fountain with a bored tortoise inhabitant. The rooms seem to be clean, the atmosphere is authentic and the massage is amazing. A complete package of 3-hours cure for my body and face did not cost me more than 50 euros. The rest of the day we spend at the hotel’s pool with coloring books. We need to save some energy for the next month and flights to bustling Bangkok, fashionable Milan, romantic Istanbul or pulsing Melbourne…