Indonesia: Canggu, Jimbaran and Bingin

We hopped back on the fast boat from Gili back to the mainland and headed to Canggu in time for New Year. We found a gorgeous villa on AirBnB which was pretty cheap, within walking distance of a bunch of great cafes and the beach, and had an amazing pool. Time flew by in Canggu; we spent about a week there, going to amazing cafes, walking and swimming the days away. On New Year's Eve, while there were many NYE parties going down at all the beach clubs, we decided a nice meal, some wine and a chill night was the go, including watching the copious amount of fireworks being set off by local kids all night.

Next up, we headed down the coast to Jimbaran, a beautiful and quiet beachside town, where we were lucky enough to stay at the amazing Karma Kandara Resort. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of the bigger towns and cities in Bali was perfection; we basically spent our time here hopping between our pool and the beach just down the road. More of this in a future blog post.

Our final stop in Bali was the amazing, isolated little cliffside village of Bingin. Bingin was a hidden gem, an unexpected slice of paradise, and exactly what I'd hoped for from Bali. We stayed at The Sun and Surf Stay, which is an adorable little B&B right on the beach at the bottom of a cliff (yep, a lot of stairs were involved) made up of converted little surf shacks. This was the ultimate chill out place; beach, sun, surf, sand, sunsets from the hammock on our balcony, and there was even a veggie/vegan restaurant no more than 10 metres away with the perfect sunset viewing balcony to perch on (Swami's Stay and Cafe, in case you're interested). Bingin is also super close to Uluwatu if you're after another surf break, or an amazing Nalu Bowl (get the Uluwatu Bowl, holy moly I dream of it).

And that's Indonesia! And our travels! But I'm already dreaming of our next adventures, so stay tuned...


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Indonesia: Ubud and Gili

We kind of spontaneously decided to go home from India via Indonesia, because why not, right? So we left India a couple of weeks earlier than our original plan and hopped on a plane over to Bali. Bali was definitely a change of pace from India, one which came as both a relief and a strange emptiness all at once. India's charismatic chaos is one that you settle into (a sink or swim kind of situation), a life of dodging traffic, turning down eager tuk tuk drivers, finding the cheapest dosas in town, and avoiding being roped into buying something from the bloke on the street's friend's brother's shop. One that I had begun to thrive in, awake and energetic. Bali slowed us right back down.

We began in Ubud, where we stayed a couple of nights in the beautiful Puri Gangga Resort (which I've written about) followed by a week in a great Air BnB called Bhuana Shanti Cottages, overlooking rice paddies and run by the loveliest of people. It was here that we celebrated Christmas and my twenty-third birthday, sharing gifts on our balcony, sipping on pitaya smoothies, day tripping to the phenomenal Tegenungan waterfall, and sipping wine and feasting on the tastiest food. The days all seemed to melt into one another in Ubud, filled with so many vegan cafes and restaurants, rice paddy trips, multiple waterfall swims, and of course the odd Balinese massage or two.

Following Ubud, we hopped on the fast boat to Gili Meno, a tiny little island close to Lombok, so small that you can walk around the circumference of the island in not much more than an hour. From one side of the island you can see across to Gili Trawangan (the bigger, busier, party island), and from the other side you can see across to Gili Air and further across to the heavenly volcanic mountains of Lombok. Of the three Gilis, Meno is the quietest and least developed, with dodgy wifi, sea water showers, traditional little bungalows, and no cars or motorbikes whatsoever. The snorkelling is amazing, a whirlwind of rainbow fish in amongst the pure blue water, vivid blue starfish, quirky coral, but the best of all is that the surrounding reefs are home to a collection of sea turtles. We only spent three nights on Gili Meno; the food was a bit stodgy there, and to be honest, a small tropical island isn't my idea of heaven (is that weird?) and I need my surroundings to be a little more wild to make my soul happy. To be continued...

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