B A L I

When we arrived in Melbourne, work gave us about 2 weeks before starting so that we could settle in and find a place to live. We had the idea that if we could find a place to move into within the first week that we would travel somewhere so what do we do on the day that we sign the lease? We went online that night and before we knew it, tickets were booked for the following morning and our hotel was reserved and waiting for us in Bali. Just a short flight (5.5 hours) from Melbourne, Bali was the closest thing to an exotic vacation that we could do before getting back into work mode the next week. Having arrived at the tail end of Melbourne’s winter, we were looking forward to spending a few days in 28 degree weather in Indonesia as well.

We stayed in the Nirwani Pan Pacific Resort. Situated about 1.5 hours away from the airport, the resort was absolutely stunning. Once you walk up the stairs to the foyer/lobby, you look right out into the green court yard and the waves of the crashing sea. We were greeted with a cold Balinese tea and wet towels. We were then escorted to our ocean and pool view room where we couldn’t help but snap photos and take a deep breath just to take in our surroundings. Although this was maybe a bigger hotel than most would like in a place like Bali, this is definitely a first class resort.

A C T I V I T I E S

Bali is one of those places that you go to relax. I’m not normally one for sitting at a resort as an idea for vacation but this was much needed before starting work in a new country. There is a lot that you can do when in Bali but we chose to do two days of activities. One of those days we went to the Elephant Safari and Adventure Park. We loved it. Aside from the horrid customer service when it came to processing the payment (another story for another time), the experience of being able to be up close to the Asian elephants was one that we will always remember. We got to do an elephant ride around the park and we even got to feed and pet the big guys. Our elephant was called… Derwee (I must have brutalised the spelling) haha.

When I think of Southeast Asia, for some reason, the imagery of rice fields comes to mind. So we made sure that we got a chance to go to the Jutiluwih Rice Fields in Tabanan. It was beautiful and vast but also extremely hot that day. We were sweating up a storm but it was still neat to walk through the rice fields and snap photos along the way. We love exploring and this was a different kind of exploring than you could do in North America or Europe so we loved how different the landscape was.


O V E R A L L

We had a great time in Bali. From the things we did or didn’t do to the resort that we had the pleasure of staying in, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Bali is a place that we will definitely revisit. It feels good to scratch our first Southeast Asian country off the list though! Time to start planning for future trips to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore!