Christmas in Bali * Marking My Map

“The most beautiful in the world is, of course, the world itself.”
-Wallace Stevens

Where to Spend the Holidays

Where to spend the holidays this year? My mom has strong opinions on this one. Unfortunately for her, buying a ticket to sit on a plane for 28 hours from Vietnam to retirement Florida for a Christmas getaway is not happening.

I could stay in Vietnam where the cold wind in the north might just remind me of winter back home in Minnesota. Yeah…that’s a big no. Another option is to find an unexplored country, and spend my Christmas strolling through another foreign metropolis, feasting on some new yet familiar variation of an asian noodle dish.

Or.

I could head south to a tropical Hindu island in Indonesia where I can meet up with some friends from the US.

Sorry Mom, Bali wins.

A Change of Scenery

Bali presented a welcome change from North and Central Vietnam. The weather is warmer, the beaches are busy, and despite the tourists hoards it still exudes a sense of zen.

But their airport. Ugh the airport in Bali is the absolute WORST.

I arrived just after midnight on December 20-something. And even though it’s the off season, thanks to the Balinese adventures of Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat Pray Love, and the rice paddy backdrops seen on Instagram, Bali is a tourist mecca. Thousands arrive here by the planeload everyday.

Somewhere in the space between today and tomorrow, I spent the better part of two hours inching forward in a windy customs-bound line of foreigners. It’s a slow meandering walk on par with the space mountain queue at Disneyworld.

Several hundred baby steps and a few hours later I finally received my anti-climatic passport stamp from yet another bored looking customs agent. But before I could breath a sigh of relief, I became further frustrated/disappointed/annoyed to learn that Denpansar airport has a whopping total of five ATMS. Great! More lines! Even better…my bank flagged all of these machines as being high fraud risk.

Ok, I guess I won’t be getting any cash today.

But the worst part, the absolute WORST part of the airport in Bali, is what greets you when you finally got out of all this mess. A giant hoard of cab drivers. Even at 3am, it’s s a thick crowd of people waiting to pounce. Some drivers are searching the faces of the crowd for a sign a recognition that your name matches the one on their haphazard sign. Others simply hope they will get some business through tried and true tactics of sheer annoyance and undeterred persistence.

It’s airport HELL. The open air airport providing a flush of humidity and the towering Hindu statue decor didn’t help me relax. It’s on par with the annoyance of Dulles, and I hate traveling through Dulles.

With no cash to pay a driver, and zero desire for a stranger to bring me to an ATM in the middle of the night, my ride options were limited to Grab, the Uber app of SE Asia. Once I confirmed a ride, I just had to find this fool. And good luck with that in this mess. I walked my way past the hoard of cabbies, giving as many polite ‘no thank you’ declines as my patience could muster.

Twenty minutes and a few translated text messages from my Grab driver later, and I finally locate him on the 5th floor of the parking garage. With a sigh of relief, I put my increasingly heavy backpack down in an air conditioned Toyota, and we drove through the dark Balinese night to find my hostel.

This is Bali. Beautiful, crazy, unique, and always bustling Bali.

Solo Exploration

I came here here a few days ahead of my friends, Vinisha and Ali. Following their arrival, we will all be staying the resort area of Nusa Dua. They will be staying in a luxurious Conrad Hilton Hotel. And I, at a small but incredibly comfortable and significantly cheaper guest house down the road.

But for these these few days alonel I decided to stay in Seminyak. It’s a popular beach and tourist area on the west side of the island, a short distance but about a 45 minute drive from Nusa Dua. Nothing is very far geographically in Bali, but the constant jam of traffic means it takes awhile to get anywhere.

I learn quickly that Seminyak is not my scene. On the positive side, the shopping is good. Local souvenir stalls and boutique shops selling the latest resortwear and bohemian jewelry trends line the city streets. I enjoyed spending much of my afternoon weaving in and out of many of these establishments.

But Seminyak is too touristy for me. I’ve spotted one too many Starbucks, and the beaches are equal parts drunk tourists and aggressive vendors trying to sell cheap crafts. As a result, I don’t spend these first few days doing all that much. I did laundry, picked up some new swimwear to mark the festive holiday occasion, and got a much needed haircut. That’s about it. See ya later Seminyak.

Holidays with Friends

The lovely ladies known as Vinisha and Ali arrived a few days later and not soon enough. I was ready for a change of scenery, a resort pool to lounge at, and time with people I know. Furthermore, my single private room at my hostel in Seminyak turned out to be much more hostel and much less private than I wanted. I was ready to leave the blasting techno music behind and get the hell out of there.

I’m happy to report that my guesthouse in Nusa Dua, was both mind boggling cheap and ever so lovely. The guesthouse owner lived on site, and I occupied one of six available private rooms complete with front patio, serene garden area, and freshly made breakfast every morning. This was the Bali I came for.

Breakfast
Balinese Guest House

Pool Time

Vinisha, Ali, I spend the majority of the next week lounging next to the pool at their hotel, the Hilton Conrad. We swam, napped, sipped on glasses of wine at the free happy hour, and wandered off the resort maybe once a day to hunt for food. Sometimes we would switch pools, or stop at the spa hot tub just to switch it up.

Vinisha and I took a kickboxing class at the hotel gym one day with a very uncoordinated and confused hotel gym ‘instructor’. I didn’t get a cardio workout that day, but it was good for a laugh. We also visited a nearby Yoga studio, and being the only two patrons, ended up enjoying a private Vinyasa class.

This is how we spent our Christmas. It was quiet and slow, and just fine by me. I was plenty happy to have the company of these lovely ladies, in a beautiful setting, while taking advantage of all the luxurious amenities the Conrad had to offer. Better yet, my cheap ass didn’t have to pay for any of it.

It’s good to have friends in high places. Hilton Diamond status reward points places. I sure don’t miss the work travel, but sometimes I do miss the perks.

Merry Christmas!!! This is the tannest skin color I can physically achieve

Off Resort

I’m a very pale person. And while I love relaxing poolside, I have physical limitations tied to my time outdoors in direct sunlight. So while we clocked several hours in beach chairs, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention our few off-resort excursions. Lucky for me, Ali and Vinisha mostly planned these and so I didn’t have to do jack squat.

A short drive from Nua Dusa is Uluwatu Temple. The temple is one of six key temples in Bali making up its spiritual pillar and is most well known for its magnificent location. The temple sits perched atop a steep cliffside, and rests high above the crashing waves of the Indian Ocean. It’s easy to see why so many tourists come here.

Further back from the concrete walls marking the cliff’s edge here are various temples and Hindu sculptures worth exploring. The entire area takes only a few short hours to cover on foot if you take your time. The temple stays crowded, but not so much that we couldn’t take advantage of the picture opportunities available.

Looking lovely in purple

Surrounding the temple is a small rich green forest occupied by a sizable population of monkeys. These monkey are generally harmless but their presence comes with many stern tourist warnings. Don’t feed the monkeys. Don’t pet the monkeys. And most importantly – watch your shit around the monkeys.

For those who don’t already know, Monkeys are a bunch of kleptos. And if there’s one thing you can rely on tourists for, it’s that they won’t listen to instruction.

We saw so SO very many tourists get waaay too close, and get their stuff stolen. Monkeys love taking water bottles, sunglasses, or even wallets. They will steal anything that looks remotely interesting, shiny, or not well secured. One man chased a monkey around trying to barter a trade for his stolen eyeglasses. That’s what you get for not listening.

Ali is demonstrating the importance of gripping your purse tightly in the presence of a monkey

The temple also hosts nightly dance performances, but we heard mediocre reviews and opted not to partake. We stayed at the temple until just before sunset before heading to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Nights Out

Our big night out on the town involved a visit to another famous cliffside location – Rock Bar at the Ayana Resort. Once again, I knew nothing about it and the entire excursion was completely planned by Ali and Vinisha. Thanks ladies!

We arrived her early to make sure we could get a table and catch the sunset. The bar is a much fancier locale than I’ve been frequenting these days. It’s a place of $15 dollar cocktails, house DJs, and ocean backdrops. The wait staff dresses in all black, and some wear ear pieces like they’re the secret service of evening cocktails. To get to the bar, which is stretched across several patios built atop of rock faces, visitors must take a short 30 second ride on a funicular elevator.

It’s like walking into a Sex and the City episode, Bali edition.

While this environment is about as far as you can get from my year of nomadic backpacking budget travel, it’s fun to play dress up for a day.

Ladies night out
Grown ups order appetizers
This cost more than most of my hostel room reservations
Ocean Views

I probably never would have even searched for a place like this, much less come to this bar if I was traveling through Bali alone. And yet, coming here and sharing a few craft cocktails with Vinisha and Ali was most definitely a highlight of my time in Bali. I’ve seen breathtaking sunsets on all continents of the globe this year, but this one has to take the cake.