When you arrive to Bali, you have to pay $25 each and apply for a Visa. I guess if you aren't approved you get back on a plane and go home lol . Thankfully that didn't happen to us ! I'm not even sure what they look for because it took about 2 minutes. Some creep-o tried to scam us and said if we came with him we would get our Visa faster it would just cost an extra $40... nice try buddy. Once we got our Visa we went to get our bags, only to find them in the hands of 2 other guys trying to scam us! They said they would carry our bags for us if we tipped them... No thank you people! I then realized my suitcase has an American Tourist label on the front of it.. lucky me.
OOh and you also have to pay a $15 departure fee when you leave !
Finally we make it out of the airport and the first thing I see... Starbucks lol . I was surprised because Australians are all about their coffee and yet there isn't a single Starbucks around and then to immediately see one in Bali, I was shocked! They also had McDonalds, Burger King ( not Hungry Jacks) Dominoes, Dunkin Donuts, and Baskin Robins... quite the mix of American fast food !
Riding in a car in Bali, was an experience. I don't know that I have ever been so nervous on a car ride before!! I'm not sure they have legit traffic laws and the majority of people ride mopeds. No one stayed in their lane and the mopeds were weaving in out of cars like nobody's business. Everyone is honking and even the car drivers drive in the middle of the lanes!! I'm pretty positive there is no age limit to drive either, there were kids driving around, I saw a little girl riding on the back of one with the driver probably only being 13, a girl sitting sideways on one because she had a dress on(some man driving), and a man driving with a baby in his lap!
The scenery driving through town was straight out of a movie. Buildings looked old and run down, people sitting outside bare foot smoking, strays dogs everywhere, and police men, who looked like soldiers, standing around with their rifles slung over their shoulders! We wanted to go into town where the markets were but we chickened out. First of all we didn't want to have to get in a taxi and go driving around in that mess again, we were afraid of getting scammed, and just really didn't know what to do or how to negotiate with the prices. I have to say I was pretty bummed, I was looking forward to coming home with some cheap designer knock offs LOL
Finally we arrive at the resort safe and sound :) We go to check in and are greeted with beautiful lays, a delicious fruity drink, and a moist towel to help with the humidity! The resort was incredible, everything was made out of marble, gorgeous flowers and trees, and the view of the ocean was breath taking! Plus they had traditional Balinese music playing everywhere. Monkeys even lived on the roof of the building ! Seriously, if you ever get the chance to visit Bali, you must look into staying at the Ayana Resort and Spa. Like I said before the place is incredible, the customer service is amazing, the amenities are great, and the food is spectacular.
Our room felt like a palace, it was bigger than the apartment we live in lol My favorite part was the bathtub! I loved it, I will have one like it in my home one day :) We had a king size bed, 2 large flat screen TVs, a living room, 2 bathrooms, and 2 patios. I don't know if you remember what our TV looks like here in Aussie Land but, it's tiny and I always have to wear my glasses when watching it lol The TV was easily Luke's favorite part.
Every night except 2, we ate at the Italian restaurant Sami Sami. The food was sooo good!! My favorite was probably the Calda pizza, it had onions, spicy sausage, tons of mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and olives. Of course I picked off the olives and tomatoes but seriously it was amazing. The raviolis were pretty awesome too! One of the nights we were lucky enough to be serenaded by 2 Balinese singers playing the guitar! They were actually pretty good, they went around to all the tables and sang 2 songs to everyone. For breakfast, they had a huge buffet with pretty much everything you could image. They even had real bacon, not the canadian bacon they have here in Australia, I was pretty happy about that but still no biscuits :( At lunch, we ate at the pool and Luke had quesadillas everyday and I had the toasted ham and cheese. It was the best ham and cheese I have ever had!! They put lettuce, onions, on it and some kind of sauce ! I should have taken pictures of our food LOL On our anniversary night we decided to eat at one of the Asian places, Damar. The food was so good and we ate tons, unfortunately Luke ended up getting really sick that night so we decided then to stick with the Italian food !! Poor guy, luckily we were prepared and had some medicine . The food at the Rock Bar was ok and the drinks were good but it was all about the view. The bar opened at 430 and anyone is welcome to go there so the line starts forming around 350pm. People staying at the resort get top priority though. It was pretty cool getting to skip the line and pick out good seats, we felt like celebrities :) We arrived around 5 and got to watch the sunset, it was awesome !!
At Sami Sami
Another Sami Sami View
Breakfast View
Rockbar and sunset
Because of the credit card used to pay for the hotel, we got 2 free Balinese deep tissue massages. I was so excited because it was my first massage ever !! It was originally scheduled for Wednesday but I was too sunburned so we had to reschedule :( Anyways we get to the spa and they separated Luke and I, we couldn't have them in the same rooms, still not sure why ! They gave us robes to change into and weird underwear, I wish I could have taken a picture because it was pretty funny looking. Afterwards Luke informed me we could have stayed in our own underwear like he did ha.. I felt silly. So we get into the room and they lady asks me to take off my robe, she holds up the blanket but doesn't exactly look away, it was pretty akward knowing she saw my boobies but I suppose she sees them everyday. She gets started on the massage and I immediately get the giggles. Not sure why but I could not focus, my mind kept wandering and all I wanted to do was laugh. Then the pain started, no more laughing. I guess they all it deep tissue for a reason!! Not relaxing at all! Also, at one point, I thought her had was going to go right in my lady area... I was so scared . She started in on my shoulders and I thought I was going to barf, it hurt so bad !! Then she started in on the back of my head and I thought she was going to pull it right off my neck!!! Then she told me to flip over.... I wasn't aware in massages you had to turn over. She asked if it was ok to put a thing over my eyes and then she covered my boobs with the same thing only it was wider and longer LOL So weird. Oh and the table was heated, it would have been nice for a little warning, ha!! Finally the pain was over, I sat up and immediately got dizzy, I thought I was going to fall off the table. She said that wasn't normal lol. We get back to our room and I feel so out of whack, every time I laid down the room would spin and my head was hurting... I felt like this the next day too. Apparently deep tissue massages can release toxins in your body and make you feel this way. Beware if you are going to get one. Luke was fine though!!
Friday morning we checked out and headed home :) We were both ready !
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