Mar 6, 2013

My Solo Travel To Bali

My First trip abroad!!

I was not very much excited before leaving but once i landed in Bali, my feeling was just "Wow, I am here!"

When I came to know about the super long weekend for Chinese New Year, 2013, I decided to go for a short trip from Singapore. After all the search, I have decided my destination will be Bali. Main reason being the Air Asia prices and the second is the travel duration.

It was total 5 day trip with 2 days for the travel. So did 3 full day tours in Bali. Here goes my travel experience in Bali.

Bali, Indonesia

Bali, the island of temples,  is one of more than 17,000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago. The island, home to about 4 million people, is approximately 144 kilometers which can be driven along in a one long day. Bali is the only Hindu majority island in the Muslim-majority Indonesia.

Day 0: 

Unexpectedly I have got a half day holiday on Friday (08/02/13) on the eve of Chinese New Year. My flight is at 8.50 PM from Changi airport, Singapore and reached Bali in the mid-night. The visa process is about half an hour and I reached my room at 1 AM mid-night. 

Day 1: 

(Please follow the links for pictures)

On the first day of my tour, my itenary as follows:

Started with the Batik fabric processing and went to watch the Barong and Keris dance. Once it was completed visited the Ubud to see the first temple in the tour, The Batuan temple. Proceeded to visit the Tegunungan waterfall and from there to the active volcano called Kintamani Volcano.

Hungry!! Had the first ever Indonesian meal at the Mount Batur.

After the lunch, proceeded further to the spices garden only to taste the 9 different tea and coffee served.

My next stop is the Tampaksiring temple to get purified :)
Once I 'm purified (hopefully), visited the Tegalalang rice terrace, small but beautiful.

Later went to watch the Kecak dance, after discussion with my driver.
That end my first day!

Day 2: 

The first trip in the itenary is "Water Sports". I was reluctant initially to go for water sports as I was alone. But when my tour date approached i felt that i should give it a try and now i am very happy that i have done it.

After the enjoyable yet tiring water sports, i moved to the GWK. Had lunch there itself.

Then I moved to the much talked Padang Padang beach and proceeded to Uluwatu temple later on.

After the temple visit, I went to Spa for a 2 hours Traditional Balinese session.
So, missed the sunset view at the Jimbaran Bay.

But the after sunset view was also awesome. Had dinner at the Bay and thats for the day.

Day 3 :

Third day was very long though the places covered were not many. That was because all the places are atleast 1 hour away from each other. 

Before proceeding to the first destination, I visited a traditional Balinese house in Ubud. 

First destination is the Royal Temple, Taman Ayun. It was very hot that day. 

Later, I proceeded to the Ulundanu (The lake) Temple. I slept off on the way and when i opened my eyes I was shocked to see to the heavy rain as we were on the hill. 

After having lunch at the temple, next destination was Pacung Rice Terrace, which is again 1.5 hours from the temple. 

The final destination of the day was the most popular Tanah Lot temple

With that my 3 day tour in Bali ended. 

Day 4: 

Reached the airport before 2 hours but still i had to run at every counter. The queues were very long at the immigration and security checks. Luckily, I didn't miss the flight. Reached Singapore by noon just to find that it was raining heavily. Back to work with awesome memories :)



Travel Period: 07/02/13 to 12/02/13

6 comments:

  1. Hello :) will like to enquire some tips from you for traveling alone to Bali.. Did you hire a driver or what did you do? Will appreciate for a reply. As I'm heading there 2 weeks later

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Yan, Sorry for the delayed reply?
      Have you been to Bali already??

      I hired a driver and i roamed around the places as stated in the blog post.
      Thanks.

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  2. Woow I think I need to do the same thing as you did. I wanted to throw away my stress caused being overtime every time. Hey it is great to know you're enjoy your Solo-travel in Bali. Have you solo-travel to Jogja anyway?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Pradis, Thank u :)
      I haven't been to Jogja but been to Mount Bromo.

      Delete
  3. Hi Sirisha, Nice blog. I will be travelling solo to bali in april. You hired a car with driver - which 1 you used and wat were the charges ? Which area is best to stay ?

    I am planning a solo trip to Mount bromo in June as you have already been there would love some tips . I am planning to fly to surabya then go to Mt bromo , from there to Mt Ijen and back to surabya. As I am travelling solo renting a vehicle is not exactly economical . How did you do it ?

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  4. Hi Anjana,

    Nice to see that you are travelling.
    I got the rental car from trip advisor. Just check in that, you will get websites/mail IDs.
    You can contact them and discuss. I travelled to Bali in 2012 and the daily cost of Taxi with driver was 40USD then.

    And about Mt.Bromo, i cannot advise on the whole trip as i travelled only to Bromo.
    I went with group of friends, we went on economical tour.
    But since you are travelling solo, i think the following blog will be useful for you.

    http://www.bemytravelmuse.com/mount-bromo-without-a-tour/


    Thanks,
    Sirisha

    ReplyDelete