Northern Bali

Day 6
Emma and I woke up early to do the 7am free yoga at the hostel right next to the pool in front of a huge Buddha, so Bali. I enjoyed this yoga more than the one at Kos hostel because it was a combination of breathing and lots of movements to strengthen and stretch your body. Once yoga was over I got changed and ate breakfast at the hostel cafe. Today I made an appointment to go to the spa (Putri Bali Spa) and pamper myself for the day. I did a spa package which included pick up and drop off from my hostel, so after eating I went outside to wait for the car. I have gotten massages before but I have never done a full spa day and didn’t know what exactly to expect. It was better than I could have ever imagined and so affordable. I did a 5 hour spa package which included an hour full body massage, milk body scrub and mild body mask, a warm herbal oil drip, a floral bath, a spirulina mask facial, air brush spirulina, organic hair creambath, lunch and transportation both ways from my hostel for only $105 USD. I can’t even imagine how much all that would cost at a spa in the United States. I was escorted to the room which was mostly covered and had an area that was opened to the outside with a tub and 2 outdoor showers. I was immediately given a foot bath before the hour long massage began (the women spoke great english which I was very happy about). The massage was the strongest massage that combines assistant yogic stretches and pressure points with rich and medical oil. It started out with the women on the table with me pulling my legs and arms up in the air and right away I was wondering what I had signed up for. Thankfully she only did these yoga stretches for about 5 minutes before starting the massage with oil, best massage I have ever had. Next came the milk body scrub and mask which was cold and pretty thick on my skin. Then she did the warm oil drip which was very interesting. I laid over the top of the table, with my head hanging over and she poured warm oil all over my forehead. At first I thought it was really weird and I didn’t like it but it grew on me quickly and my face and hair felt so good. I used the outdoor shower to rinse off and my skin has never felt so soft and hydrated in my life. Then came the famous floral bath, you will see pictures of these all over instagram so it was definitely something I was interested in experiencing. I was brought into another room and when I walked in I was amazed by this floral bath, the circular tub was filled with flowers in a really cool pattern. I almost didn’t want to get in and mess it up. It took a minute to get used to because I kept getting freaked out every time a flower would graze my leg. The women came in with hot ginger tea and cantaloupe on a stick for me to enjoy. It was so relaxing and smelt incredible, I even had some snails floating around on flowers enjoying the peacefulness. I showered again and was given a robe to put on before heading back to the first room. Next was the spirulina facial, which smelt disgusting but it was so cooling. I have never gotten a facial before but will for sure get more in the future, my face felt and looked 5 years younger. The airbrush was next and it was like mist was being blown onto my face, it was incredible. I was then brought to the onsite salon where I had my hair washed and then they did the organic hair creambath which brought my hair back to life, it was so soft and looked so much healthier. While I was getting my hair done, I was given more tea and fruit and a menu to order my lunch (which was at a restaurant down the road from the spa). When I was leaving they gave me a bottle of massage oil as a gift and I was driven to the restaurant for my included lunch. I got a dragon fruit juice and a chicken dish that was a little spicy and served with rice (can’t remember the name of the dish or the name of the restaurant but it was delicious). After I finished lunch the car picked me up and brought me back to my hostel. I would fly across the world any day to experience all this again, worth every penny and it was great customer service. It was raining all afternoon so when I got back I relaxed for a little and Emma and I decided to go to the local mini mart to pick up snacks and ramen cups and spend the night eating and watching Netflix.

Day 7
After yoga we grabbed breakfast at the hostel cafe and then got dressed for the day. I arranged for the 3 of us (Emma, Michelle and I) to have a private driver for the day to go up to northern Bali to explore and I created an itinerary for us. The private car (with an english speaker) was $40 USD for the day which was nothing split between 3 people. We got picked up at 9am to start the day and quickly realized that our english driver barely spoke english. I showed him the list of the places that we wanted to go and we were on our way. Our first stop was Pura Ulun Danu Beratan which is a beautiful temple located on Lake Beratan, it was somewhat pricey to enter the area considering you aren’t actually able to go into the temple (it is floating right off the shore) but it was worth seeing and the landscape was breathtaking. It was pretty empty so we were able to take our time getting pictures and taking in the views. Three random guys came up to us asking to take a picture WITH us (we were all white, 2 blondes and a brunette) and we didn’t really know how to react so we just went with it. This is apparently pretty common in Southeast Asia and I think it is extremely odd and made me feel uncomfortable with strangers having photos with me. After this we decided to move on to our next stop which was Handara Iconic Gate. This is actually the entrance to a golf course but has become famous on instagram to take pictures in front of so now you must pay to be able to get a picture taken. It is beautiful but not worth the money in my opinion. We were able to get our pictures taken quickly and the guy who worked there used this black square to make it look like there was water in front of the gate and your body reflected off of it. Since everywhere in Bali is so well known on instagram, the locals seem to know all the tricks for getting that perfect insta picture. Next on the list was Wanagiri Hidden Hill, another famous instagram spot in Bali and for good reason. The backdrop of the pictures you can get can’t be beat, Google it and you will see. When we pulled up I was surprised to see that it was right off the main road, there were different giant bird nests you could get pictures in and a swing you can go on. It was really expensive just to get pictures so we walked off to the side where we could look at the view and get some without having to pay the crazy entrance fee. The lake with the mountains in the background was just picture perfect. Next on my itinerary was Banyumala Twin Waterfall which is a gorgeous waterfall in the north of Bali. As we were driving, I noticed we passed the monkey sanctuary which is in Ubud and the driver completely forgot to take us to the waterfall (which was really disappointing because this was the thing all of us were looking forward to). He didn’t want to drive all the way back up north (an hour and a half drive) to go to the waterfall so we went to the Pura Taman Saraswati, a temple in Ubud that has a pond in front of it. There were definitely more people here than any of the tourist attractions up north, so we didn’t spend too much time here. The temples in Bali are gorgeous and they are everywhere (every house in Bali also has a temple for the family), the detail and architecture is something that I have never seen anywhere else. We popped into a starbucks right next to the temple to grab a drink and then found our driver so that we could get lunch. The one thing I was hoping with a private driver was to get local recommendations and see things off the beaten path that tourists don’t know about. We asked our driver to take us to a local balinese restaurant for lunch that tourists don’t know about, and he brought us to a tourist restaurant. Although it had a lovely view of a rice field and the food was good, it wasn’t what we were hoping for. After we were done eating we got back in the car and headed to Goa Gajah also known as Elephant Cave which served as a sanctuary. It was very pretty and seeing it just makes you wonder how on earth they were able to sculpt these rocks so long ago with such detail. Behind the sanctuary was a wooded area with another small temple, a pond and a stream, it was very peaceful walking through it, although there was a lot of garbage in the water unfortunately. Since we didn’t go to the waterfall in the north we had a couple more hours of the driver so we tried to ask if he had any recommendation of places that we should go, and he was no help. We found the Tibumana Waterfall right in Ubud and decided to check it out. The waterfall was about a 3 minute walk from the road and there were locals swimming and hanging out in the water. It was a simple waterfall with a somewhat small swimming area and because it was afternoon, the water was shaded from the sun. We took some photos and planned to go swimming but the water was a little cold and with the sun covered by the trees we decided against it. We still had extra time left so we decided to go to the Campuhan Ridge Walk which is a lush green walk through the trees. We were hoping to be there for sunset but were there too early. After a very long day we were ready to head back to the hostel and jump in the pool to cool down. We showered and the 3 of us went to a local cafe called Kafe (the food was amazing) for dinner and wine before calling it an early night.Read more