Denpasar, Bali 2020

Bali has always been on my bucket list for one reason, its beaches. I would love to say I had other reasons as well, but I would be lying. I only knew two things about Bali: the beaches, and that it is a dive destination for travellers. When we first priced out the cost of flying to Bali, it was over $600 for one way. This automatically cut Bali out of our budget. However when we were in Koh Tao, Thailand Ryan had some free time and did a bit of extra research for our destination after Vientiane, Laos. Somehow, in one way or another, he found us a flight that cost $130 for both of us, with a 6 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur. WE WERE GOING TO BALI! One thing ticked off my bucket list!!

Kuala Lumpur has a great airport, there is a movie theatre, lots of shops, AND western fast food! We had not had fast, junky western food in 3 months. So after we got ourselves situated, we got MacDonalds! Yup on this amazing trip that had so much more delicious food options we stopped at McDonalds (embarrassing).

After we finished indulging in McDonalds, we had one more flight to catch. We arrived at our Hostel in Denpasar around dinner time. It was too dark to see or do anything when we arrived, so we grabbed dinner and had a relaxing night.

Our first full day in Bali was blissful. We started the day by slowly making our way out to the Sanur Beach, passing local shops, restaurants, and resorts along the way.

We got to the beach and were hassled right away, people selling boat rides to go snorkelling or diving, day trips to Lumbok, or even local shops and restaurants wanting customers.

We pushed past all the commotion and found a spot to lay on the beach. There was only a short time of peace when, within minutes, we got hassled by someone selling souvenirs. Photo Credit: V.Gray

The thing about this is that first one person will come, a lady or a man, trying to sell you something, which you would politely decline. Then a few minutes later some children would then come see you. The children would have some story about school or sick relative, it is up to you if you believe them, but in the end they want you to buy something. After this we decided to move down the beach a bit further.

In Vietnam we had paid to use chairs on the beach that were shaded. As we passed a hotel with beach chairs out, we saw one of the hotel personnel hanging around (probably to shoo people away). We inquired about using the chair, it was $5 CAD for us both. This also allowed us access to their pool, bathrooms, and had a bar close by.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We enjoyed our day lying comfortably on the beach with a few beers. On our way back we stopped to talk to a taxi driver to negotiate a price for a trip to Amed. Amed is shown as one of the best places for diving and snorkelling. We negotiated a fare and told him we would be back the following morning for our ride.

The taxi driver must have forgotten us overnight, because the next morning he tried to charge us double what we had agreed. Finally we had enough of going back and forth, and went to walk away telling the driver we would find someone else, this made him change his mind. He went back to the original rate.

The drive was 2 and a half hours of picturesque views through the mountains and rice fields. Finally coming down into Amed seeing a perfect view of Mt. Agung. In the next few days we did not realize how much our lives would change, Covid-19 was hitting everywhere and putting lock downs into full effect.

We would come back to Denpasar a few months later and do some of the sights it has to offer. For right now though, we were headed to Amed to go diving!

Cheers!

A map of Bali and places we have travelled.

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray

This post is edited by E.Gray Editing. (https://www.egrayediting.com )**