Our Honeymoon in Bali, Indonesia
Bali, Indonesia
The first days of marriage
Our wedding day was everything we dreamed it would be and more! The months leading up to the big day were jam packed with crazy life events. Events like studying abroad, Saile graduating from college, and somehow packing in time to plan our wedding and our future. So when our honeymoon came around, we were SO ready to simply relax and spend time with one another. When we first started researching for our honeymoon we knew we wanted somewhere we could relax, yet at the same time experience a new culture while exploring the scenery. And let me tell you, Bali was absolutely all of that!
The journey to Bali was quite long and strenuous, but so worth it once we got there. The day after our wedding we drove 6 hours from Arizona to LA. Then we flew out of LAX the next day on a 14 hour flight to Seoul, South Korea. From Seoul we flew 6 hours to Singapore, and our final leg was a 3 hour flight to the beautiful island in the middle of Indonesia. Talk about exhausting! But we managed to pass the time by reading John Green's new book, playing games on the Switch, and catching up on our favorite tv series (I am way too into Riverdale). My highlight from our traveling was definitely when we first discovered a classic South East Asian bathroom with a "bum gun" and all. Little did we know, we would come to fall in love with that little device and master the perfect water pressure haha.
Stop one: Seminyak
We stayed at an amazing AirBnb in Umalas which is just outside of Seminyak. It was much quieter than Seminyak with rice fields around every corner. This part of Bali is definitely more touristy and is where everyone goes to party, so it was a fun place to be but we only spent 2 days here, which ended up being the perfect amount of time. We spent most of our time here reading by the pool, eating way too many acai bowls at "aesthetically pleasing" restaurants, and even went to a spa! Some of our favorite restaurants in Seminyak:
-Nook- overlooks a rice field.
-Kynd Community- fruit bowls with "Bali" spelled out in yummy mango pieces
-La Laguna- cozy and eclectic!
-Potato Head Beach Club- the most amazing food and drinks in a super fun atmosphere on the beach! *must make a reservation
-Cafe Organik- I had french toast that came with a popsicle on top! SO FUN
SECOND STOP: UBUD
Oh my goodness I don't even know where to start with Ubud, this was definitely my favorite stop!! We drove from Seminyak to Ubud and instantly became friends with our driver, Puja. Along the way, we randomly stopped at a Luwak plantation where we did some tea testing, and then we also stopped at this crazy swing that goes over the Tegallalang Rice Terraces. It was so fun and while we were driving, Puja taught us about his culture and Hindu traditions. In fact, he actually invited us to attend his community and family temple for the Hindu holiday, "Kuningan(Yellow) Day", on the following day. The next day when he picked us up for the holiday, he showed up with clothes from his closet for Saile to wear and clothes from his sister for me to wear so we could be a part of their culture and be dressed appropriately for the day. It was such a special day as we got to observe the traditions of Puja's small village and his family even welcomed us into their home. The hospitality that they showed towards us was so beautiful and inspires me to want to open up my home to strangers just as they did. I think that as Westerners, we have so much to learn from the Eastern culture in regards to discipline, respect, tradition, loyalty, peace, thankfulness, and so much more.
Here are some more highlights of Ubud:
-eating lots of traditional Balinese food such as Nasi Goreng or Mie Goreng. My favorite restaurant was Hujan Locale where I ate Balinese street style fried chicken with coconut and curry sauce and Saile ate crab noodles that were very unique and yummy!
-swimming in the Kanto Lampo waterfall!
-falling asleep to the sound of crickets and waking up to traditional Hindu prayers and roosters crowing
-ate a 5 course gourmet meal at Locavore (we realized we aren't really the gourmet food type but still a cool experience lol)
-saw countless monkeys at the Sacred Monkey Forest
-shopped in the Ubud town center
-got fish pedicures!
third stop: Munduk
Well Munduk was quite an adventure! Our first 6 hours or so was a little crazy as we got to our AirBnB and quickly realized we got catfished- the place looked nothing like the pictures online and it was incredibly sketchy!! The worst part was that it was in the middle of nowhere and we did not have cell phone service so we did not know what to do. Long story short, we ended up walking until we could find service and then called the only hotel with availability in town and had them come pick us up. It was such a long day, but the new villa we stayed at was much safer.
Munduk is a quiet town in the mountains with very few tourists. Our first day we walked into town and wandered for awhile until we finally found a random guy who rented us a motorbike. We then rode through the mountains (I was freaking out the whole time cause I thought we were gonna drive off the road lol) and visited some of the tourist spots in neighboring villages. We got to visit Ulun Danu Buyan Temple which sits on Lake Buran. It was incredible! We enjoyed the slow pace and stillness of the mountains, but there definitely is not as many things to see or do in this area.
Our last full day we did an ATV tour through the mountains which was amazing! We drove the ATVs for awhile, canoed on Lake Tamblingan, and hiked through the jungle while learning about the native vegetation. We ended the day by visiting a few coffee plantations and got to sip coffee, take a warm shower because we were covered in dirt/mud, and enjoyed a delicious Balinese meal.
last stop: Gili Meno
AH this was my favorite part of the trip!! It was a bit of a journey to get to Gili Meno, but once we were there it was so worth it. We drove about 3 hours to the port, waited for a couple hours, and then rode a fast boat with 270 other tourists to the Gili Islands. The island is so small that they don’t even have a dock that is big enough for the fast boat, so we had to get picked up off our big boat by a much smaller ferry boat. As we got off the ferry boat, we had to jump onto shore and I somehow fell into the ocean and literally face planted in my new dress in front of about 20 people who were waiting to get on the boat we were getting off. I was so embarrassed but it didn’t last long after I was able to look around at how beautiful the island is.
The island is the quietest out of the three Gili islands and it was so fun to walk around and see so many locals. There are only about 500 people who live on the island and you can walk on the beach around the whole island in about 2 hours. We stayed there for 3 days in the coolest bungalow right on the beach with the ocean footsteps from our front door. Those days were filled with swimming, the most incredible snorkeling, reading, and simply relaxing. I loved every second of it, but Saile got real sunburnt and was quickly over the beach lol.
Overall our honeymoon was a dream come true and I am so thankful we got to experience such an incredible new place together. We learned a lot about each other in just the first few weeks of marriage and we loved every minute of finally being able to spend time together after years of long distance.