B is for Bali. Banging Bali.

Conundrum

Noun. A confusing or difficult problem or question.

Oh the importance of making the right choice when faced with a decision is tricky. Like the descision between cumpets or bagels, the toughy that is wine or cider, or how about the struggle between shorts and too cold vs leggings and too hot, the decision between Bali or the Philipines was weighty. Both were meant to be great, but where to go? With flights, weather and route to consider, it was indeed a conundrum.

Pondering what to do over a Nandos and a couple of doughnuts, the choice was eventually reached and Indonesia was the lucky winner. We’ll save the Philipines for another trip. And an excellent choice it was just for the sunsets every day:

Java

We planned our route to start in Jakarta, then catch a train to Yogyakarta then a flight onto Bali.

Jakarta we found is hot, hectic and dirty. We stayed for 2 nights and did a tour of the city with a guide who explained to us that Jakarta doesn’t receive alot of western tourists, and then explained why ev.ery.one wanted a photo with us (with thumbs up of course).

Yogyakatya

Throughout Asia we have had the (debatable) pleasure of a lot mother-truckin’ long bus journeys, so this time we caught a train for 8 hours down to Yogyakarta.

We stayed in Yogyakarta (Jogya for short) for a about a week, mainly sight seeing, going to Prambanan Temples, Jalan Mailiboro Street, the Water Castle and going to Mount Merapi Volcano for sunrise.

Bali

Bali was the next destination on our Indonesia adventure. We originally planned to only stay in Bali for a few days but immediately after arriving we found that this was a terrible idea. There is too much to see and do here, to try and cram it into a few days is impossible. Half the fun of Bali is driving about on bikes, lost inbetween ricefields, or up in the mountains trying to find waterfalls whilst speeding away from tropical storms and getting driving fines for not having the proper licence. Seriously.

We divided our stay between Kuta, Ubud, Nusa Lembongan and Canggu and did a whole lot of exploring over 4 weeks at temples, waterfalls, rice fields, beaches and snorkling. Turns out it’s actually impossible to take a bad photo of anything in Bali.

Bali is the land of the gods, full of temples and traditions and totally exceeded expectations. Friendly locals, delicious yet ferociously spicey food and beautiful scenery to blow you away. Bali, we’ll be back.