Bali, Indonesia {Day 7} – Beach Hopping & Uluwatu Temple

Justin caught the sunrise at our resort this morning while he was out for a run. I did not; however I appreciated the beautiful picture.

He took a few other pictures near our resort.

Originally we didn't book any tours for the days we'd be staying in Nusa Dua; however, Justin didn't want to have three unstructured days at the beach so we selected a tour for one of the days. Because we wanted to attend church on Sunday and wanted our last day of vacation to be spent relaxing the only day left for the tour was Saturday, our first full day in Nusa Dua. I was totally fine with the idea of the tour, but after seeing our amazing resort it was tough to wake up on that first morning there and leave it for the entire day.

Breakfast was included with our stay. This morning we went to breakfast in one of the restaurants and the service was so, so slow. We waited nearly an hour for our hot food order and the buffet foods weren't as plentiful as our first resort.  I’m smiling here, but eager to get breakfast moving along.

We were supposed to meet up with our guide/driver in our hotel lobby at 10am this morning but received a message as we were heading to the lobby that our guide was at the resort we'd checked out of yesterday in Ubud. Turns out Sommer had the wrong hotel on our booking. Thankfully, the company was able to arrange a local driver to fill in and we were on our way less than 30 minutes later.

We visited three beautiful beaches. We had an hour at the first beach, Pandawa Beach. There was a fun gazebo on the beach that a bunch of girls were posing in and we waited and waited for them to finish so we could take a few pictures. We had fun with it and posed Justin in some typical teenage instagrammer positions to share with our girls. 

We had a few hours at the second beach – Dreamland Beach. Enough time to rent a couple lounge chairs. Justin did a little swimming; I did a lot of relaxing.

the walkway on the left was the way to the beach from the street

The last beach, Padang Padang Labuan Sait Beach, was the busiest and pretty small. It has become quite popular since it was featured in the Eat, Pray, Love movie. I enjoyed the sunshine and Justin wandered around finding some bats and a sea snake. 

There were some aggressive monkeys at the beach that kept taking stuff from people. One drank through someone's coconut while they were out in the water. Another stole a red Fanta drink from the couple next to me and proceeded to drink the entire thing. Justin saw a monkey take a smoke and seemed to enjoy that as well. Crazy animals!

After the beaches we went to the Uluwatu Temple. Our guide walked us around the temple, clothed in sarongs, and took a couple pictures of the beautiful setting.

Then we found seats to watch the Kecak Fire Dance at sunset. The show was interesting, but after the first 10 minutes of repetitive chanting we didn’t feel like we needed to watch much more. Our driver also wanted us to leave a bit early to avoid traffic so we snuck out the back about halfway through the show.

Justin took this picture of one of the performers on our way out

Our driver took us to a busy street with side by side fish shops and told us this was where our dinner would be. Um, ok. It was dark and looked a little sketchy. We walked through the narrow fish stand, through an empty indoor dining area and out into the beach which was full of people eating at candlelit tables. It was surprising and beautiful. Since I don't eat seafood they prepared a large plate of stir-fried noodles and gave us plenty of rice. I was perfectly happy with that. It was a beautiful setting and apparently a very popular dining spot.

Bali, Indonesia {Day 6} – Leaving the Jungle for the Beach

Justin ran several mornings during our time in Bali.  Today he ran along the Campuhan Ridge and took a few pictures along the way and cooled off in our pool before jumping in the shower.

We enjoyed our last breakfast at the Como Uma Ubud and then walked across the street to a nearby spa to get a massage before checking out of our hotel and relocating to the beach.

We opted for the ayurYOGA massage which has to be one of the most unique massages ever created. When you can get a 90 minute massage for under $15 it seems it's our duty as a proper tourist to fit in as many as possible, am I right?

We arranged our own driver off the street to drive us the 1.5 hour down to Nusa Dua. There's always plenty of people offering to give you a ride.

We splurged on our accommodations during this trip. Not necessarily paying much more than we would for a nice room in Hawaii, but the U.S. Dollar is strong in Indonesia so we were able to get an amazing villa at a beachfront resort. When we went to the front desk to check in at the Melia they told us that because we were "Level" guests we had a VIP check-in in a special area. We were guided to the VIP lounge and greeted with leis and personalized welcome coconut drinks. 

We were very impressed and we quickly learned there were many more incredible surprises to come. Our villa was unbelievable. So much space, special gifts for us to keep (sarongs, hats, and beach bag), and our private pool in our backyard was stunning. Our backyard had an outdoor dining area, outdoor shower, lounge area with sunscreens and aloe Vera lotions, amazing! 

outdoor shower

entrance to our villa

front porch - door into room

We decided to check out the exclusive Level pool and beach area. The level pool was HUGE and was never crowded. We simply had to push a button by our pool chairs to order dinner (not free but very reasonably priced). 

They provided complimentary bottled water and even brought by complimentary refreshing smoothies each afternoon. The temperature of the level pool was perfect for me. I typically don't get in the water because it's too cold for me to find enjoyable, but this one was right on.

When we got back to our villa the bed had been turned down and they had left us a Happy Anniversary cake (thanks to Sommer).  There was a rose pedal heart on the bed and pedals in the bathtub. Each night we were left a folder on our bed with a breakfast menu, a form inquiring what time we'd like our room cleaned the following day and which type of floral arrangement we'd like to have delivered to our villa. A daily floral arrangement! Who are we??? Living the good life, that's for sure!