Bali has been my favourite escape so far! Everywhere you go on this island it has something unique to offer. It has amazing weather everywhere you go, and it was even rain season! It did rain a bit, but it was still in the 30’s, humid, and you could still get a tan with the clouds! However, some people dislike this island because of how many tourists are here. I thought of it in a way that I felt safe because there were many more people like me. You can either rough it here, or stay at a resort. Bali was a place I knew I wanted to treat myself and enjoy the sun so I used our family time share and booked a resort for 4 nights in Candidasa, I stayed in an Air BnB in Ubud for 3 nights, and by Kuta Beach for the first night and last 2 nights. For hotels by Kuta Beach I recommend using Agoda.com and booking a hotel, every day they have tons of hotels on sale (I booked 4 star hotels for $20-40 a night).

Resort life was great for the first few days! I got an awesome tan, had a pool, the ocean breeze and awesome service at the hotel. However, the last night I got violent food poisoning. When I say violent I mean I literally shit myself as I was puking at 4am (sorry for the image). I quickly realized that I shouldn’t of ate the beef, I only ordered it because I had no issues with any of the other food. That day I had to catch a car ride to Ubud. It took every ounce of energy and motivation to get me out of bed to pack, clean my shorts from earlier that evening, and catch my car to my next destination. I told the front desk about my stomach issues and they handled it very well. They went and talked to the chef right away and also took my meal off of my bill. I even talked to the manager who was apologizing profusely and said she was very grateful I said something to them. This to me showed a lot of integrity.

Ubud is a town basically in the jungle. I loved this place! My Air BnB was in the rice terraces! I could see farmers keeping them clean during the days and you could hear the frogs and crickets all night long. It was called Manyi Village, I highly recommend it. They had drivers that would take you everywhere and even let me pay for it all on one bill at the end of my stay. The drivers were also reasonably priced because private drivers in Bali can be expensive. I did take it easy in Ubud as my stomach was still recovering; I slept the whole first day I was there and only left the room to grab some plain rice and water. The second day I was there I ended up going to the Sacred Monkey Forest. There were monkeys everywhere, they were like cats and dogs, not even phased by us as we walked by them. The monkey forest was good as it is a sanctuary and there was security to make sure no one was feeding them other than the staff. The third day I was there I went to the giant rice terraces. This is what I was most excited for and was pretty high on my travel list. I wanted to do zip lining and all of that kind of stuff but I really did not want to risk it with an iffy tummy. The last day I packed up and headed back to Kuta.

My room was the bottom window on the right across the way!

Kuta Beach is the surf spot everyone talks about in Bali. It is very touristy, and had lots of locals trying to make a living. I liked Kuta Beach, it was the hang loose vibe people talk about and it was pretty safe as there were lots of tourists like me. However, I have never been so sexualized and cat called in my life. As someone who has stronger feminist views than most, this really irritated me and bugged me to the point I was ready to clock someone. I had comments like “I’ll take you for a ride” on a regular basis as many people rely on unregistered motorbike taxiing as income. I also got called out for my tattoos multiple times a day. I still walked everywhere as I booked my hotel so I couldn’t so, so I realize I may have not helped the situation.

However, I still enjoyed the beach while I could in +36 C weather. I ended up having to move to the hotel pool as it was wayyyy to hot to be on the beach. I would say I like being a beach bum, but I think I would rather be a ski bum in the Rockies!

I did not get to try any spicy Balinese food as I wanted to keep my food bland, but I did find a couple awesome breakfast and lunch spots that I recommend! Paperboy and Crumb & Coaster were my go toos! They have awesome coffees, fresh fruit, smoothie bowls, and open kitchens so you know your food is being prepared in a clean environment.

On Instagram I made a post about Luwak Coffee. I ended up at a place that had 2 Luwak’s as pets and served the coffee. Luwak coffee is basically pooped out, half digested coffee cherries but is considered a delicacy. It really came to be a things as the farmers helpers wanted coffee but couldn’t afford the fresh beans so they would make it from what scraps they could find which was the stuff the Luwak’s pooped out. Since then it has shifted to an upper class thing costing about $6.00 a cappuccino here in Indonesia obviously being more expensive when exported (think about how much a Kilo would be). However, nowadays, the animals are kept in cages and force fed coffee to produce the delicacy. I really encourage people to look up the latest fads as I ended up supporting the animal abuse that occurs to these animals. Please do your research!!!!