Bali Weekend Getaway

So here's the thing. Me and my girls came up with the idea of going to Bali as weekend getaway. I've never been to Bali before, and I'm so excited I finally made it. Carrying only one backpack and tote bag, I met my friends at the airport. We arrived way too early, the flight was supposed to be on 7.30 pm (got delayed for 40 mins) but we had already checked in at 4.30. No problem. Girls always had a way to kill the time, some selfies and exposure of what-shoes-we-wear-today would do just great :)

At 11 pm we arrived at Ngurah Rai airport, we took a rental car and headed to Sanur to stay in friend's house. On the next day, we headed to Klungkung, a small regency famous for its classic Balinese paintings. One of my friends had already planned to visit the art market to buy wholesale local fabrics for re-selling purposes. Klungkung market has hundreds of traditional stalls selling hand-woven fabrics, religious paraphernalia, ceremonial umbrellas, and lots of golden colored items for shrines. My friends got busy in price bargaining with merchants, jumped in and out from one stall to another, looking for exquisite fabrics with good price deals. As I don't understand that kind of business, I went on to another place in Klungkung.

Adjacent to the market, there's a beautiful palace called Puri Semarapura. It was built during dynasty of Gelgel kingdom in 17th century. During the Dutch colonial, the palace was largely destroyed in 1908 conquest, leaving the basic remains of the palace which called "Kertagosa", the court of justice. The palace was built in square form and divided in several blocks with various ritual and practical functions. The most interesting thing is some of the finest examples of classic Balinese mural painting depicted on the ceilings of each pavilions. The paintings took the story from the sacred book of Sutasoma, depict journey of human life from birth to death, not to mention karma and reincarnation. I was a bit terrified looking at the paintings, they're mostly dominated with red color, presenting dreadful characters, illustrating kinds of punishment in the hell. In one pavilion, there are antique chairs and table set where trials used to be conducted. There is also a museum of history and culture of Klungkung.

The following day was beach time! We had so much fun at Balangan beach. The sands felt a bit coarse, every steps become saggy and heavy. I learned that every beach could have different types of white sands even though they are in the same island. After Balangan, we continued to Padang-padang, a more secluded but crowded with coral reef and tourists. The reef looks pretty from distance but if you take a closer view, it has pungent surface. If you fall accidentally over it, you might get serious injuries, always be careful with your steps. In Padang-padang, we saw plenty of seaweed living widespread behind the reef.

 

The next beach would be Jimbaran, but we planned to stop for a while at Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) to watch Kecak dance, which unfortunately didn't perform on that day. We couldn't find helpful information about the show until one receptionist gave us a small piece of paper, evidently Kecak dance is scheduled only on every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday evening. The entrance fee is quite expensive for just seeing giant sculptures, so we ended up with mini photo session before the abandoned cut cliffs. Rumor has it that GWK will be the largest statue in the world (150 meters tall & 64 meters wide) but has been going nowhere in the development since 1998. I hope it would be resurrected real soon!

We then rushed to Jimbaran beach to catch up the sunset. We had a very nice seafood dinner, thanks to Ndee's parents. We waited for sunset but again unfortunately thick clouds masked the sun we barely see any twilight over the horizon. However, the mood was on set seeing the beautiful landscape; low tide and soft sand. When it was getting dark we could see all restaurants lit candles on each tables. Since we came in group, not in couples, the romantic mood was left aside and selfies taken over the night.

After having dinner, we continued driving to the city craving for ice cream. Someone said that there's a famous homemade ice cream vendor in Bali called Gourmet Garage. We searched the address thoroughly from Jimbaran to Sanur but couldn't find it. The reviews we got from internet said the place is secluded and kinda difficult to see it from the main road. Not giving up in ice cream hunting, we strolled to Seminyak. Apparently Seminyak has more new cool places than Legian, the sidewalks are also less crowded with pedestrians. We jumped excitedly when we discovered Lello Lello Gelato, a very comfy bar to hang out and enjoy gelato! It's located across from Samaya Resort, offers 24 selections of organic ice cream and sorbets. The place is homey, liquors and coffee are also available, hand towels are provided replacing tissues for practical cleaning. A must visit place to stop by after dinner!

On last day, we expected nothing but seeing sunrise in Sanur beach. We set alarm before dawn, woke up from bed with blurry face, skipped shower and drove to the beach right away. Blame to rainy weather, all we could see was giant dark clouds covering the sun (why oh why). Short after, we browsed Sanur looking for breakfast. Local restaurants were still closed in that morning, we ran out of options to eat, so we then stranded at 24-hours McDonalds.

After breakfast, we got busy packing luggage for our flight home in the afternoon. Before arriving at the airport, we stopped by at Discovery beach for lunch. Discovery has calm waves and sea breeze but no white sands, only hundreds of limestone stacked along the shorelines. The time seemed like frozen at that moment, the sea sounds like calling us to stay forever in Bali, pleading to not ever going back to Jakarta.

I heart you, Bali ❤