Bali, it is!!

KUALA LUMPUR:

After the tedious journey of ‘The grand Indian wedding celebrations’, our excitement for Bali, weighed far more on the tiring after-effects that every couple faces during and after winding up the rituals. A brief halt at our workplace, we packed up our bags, and were ready to take a lift up to Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, and a buzzing economic hub, was quite something. It is a brilliant confluence of tradition and modernity in all sense. People, there, are quite polite and ready to help with any query. Yes, the language barrier did prove a bit tiring, nevertheless, sign language is a very good back-up anywhere, and the international language of English, did work out almost everywhere.

Our two-day visit to KL was cut short to a day, due to a technical glitch in the flight. However, our day went by with visiting KL Bird Park during the morning. Now, I’d prefer calling it a reserve, owing to its huge area-span and wide collection of birds. The best part, apart from the carnivorous birds, and a select few, all were freely flying in the park. The park is cut off from the outside world, by fences and a huge net on top, acting as a preventive measure to avoid any bird from flying outside. It is spread over 20.9 acres of space and is known as “World’s largest free-flight, walk-in aviary”. They claim to have a live collection of around 3000 birds, and I would dare not challenge them. This park is divided into 4 zones; where zones 1 and 2 are the free flight zones, zone 3 is the hornbill park and zone 4 consists of birds in special cages and mini aviaries. It boasts of attractions like, taking close-up snaps with unique birds (like parakeets, owls, etc.); a bird show, bird-feeding shows and a few more. In short, this is a must-visit place if KL is in your travel itinerary anytime.

KL has plenty of Indian restaurants, so you’re not going to miss your parathas, dosas, or any other Indian delicacies. After a short noon-break for lunch and rest, we made our next move to visit the KL tower and the PETRONAS towers. KL tower is situated in a tad bit isolated area, but the PETRONAS towers was buzzing with people, posing crazily and happily, to savor their memories, or update their profile pictures.

The PETRONAS towers: What a marvel, man has made? A cool breeze blew in the entire area, as we messed up with our look and camera skills (read, selfies). Inside the towers is an even more happening area, with shops and food joint making the most of the glamour. After having a refreshing drink of slush, we moved back to our temporary abode. Our legs had been quite patient with all that walking, our first day of our first International trip came to an end. Oh wait, we again found some Indian food to kill that hunger pang.

Second day, we had some time for memento shopping at the nearby flea market (it was huge), before catching our next flight to Bali. And, having packing up everything, we took to BALI!!!!

BALI:

Landing at Bali was during late evening hours, giving sufficient time, only for window shopping. As the booking had been done before, we had a hassle-free entry into our hotel, ‘Sun Island’. We quickly decided on dinner at a local restaurant to have a taste of the local palate, and ordered the traditional Balinese food plate. Although the food was good, it was very dry, and needed drinks and sauce to help it down our (err…actually, my) throat. The next day, after breakfast, we moved on to find a scooter, which would be our mode of communication for the next few days. The broker was a very polite one, and we quickly managed to arrive at a deal and start for the day.

Before getting along with our journey, let me take you through a small description about Bali. Bali, is a small Hindu dominated island towards the south of Indonesia. Wildlife, marine-life, adventure sports, historical places, temples; You name it, they have it all! There is always something for everyone in Bali.

Ok, coming back to our trip, our first day was fun-filled. With a GPS-enabled phone, and a Honda scooter being our companion, we made our way to Uluwatu temple. This temple is situated on top of a cliff providing a spectacular view of the sea beneath and the setting sun. Yes, if you’re going to Bali, the sunset view is a must to do at Uluwatu temple. The sunset point was very picturesque, but is infested with monkeys, who are kind enough to snatch anything and everything that the find attractive on you :P . En-route, we had our lunch of a plate of TUNA, and side items to go with it at Jimbaran Bay. They served ‘the best food’ that we had in Bali throughout our trip. We also made a short detour to ‘Padang Padang’. This is a secluded beach area, favorite for surfers and bathers alike. The additional beauty of this beach is the pathway through a cave. A sense of thrill runs in the blood while crossing the cave and then catching a view of the beach.

Second day, we decided to move to Tanah Lot through Seminyak beach. The beach is pretty clean and is a low tide beach; meaning one can bathe and have fun, without a worry. Pura Tanah Lot, meaning Tanah Lot Temple sits on a large offshore rock, and is situated around 20kms from Denpasar (The capital of Bali). This is one of the seven temples on Balinese coast. It is said that the temple is guarded by poisonous sea snakes, although we had no luck viewing any. The temple is a popular tourist destination, and one has to queue up to view the holy spring, that flows underneath the temple. After viewing the sunset there (which was charming as well), and having some local chicken delicacy (the name of which I still am unable to pronounce), we moved back to Bali.

Third day in Bali, and we were too eager to get moving. First, because the journey was a long one, and Second it was to Mount Batur (one of the active volcanoes of Bali…Yes Bali has VOLCANOES too…Yippee). We started early, and made our way through unending, but smooth and silky roads). The view of an active volcano, and that too of Mount Batur gave us goosebumps. No, we weren’t scared of the view, that was picture perfect; but of the thought of viewing a volcano from such a close range. After dining at a restaurant that provided a brilliant view of mount batur and the lake that happily lied alongside the mountain, we made our return journey.

En-route, we visited Gunung Kawi and Tirtha Empul. Gunung Kawi is a temple complex, where 10-rock cut shrines have been carved into around 23ft of cliff face. There are five temples on the east side, which belong to King Udayana, his wife and three sons. On the west side, there are similar temples that belong to the king’s minor queens.

Tirtha Empul temple is situated near to the town Tampaksiring, and is famous for its holy water, where people go for purification. Tirtha Empul basically means Holy Spring.

Fourth day began late for us due to the previous day’s long and tiring journey of 160kms. We decided to go to Jimbaran and have a day, just chilling out. And that was what we did. After having our lunch, we frolicked around in the beach. Waited till the sun to set, and made our way back to the hotel. It was a day, where we sat back on the beach and relaxed ourselves.

Fifth day, and we check out of our hotel, and moved into Alam Ubud Villa and Spa Resort in Ubud. What a place, what a place???!!!! It is a perfect Honeymoon Destination for any couple, on a trip to Bali. Far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, set on the mountainous slopes of Ubud, with abundance of nature, in form of trees, birds, etc etc……am running short of words… And the two best parts…A stream flowing alongside the villa and a private swimming pool!!!! Life could not have been better… They even provided us a complimentary honeymoon cake, and their best villa to stay. The only problem was that one is completely cutoff from the outside world, with even no WiFi inside the villas; but, when you are at such a place, you don’t need to contact the outside world, now do you???? ;) We passed our late afternoon in Ubud, trying to locate local delicacies, which we did find… But the city became really haunted as dusk started creeping in.

The next day, after having our breakfast, we checked out of the Villa, and moved to Nusa Dua, for a stay at Nusa Dua Beach Resort. The journey was a long one, but was fun. We made a bypass through a bridge that was constructed over the sea, and was approximately 4.8 km long, It was scary to move on a two wheeler, with the wind pushing you from all directions, but that adrenaline rush was fun at the same time. Had our lunch on the sea shore, it was an awesome experience, and moved around the tide out beach, messing up with corals and sea-life. Yes, the sea follows tide in and tide out concept, with the tide turning into large waves during morning hours.

Seventh day, and we were soaked up with a heavy heart… It was the day we returned back… After our breakfast, we moved around the beach surrounding a side of the resort. And made our way back to ‘Sun Island’ to collect our remaining baggage. Time to return, but as they say: “Memories are there to stay forever”. Yes, our First journey together, and that too to Bali… Life is here to be enjoyed with each other through many such journeys in times to come…

Signing off for now, till the next trip…SELAMAT JALAN!!!!

Humble staying place.

Brilliant place to stay at with very friendly staff.

A very romantic place to stay, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city in the nature's lap.

Very close to the beach, providing a very nice stay.

Frequent searches leading to this page:-

Bali honeymoon package, Top places to visit in Bali for honeymoon, Bali tour package for couple, Bali Indonesia package tour with airfare, Bali Indonesia tour package, Bali tour package from India, Bali honeymoon package cost