Travel Diary I In Indonesia, freedom is as natural as the sea.
Before departure, my goal for this trip is: leisurely. But I didn't expect that this trip far exceeded my expectations. It was leisurely and free. Freedom seemed to become every cell in my body and every pore felt comfortable. On the night when I was in transit in Hong Kong, my dog and I watched "Flowers and Boys 5" in the Hou Hall. In the final summary, Qin Hailu said: Adult freedom is actually very important It’s difficult, because when I go home I have to be a wife, a daughter, a mother, and I have to lay everything in place. Then in the company, you have to be an artist, a boss, a director. Changes mean that there are always different roles around you. And this time, maybe you gave me the greatest degree of freedom, allowing me to be myself.I think the freedom of Bali is that it does not let me choose who to be, It allows me to be myself and gives me freedom and wild challenges.
Walking in Ubud and playing games with Indonesian girls
In Ubud, we stayed in a hotel called Bali Bohemia Huts, in front of their home It was just a restaurant where we used to go for breakfast. Before reaching the door, a European and American man stretched out his hand: Hi, good morning!
I subconsciously raised my head: Hi morning, friend.
This ordinary way of greeting is almost our daily life. Every day I greet various people, from various countries, with their hands raised in the air and big smiles. Sometimes I have to jump up to get on their hands. Every time I respond to them, I feel like my chest will burst with all kinds of colorful balloons, and they will happily shout: Yee! Chinese girl.
Such unrestrained You can see it everywhere in Bali, perhaps because the people attracted by the sea are free and happy people, and everyone is full of romantic cells. There seems to be nothing wrong with whatever they do.
In Bali, I completely released my nature, and I was a thoroughly happy E person.
I have received some criticism in China. When I greet people loudly (like in Bali), I have been called a strange person and a very flamboyant person. So there was a period of time when I reflected on whether I was too assertive, whether I had done something wrong, and whether I should be more restrained. For a long time, I fell into internal friction and felt that I was a bad person. From then on, I would greet people with restraint, restrain my personality, and restrain my happiness in meeting others.
But not in Bali. People here love unrestrained and enthusiastic people. The more enthusiastic I am, the more they love me. Also, in Bali, I let go of my appearance anxiety.
In Rottweiler, I don’t wear makeup at all
Who is the atmospheric beauty at the beach!
In Indonesia, I met many people from various countries, including Switzerland, Finland, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia... They gave me the feeling of freedom and wildness, which is reflected in their healthy skin color, female Clean and translucent skin. In Ubud and Lombok, girls don’t need to wear makeup, and those who can see exquisite faces are Asians, Chinese, and Koreans. The whole city was full of clean faces, and I naturally became infected there, spending the last few days without makeup.
Although I have told others many times that dressing up makes me happy, so I am keen on makeup and dressing up. But in fact, deep down in my heart, I still know that I am serving in the U.S. military. In Bali, when I went out one day without makeup and walked on the road carefree, someone greeted me on the roadside and said: You like a super star.
At that moment, I truly felt that being seen and loved had nothing to do with beauty.
00 About this trip
1. Duration: 8 days + 2 days (transfer)
2. Cost: 1,000 USD, including round-trip airfare, excluding shopping
We used two taxi apps in Bali, one is Grab and the other is Gojek. The former is more expensive. Gojek registration requires a phone number. If you only buy a data card online, you can't use Gojek.
In addition, Indonesia's transportation is mainly motorcycles. My friends and I don't know how to ride motorcycles, so we always take taxis, so transportation costs account for a large part. If you can ride a motorcycle, I think it will be cheaper and add more experience. For example, Ubud is really suitable for exploring by motorcycle.
After traveling according to the itinerary two days ago, we found that the itinerary we set was very tiring because Bali is really too big. For example, it took two hours to get from Jimbaran to Ubud. It was almost three o'clock when we checked out and arrived in Ubud. It was already five o'clock when the girls got dressed and went out. And we found that most of the original itinerary was from Xiaohongshu. Chinese people love to check in too much. We decisively gave up the original plan, such as going to Bromo Volcano. The itinerary for the next few days was to go wherever we thought of. In the last part: I will set feasible routes for everyone according to the actual situation. These are all the detours we have taken!
01 Jimbaran (2 days)
We live in this area, and I booked the first day of arrival and the day before departure near Jimbaran for the following reasons:
1. Jimbaran is known as one of the top ten sunsets in the world. (Of course, we later found that it was just that.)
2. It is very close to the airport, so there is no need to worry about the first day and the day of departure.
1. Accommodation:
We stayed in two hotels in Jimbaran:
① Villa Bulan Bali (including breakfast)
Considering that we stayed overnight in Hong Kong the day before, we stayed here on the first night. The price/performance ratio was good. It was a single-family house with a private swimming pool. The room was clean and we slept very well.
Of course, there are also some disadvantages, that is, it is far from Jimbaran Beach.
The drinks provided by the hotel for breakfast are super delicious
Super luxurious breakfast
② Anja Jimbaran
It takes only 5 minutes to walk from the alley in front of the hotel to Jimbaran Beach. I personally highly recommend staying here on the first and last days of your trip to Bali. The hotel stay experience is also very good. The hotel is just outside the residential area. We passed by a vegetable market and bought a lot of fruits for less than 30 yuan: durian 18 yuan each (opened and full of durian meat, and very sweet); mangosteen 7.5/kg; rambutan 10/kg.
Disadvantages: The food in this hotel is very average and relatively expensive. We took a look and went out to eat.
Every hotel in Bali has a large and beautiful swimming pool, which is really great.
Hotel swimming pool
Shot from our room at night
2. Food:
We only have one recommended restaurant near Jimbaran:
Originally we wanted to go to the famous Made Bagus Cafe or a beach restaurant that was well-known online. When we took a taxi to Jimbaran, it was almost sunset. We hurriedly found a restaurant at random, and the food was surprisingly delicious.
3. Beautiful scenery:
Overall, Jimbaran Beach is worth a visit. The sunset is always attractive at any time, and just sitting there is very romantic.
Beach restaurant by the sea, very windy
The white skirt looks good in photos. On the last day, I wore the floral shirt I bought in Lombok.
02. Ubud (2 days)
I personally like Ubud very much. It is very free. People who stay here are enthusiastic and unrestrained. They are all chic on motorcycles. The road is narrow, but people are very broad. You can greet anyone you meet warmly: Hello. You can't feel the waves here at all. There are mountains, rice fields, countless monkeys, and endless streets to explore. You can experience yoga and spa here.
It doesn't feel strange to meet any kind of people here. The wind is full of the taste of freedom.
1. Accommodation-Bali Bohemia Hotel
I like the room style of this hotel very much. It is colorful and full of happiness. I also like the hotel environment, but this one is not in the main city. It is over by the Holy Monkey Park. This hotel has an open night every Thursday. It is very lively. You can perform on stage as long as you want. It is very lively. It is from 7 to 11:30 in the evening.
PS: The food in this restaurant is very average, but the bread is delicious (it is the bakery next to their hotel). Very delicious.
Bali Bohemia Hotel, our room is called: Passion, the sunlight and colorful tiles in the room
Open night: the singing brother and the lively scene. I didn’t expect that I would take a photo with the handsome guy by accident. He looks a lot like Peter!
The bread is super delicious, the coffee is just average.
2. Food
Here is a recommendation!! The Sayan House (bookable on Google Maps)
📍 Indonesia · Bali · Sayan House Sayan House, Gianyar 80571, Indonesia
🈺️ Sen-Min 12:00-22:00
A very famous jungle sunset restaurant in Ubud. I seriously suspect that it was made popular by the Chinese. There are so many people who check in there, but their food is really delicious, delicious!
Drinks can only be had here
Ubud sunset time is about 6:30-7:00, but we arrived at 4:00 pm (because we only made an appointment until 4:00), and it turned out to be too early. As sunset approached, people started to arrive one after another. Please note: this restaurant will collect the plates after eating, so you can't sit here and wait for sunset. You can only sit there for half an hour, and then we kept ordering... In the end, there were about 200 people.
3. Beautiful views & fun places
①Bohemia Open Night (every Thursday 7:00pm-11:30pm), which has been introduced above
②Jeans Spa Center Ubud
We only did Body Scrub Only! They smell so good, I felt so good after the SPA that I wanted to kiss myself like crazy! I highly recommend this place!
Let's pick out the scrubs while we wait for the staff to come.
③Ubud Market
Shopping paradise hahaha, bargain as you like, a 150k ring, I bargained it down to 20K, you can imagine hahaha, be bold!
The boss who was sleeping soundly in the market, I was very satisfied with the ring on my beautiful hand, and it was my favorite notebook I bought. We didn’t buy the famous bag on the Internet because we thought it was average quality.
We stayed in Ubud for a total of two days. Initially, we actually searched for places to visit on Xiaohongshu. After we went to the first place, Ubud Palace, we found that there were too many people and it was really boring. The weather was hot, so my dog and I decided that since we wanted a relaxing trip, we decided to give up the original plan - wander around!
We were strolling in the streets of Ubud. It was getting close to dusk. We turned to a "temple". The girls dancing in the sunset attracted our attention and we stopped. The sunset was just behind the temple. Three Indonesian girls were facing the Buddha statue, tiptoeing and dancing gently. Behind them were girls younger than them. One girl came to me shyly and said to me timidly: hello!
On that way, I was thinking about the meaning of travel. When I wandered aimlessly on the street, I looked back and saw the dancing girl in the sunset, and I felt that I had found it. I want to live freely, and I want to come and go in this world with my name and my eyes.
03 Lovina (day)
1. Accommodation-Puri Bali Hotel
This hotel is very cheap. On the day of check-in, there were more Europeans and Americans. The room was average (to be honest). If you emphasize the accommodation environment, you can ignore this hotel. The biggest advantages of staying in this hotel: ① cheap; ② close to the beach, 5 minutes to the beach; ③ convenient transportation; ④ no tax included. It is specially pointed out here because the meals we ate in all hotels included tax, but this hotel did not. Although the taste was average, it was really cost-effective. Disadvantages of this hotel: ① The room environment is average, the living environment is good; ② There are many mosquitoes.
Overall, I still recommend it, and this store is very kind. I can feel that they did not cheat us. When we were ready to pay for breakfast, he would directly say: This is all free.
Hotel environment, I like their swimming pool very much!
2. Food
No recommendation, haha, because I only stayed for one day and didn't eat anything delicious that I can recommend.
On the way to withdraw money, I bought the pants and skirt I liked, the quality was better than that in Ubud, and I also bought a durian for 18 yuan, achieving durian freedom.
Here is a particularly interesting thing. On the way back to the hotel with the durian, everyone we met would point at us and say: Durian. Later we looked up the word and found that it was the English word for durian. For some reason, everyone was very excited when looking at durian, and then on the way to the beach, whenever someone pointed at us and said: Durian, we would happily hold up the durian: Yee, we love it!
Durian waiting for us to go home alone at the beach
3. Beautiful scenery (fun places)
①Walking at the beach
We took the durian to the beach. There was no sunset that day. The sunset was very fast. The sky was blue before sunset. Later I learned the word: Blue Hour, which means 20 minutes after sunset. This is the blue hour. We walked slowly at the beach. There were young men fishing, couples walking, and lonely people. We said nothing, put down the durian, and walked towards the sea.
The lonely and romantic person
② Chasing dolphins
OK, we have arrived at the second most touching part of this trip, we chased dolphins in Lovina.
Time: 6-8 am (recommended if you can stay in Lovina for a while, you can stay a little longer, it's really interesting!)
Of course, you may have seen people's close contact with dolphins on Xiaohongshu or many platforms, and the sense of proximity you saw with your own eyes. I can only say that I envy them, because our boat never caught up with the dolphins from beginning to end. I analyzed that the time we chased dolphins was 6-8 am (because we had to leave for the port of Lombok at 9 am, and the driving time was 3 hours, so we couldn't delay it). At that time, it seemed that many dolphins had not woken up yet. If you who have seen the travel notes have time to stay a little longer, you can charter a boat to stay on the sea for a while, and you will definitely see dolphins.
And what is particularly interesting is that each captain has his own way of behaving. Our captain likes to lurk at the end, and when there is an exclamation in the boat, his boat flies like a rocket.
But this time I was still very surprised. In order to see the dolphins, I asked the captain if I could go to the bow? He said: Yes. Although I couldn't swim, I still fluttered my legs and climbed to the bow of the boat in an extremely awkward way. The moment I sat there, I felt the sound of wind, sea and freedom. The angle of view from the bow of the boat is wider than anywhere else. I looked at the color of the sea level and the mountains in the distance. The sunrise changed as the direction of our boat changed. Behind me, in front of me, there were scattered The light fell on the sea, and the waves on the sea surface were like mercury, real and false. I even felt that maybe this was not the sea.
There were still exclamations in my ears, coming from other boats. At this moment, I felt that dolphins were no longer important, even though I still missed them, even though I really wanted to see them, and I wanted to share my freedom with them at this moment. Or maybe this obsession with seeing dolphins is that they carry a kind of luck, a kind of luck that I deserve to be happy.
That day, I didn't realize my wish to have close contact with dolphins, but I still made a wish to the sea and dolphins, and I think they will protect me.
③ Get caught in the rain!
This idea came to me when we were on the way from Jimbaran to Ubud. It was raining all the time because it was the rainy season. When we were sitting in the car, I watched the rain come and go. I said to the dog: Can we get caught in the rain in Bali?
The dog didn't think it was strange, but thought it was cool.
But we waited for this rain for several days, and finally it rained heavily in the afternoon when we arrived in Lovina. We put our phones on the balcony and rushed out, and then we found our neighbors, a couple from nowhere, also getting wet on the lawn. Natural tacit understanding made us get closer, and I shouted loudly: My neighbor! ! My friend!
I think freedom and happiness are to do whatever you want without restraint, whether it is embarrassing, funny, strange, or not beautiful.
04 Lombok
1. Accommodation: Holiday Resort Lombok
First of all, I want to introduce Lombok. There are not many guides about this island on the Internet. We also saw others' sharing by accident. After deciding to give up the trip to Bromo Volcano, we decided to go to Lombok. As for why it was not Penida Island, it must be because we didn't want to join in the fun.
The affiliated islands near Lombok are called Gili Islands. The sea is very clean and suitable for diving and surfing. I will introduce it in detail later.
This is our itinerary for the first day of our trip to Lombok
A larger version of the Gili Islands above
Living environment: full marks; Room environment: full marks
A hotel with a very high cost-effectiveness, the service is also very good, it is a resort, right by the sea, eating and drinking by the sea every day, taking a walk by the sea when free, or swimming in the hotel pool! Next to this hotel is a five-star hotel, eight or nine hundred a night, this hotel is only about 300, the same sea area hahaha! Of course, if you have money, you can also try it next door. My own experience is similar, but it is said that the dinner at the hotel next door is delicious, I haven't tried it, so I won't comment.
See how close we are to the sea every day?
The hotel breakfast is a buffet with everything. I still ordered Pancake + coffee.
2. Food
There doesn’t seem to be any special food to recommend on Lombok Island. We spent most of our time on T Island and usually ate at the hotel, which was pretty standard.
There is really nothing to recommend about the hotel's dinner
The only thing I can recommend is this small cookie crisp in our hand. When we set out for T Island, we made a Public Bot made by a local islander. We met a seller and he gave us a few bags. Because we liked it so much, we later went to the souvenir shop SaSaku on the island to buy it. We also bought a souvenir that we particularly liked - a little turtle.
3. Beautiful scenery (fun places)
① My recommendation for Lombok is to ride a bike and stroll around (pay attention to safety) + snorkeling on Gili T Island
We found G Island snorkeling from Xiaohongshu, which is about 50 yuan/6 hours, which is very cheap. My friend and I are not good at swimming, so we never left the boat. The people we went with followed the guide. We went to three places in total, and I was on the deck most of the time watching everyone. The captain was very good. Later, I was reluctant to go into the water, but he still encouraged me to get off the boat and take a look: Nimo! Nimo!
Me sitting in the Public Bot
There are two types of boats departing from Lombok to Gili T Island: ① Public Bot, which takes 20-30 minutes; ② Speedboat, which takes more than ten minutes. In addition to the difference in time and money, I think there may also be a difference in the experience on the boat, but we all like to be with the locals hahaha, it's very interesting. You can buy the boat ticket yourself at the pier, don't listen to the driver, the drivers in Lombok are very good at saying they will buy tickets for you, and then charge you more money
Glass Sea, just looking at the sea is worth the money
The Gili Islands are also very suitable for surfing. If you have time, you can go surfing.
② Just wait for the sunset at the hotel!
We live near Senggigi, which is really suitable for watching the sunset!
The moment the sun sets below the horizon, the sky turns clear purple.
05 Recommended route (12 days)
Day 1: Jimbaran
Day 2-3: Ubud (Jimbaran-Ubud is about 2 hours by car)
Day 4-5: Lovina (Ubud-Lovina is about 3 hours by car)
Day 6: Lovina-Pedang Bai (3 hours)-Lombok (3 hours by speedboat)
Note: Buy the boat ticket in advance. The last speedboat ends at 1:30 pm. It is best to arrive 1 hour in advance. You can buy tickets in advance from agoda. There are many speedboat operators. The price will vary depending on the quality and speed of the boat.
Day 7-8: Lombok (Gili Islands)
Day 9: Lombok-Penida Island (speedboat about 2.5 hours)
Day 10-11: Penida Island
Day 12: Penida Island-Sanur Pier (half an hour)
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