The flight was long and extremely grueling. I, accidentally and unknowingly, booked a flight to Bali from the south of Thailand that included an 18 hour layover in Singapore. I took it upon myself to make it as fun as possible and do what I referred to as the "impromptu Singapore trip". You can take a look at the blog post and comical video I made here.
So, after we spent a very weird 18 hours in Singapore, we finally made our way to Bali. We arrived late at night and did what every foreigner does when they land in an Asian airport - bargain and negotiate with the taxi drivers who will inevitably attempt to scam you. This is where its really important to do your research before you go traveling. I'd been in Asia long enough to expect such behavior and negotiate a better, more fair (but probably way too high) price for a taxi ride.
Our taxi driver asked us "which hotel, ladies?" and we, as backpackers of the land, said "we don't have a hotel... take us to a good area and let's find one!". Luckily, our taxi driver was in good spirits and helped us find a good place to stay. Many places in Bali were already booked up so we had to stop at several joints before finding one to stay at. Advice here : book your hotel in Bali BEFORE you arrive.
Bali is, however, not where my friend and I stayed. Many of the friends I made in Thailand traveled in Indonesia before me and said to skip Bali... go to the Gili Islands. I had never heard of the Gili Islands but I received nonstop recommendations to check them out. "Bali is super tourist-y" "Skip over Bali and spend your whole time in the Gili Islands." So, we did.
The next morning, my friend and I woke up and hopped in a cab headed toward the dock. We were told to find a "speed boat" to get from Bali to Gili Islands. Now, when I say "speed boat"... I mean it. This boat traveled entirely too fast. Like "are we going to make it there alive" "omg I think I'm going to be sick" fast. The boat ride lasted 45 minutes (45 minutes too long...) but we did arrive safely.
There are three islands that make up the Gili Islands. The one that was recommended by most is called Gili Trawangan or, more commonly referred to as, Gili T. HOWEVER... if I could do it all over again, I would skip Gili T and head over to one of the other two islands. We stayed on Gili T for 3 days and by the end of the first day I was already complaining about it being too loud and full of partying foreigners. I asked someone about it and they said "Yeah, that's why people come to Gili T. It's full of drugs and alcohol and people wanting to get fucked up." If you know me, you'd know that this is exactly 100% opposite of what I was wanting to spend my time doing.
If you're looking for more of a laid-back, relaxing, wine-sipping by the ocean vacation - go to Gili Air instead. I didn't visit Gili Air due to an unforeseen diagnosis of Dengue Fever on my poor, poor friend. Speaking of which, here is a no-shame promotion of a hilarious video my friend and I made of her in the hospital being diagnosed with Dengue Fever. PSA : wear more bug spray than you think you should.
Bintang is THE BEER you drink if you go to Indonesia. It's their pride & joy, I think. Although I have only been to 2 different countries in Asia, I know that their beer is absolutely not something to be that proud of. European beer and American beer is FAR better!
You can catch more footage of me at the Sweet and Spicy Indonesian Cooking School in my video up there. This cooking class was so wonderful. I took it alone and was nervous it wouldn't be fun but the cooks and I had such a great time together. The place serves beer (Bintang, of course) and they crank up the tunes so everyone is having a blast. I cooked a total of 7 Indonesian dishes with 3 Indonesian cooks for around 25 USD - ABSOLUTELY worth it.
Did I mention that the Gili Islands were EXTREMELY small? Gili Trawangan is the largest of all of the islands yet, there are still no cars or even motorbikes. Your only options for transportation are bicycle (which you can rent for around 5 USD for 24 hours) or a horse-drawn carriage. The horses are small and decorated so beautifully.
The ever-so-famous Bintang beer.
Here I found a couple of workers lounging on a giant pile of God knows what.
Great one and you always take beautiful photos mak mak! :P It reminds me of the time in Indonesia three years ago. It was amazing. :D
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