Bali Travel Diary - In the land of Gods - Part 1

Bali is one such travel destination which has shot up in popularity in the last couple of years and was even voted the best travel destination of 2017, by TripAdvisor. Four of us friends were elated when we got to know of this, as we had already booked out tickets and planned our holiday to The Land of Gods. I'm writing this post for all you guys who wanted to know how our trip was. We were in Bali for little over a week, and visited so many places that one post wouldn't do justice to it. So I've split my Bali travelogue into parts and this is part 1 of the series!

We reached Denpasar at around 9.30 pm local time. The Ngurah Rai International Airport was small but eye catching. Kuta was where we were staying that night. We had booked a villa at 'Deluxe Sunset Loft' through Airbnb, and our host had arranged for our pickup from the airport. It is about 9 km from the airport and we reached within no time. Never judge a book by its cover, and never judge Bali by just going around Kuta. I don't intend to say that Kuta isn't beautiful, but it's nothing out of the world, and certainly won't live up to the hype that Bali creates in our minds.

The next morning we set off to Seminyak, which was 8 km from Kuta. One place which we had on our list, was a cafe called Sisterfields Cafe in Seminyak, where we had breakfast. It was en route this cafe, that the Bali-ness hit us. The roads are beautiful, with dark colored stone houses and lots of greenery. Sisterfields Cafe had charming interiors and a great ambience that we enjoyed while we filled our food craving tummies with some mouth watering delicacies on the menu.

By this time, the rain Gods decided to welcome us to the land of Gods, and we experienced a lovely brief drizzle, and the weather continued to be really pleasant for the rest of the day. We checked in to The Visala Boutique Suites, which was going to be our home for the next 2 nights.

It was high time that we had started exploring Bali like tourists. Our first stop was Pura Luhur Uluwatu, a magnificent temple perched on top of a sea cliff. It is 27 km from Seminyak and took us about an hour to reach. I didn't regret the travel time, for the journey was magnificent. Ancient sculptures stand huge at the entrance to welcome you to the temple which shouts Balinese architecture and traditionally designed structures. This temple overlooked the Indian ocean, and being there at sunset, was the icing on the cake.

After a stroll within the temple, along the cliff, we headed back to Seminyak. It was food time by the time we reached, which brings us to one of my favorite cafes from Bali, which was ..

Cafe Seminyak!

It was love at first sight. Cafe Seminyak is located on one of the busiest and the most commercial roads in Seminyak. A cozy place, with lovely ambience, it made me fall in love next with the most famous Indonesian dishes - the Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng. If you are someone who likes your food slightly on the spicy side, you need to make sure to tell them about your preferences, else you'll have to put up with bland food. After a satisfying meal there, we hopped to Bintang Supermarket for .. Flavored Yogurt! You have to try those when in Bali! We were exhausted by then, and decided to head back to our suites, when we accidentally stumbled upon a place, which I'm sure is nothing short of heaven to all the Nutella lovers - Nutella Bar, a Nutella themed cafe - all Nutella delights under one roof! Everything we discovered in Bali made us fall in love with it more! But this was just the beginning. If 2 days in a place can make you adore it, imagine what staying there for 8 days would do to you!

That night ended with hardly 4-5 hours of sleep, but what we woke up that early for, was worth every bit of sleep that we sacrificed. We woke up at 4 am to catch the sunrise at Sanur, Bali. The calm and serene beach that Sanur is, imbibed a blissful sense of calmness in us as we patiently waited for Ra to rise. The sky was scattered with a variety of hues ranging from shades of orange to shades of blue. I'm not much of an early riser, but if I had to wake up early everyday to catch this scene, I gladly would.