Oh Bali, Bali! At the crack of dawn, I was on a plane flying from Singapore to Beautiful Bali, Indonesia, the second country in my month long Southeast Asia journey. With my family by my side, Bali was an experience like no other. After getting off the plane and finding our luggage and driver, we first went river rafting. Splashing everyone in sight, even people on my raft. River rafting was by far my favorite activity. If you ever go to Bali, you must go river rafting. Although it was a little bit of a hike down to the river, it was a great family activity. Since there was seven of us, we split up into two different rafts which was perfect for splash wars.
After having so much fun the first day, we took a trip to the rice paddies. Surrounded by all the rice paddies, I felt like I was in the middle of a movie. However, visiting the rice paddy quickly turned into a bit of a nightmare when the slippery ground gave way underneath my feet. Rice paddies are mainly terraces filled with waters and tiny dirt walkways near the edge. By tiny walkways I mean single file, one foot always in front of the other tiny walkways. Being the dummy I am, I stepped a little too far to the edge to let someone pass me and ended up almost falling into the rice paddy below me!
Thankfully my brother-in-law walking in front of me and a girl walking behind me were able to quickly grab my arms and pull me up. After almost dying, the rice paddies were not as fun to me anymore, especially since afterwards my family and I got lost. With multiple twists and turns, it was hard for us to navigate our way out. Going further into the rice paddies and getting even more lost, a lady tending to a rice terrace led us back to the path. After multiple hours in the rice paddies, it was safe to say that we were glad when we made it back to the van and was on our way to our next destination.
After the rice paddy fiasco, it was time for a quick energy break at the coffee plantation. Bali is famous for their coffee also spelled/pronounced kopi. The plantation I visited brewed Kopi Luwak. Kopi Luwak is made from the feces of civets (type of cat). A civet is given a coffee cherry which it eats and then poops out the bean, which a civet’s stomach cannot digest. The coffee beans are then cleaned and roasted then ground and brewed into a delicious coffee. In the cafe at the plantation, my family and I were given little taste testers of each of the coffees they offer. My favorites were the ones with chocolate. One of my favorite things that I was introduced to in Bali was the bubble tree! My sister and her husband told us about this tree where if you take a stem from the tree and split it, you could blow a bubble from its sap. A little skeptical, I took a stem, broke it, and blew out a bubble! It was so cool! I didn’t even know these trees existed!
I even got to see a pineapple tree!
On the last day of the trip, it was time for the dreaded morning hike up Mount Batur. Mount Batur is an active volcano that most people hike up early in the morning to watch the sunrise.
So at 2:30 a.m we all boarded the van to take us to the base of the mountain. Hiking up a volcano in the dark with only a flashlight for light is just as scary as it seems. The hike was pretty steep but actually a little bit of fun, especially when you get closer to the top and there are these huge rocks that I had to climb over. It was definitely one of the most challenging activities I did on my trip and I could not have made it to the tops if it weren’t for the helpful guides and locals helping us up along the way. Although it’s a volcano, there is a ton of trees and vegetation around us. Hopping from tree to tree are wild monkeys! It’s kind of crazy but the monkeys come out as soon as the sun rises and they are definitely not afraid. I actually got to have one on my shoulder!
Bali was an amazing experience with a variety of different activities I got to do with my family. I’m so thankful that I was able to go and see the culture each day through the different things we did.