We left for Bali early Saturday morning on December 3rd and after a short flight and 1.5 hour taxi ride on a 2 line (if you want to call it that) road through the rice paddies we were in the tranquil wilderness of our hillside resort, Alila, in Ubud!
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| Beautiful art we passed heading away from the airport in Bali |
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| On our way to Ubud the sides of the road were lined with vegetation, caved stone (like these), basket weavers, wooden furniture, and, sadly, lots of stray dogs : ( |
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| I like this shot because you can see a rice worker wearing a traditional conical hat |
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| Bali rice paddies |
After checking in and checking out our room we spent the remainder of the day Saturday enjoying what is boasted as one of the “50 most beautiful pools in the world” – and I don’t feel like they lied! When the evening came we had a nice dinner and retired early to relax and read – I got Mark sucked into the Hunger Games series and had to finish a book of my own before the book club meet up the following Wednesday. And I also made use of the outdoor bathing facilities which was interesting/weird/lovely all at the same time! Even though I know no one could see me bathing outside still felt a little strange at first.
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| The orchid in our room at Alila |
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| Alila stone bathroom |
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| Alila outdoor rainfall shower and bathtub |
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| Another view of the outdoor bathing facilities |
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| Our private garden with hillside view. You couldn't see the river but you could hear it - very peaceful |
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| View from our garden |
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| Mark with hillside background |
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| Pool was amazing! |
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| Eating lunch on the hillside terrace |
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| Mark and Niki |
Sunday we slept in then had breakfast at Alila. In the afternoon we went white water rafting, a first for both Mark and I, through the Ayung River. It was a bit of a hike to the take-off site but worth it for the nature views. Anyone who goes to Bali, we highly recommend this excursion! It was fun and exciting but also beautiful and serine - just an all-around neat experience to see rainforest on both sides of the river and to raft under waterfalls. We used a company called Sobek and had 3 very friendly guides and were served a great Indian lunch.
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| Banana crepes and the best coffee EVER! |
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| Making our way down to the river |
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| Stopping only the riverbanks mid-rafting |
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| Our really nice guides |
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| Rafting the Ayung River |
After our return from rafting we spent some time reading by the pool. It was during this time that I got some really great pictures of the wild monkeys that we had seen around the resort. At one point there were about 10-15 monkeys just hanging around within 5-10 feet of Mark (thank god we had gotten the rabies vaccine!) Being the good wife that I am, I left Mark to fend for himself and got into the pool hoping monkeys couldn’t swim. Just kidding (kind of), I did take some pictures first.
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| Mark loving the pool |
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| Bungalow with monkeys on the left corner |
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| Mark and Niki at Alila |
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| Wild monkeys next to the pool |
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| One of my favorite monkey pics |
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| Living the dream, poolside with my book and a fresh watermelon mojito |
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| Mark and his monkeys |
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| They are deceivingly cute |
Following swimming we cleaned up and enjoyed our last dinner at Alila. We retired early again since we were pretty zonked from rafting and planned to get up early the next day to fit in a few last minute activities before traveling to a different hotel in another part of Bali, Nusa Dua.
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| Roasted duck breast on a potato cake with carrots - YUM! |
When the morning came we woke up and got breakfast again. I sure will miss Bali coffee! Then we went for a bike ride through the rice patties, and took one last dip in the pool – at which time I also had to plank. Yes, I’m a nerd but we’ve already established this.
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| Mark doing his tricks. I didn't post pictures of my tricks since they were way cooler and all and I didn't want Mark to feel bad...Yeah, that's what I tell myself |
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| Biking along the rice paddies |
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| A local left his bike against a palm tree to collect coconuts - I love this picture. |
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| Temple along our rice paddy route |
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| Niki planking |
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| We found the monkey just sitting like this the morning we were leaving - sooo cute! |
Before arriving at the Grand Mirage in Nusa Dua we had another 1.5 hour taxi trip. Immediately after check in we decided to get in a taxi yet again to go to Kuta for the sole purpose of getting Mark’s Hard Rock Bali pilsner glass. It’s only after we get there that we find out that they are out of them! Kind of a bummer but Mark did manage to get a pretty cool pint glass that lists all Hard Rock locations and the year that they were built.
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| Horse drawn taxis outside of Hard Rock at Kuta Beach |
The majority of the rest of our day and a half in Nusa Dua was spent soaking up the sun and enjoying (most of the time) the water. The pool was excellent with a swim up bar and a basketball goal. Mark and I played a game of H-O-R-S-E and I’m proud to say that he didn’t beat me by much thanks to my backwards shot! And the beach was fabulous with soft sand and clear water that was bathtub temperature and almost still. We also went on what was supposed to be a 15 minute jetski ride but ended up more like 5 minutes because I started crying. Mark will say I cried because I’m a baby sometimes but I’ll maintain that he was driving like a maniac and we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Other trip highlights included: massages on the beach and getting Mark to karaoke with me! All-in-all, it was a VERY fun and memorable vacation!
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| View from our hotel room at Grand Mirage |
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| Pool basketball |
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| Another view of the Grand Mirage pool |
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| Swim-up bar |
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| Spot for dinner on the beach |
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| Mark on the beach at Nusa Dua |
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| Bali sky |
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| Another view of the Bali Sky |
