What a sensational three months and a worthy finale on Bali. A big thanks to all the people who made this trip so special. Thank you, for letting me make all these memories with y’all. I had the time of my life! To an amazing journey, interesting encounters, great countries, great people, exploring different worlds and to new adventures – cheers!
Exploring the rice terraces by Ubud with a French couple I met along the way while getting lost in all this green. We walked in one direction for about 1 1/2 hours when we decided that we didn’t want to walk all the way back where we came from because we had already seen it, and therefore, took the road back to Ubud. Although it was a pretty long walk, it once again turned out to be a good decision because we actually got to see a lot of locals in their non-touristy environment doing their daily work. Sometimes you just gotta walk off the beaten paths to make the best memories. We even got to wear traditional Balinese clothing at a temple outside of town in the middle of nowhere.
I love all the little offerings on the streets. They literally have them everywhere and you step on them all the time but it seems like it’s not even a big deal to them because they also simply whipe them off the altars and sidewalks in the morning when they replace them with new ones.
During my search around Ubud for companions for a personal driver tour around Bali, I met a group of wonderful ladies from Sweden. I had already talked to more than 20 random people on the streets trying to find someone to go with me, when I finally found Emelie, a girl from Sweden who was more than happy to join me since she didn’t have any plans for Bali at all yet. We had dinner together the night before the booked tour and accidentally ran into her four girlfriends from Sweden that she had come to Bali with. They decided to join us and so it was the six of us exploring Bali for a day together. We went to see stunning rice terraces, two hours up north from Ubud, the monkey forest, a honey & cocoa farm and the Tanah Lot Temple for watching the sunset. It was one packed day but we had an amazing time and the sunset at the temple was more than a worthy finale for the day. The weather was not always sunny though.
If you’re interested in such a private tour for a good price, you can contact the driver we had via fb: Gix Balinese Driver, or send him a text +62 859 35056623.
Vegan burger and the best oatmeal I’ve ever had at my favorite organic foods restaurant “KAFE” in Ubud, which was luckily right next to my hostel. Make sure to check it out when you’re in the area! My hostel “The Style Ubud” is also very recommendable. It was also at this hostel where I ran into Natalie from California for the third time during this trip. We first met at a cafe in Chiang Rai (Thailand), next explored Angkor Wat (Cambodia) together, and finally, met again by accident on Bali – the world is so small and some things are just meant to happen.
This journey was a pretty good start into 2015 I’d say. Bye bye Bali, it’s been real!
lenacatherine 