Bali. The land of wonder.

The journey to Bali was not smooth. The chaos at the port in Padang Bay was almost overwhelming with people and cars coming at your from all angles. We managed to find our transfer company and then re-entered into negotiations as they tried to tell us they couldn’t fulfil on the service written on our ticket. Finally, after teaming up with a couple with surfboards, we managed to get a minibus to cram in the bikes and a longboard. The traffic was a full assault on the senses. Having spent many weeks without city centre hustle and bustle, we were treated to rush hour traffic through Denpasar, Seminyak and finally Canggu. Our driver was not a happy soul – clearly some miscommunication with his boss and the task to drive us to our hotel. 

After a standoff with our bikes being held hostage in the van, we arrived at Serenity Eco Lodge. The immediate calm of this hostel was tangible. Everything from the staff, to the layout, to the energy of the place gathered you in a big hug of calm. We were shown to our bamboo room, through rickety allotment gardens, the serene pool and past several open air yoga shalas. We ate at the Alkaline Raw Vegan restaurant without a second thought and loved every bite. Once settled into a rhythm of daily yoga and chilling, I made an extensive list of all the wonderfully creative restaurants we needed to visit. What followed was a week of bliss; hopping from cafe to restaurant, sampling some of the most exquisite food (all at very reasonable prices) and revelling in the ambience of thoughtfully constructed atmospheres. 

It was easy to fall in love with the Canggu scene, although you were constantly reminded of the mental traffic pelting up and down the tiny windy roads. We found some secret cafe spots, nestled away from the road which housed us for days whilst we read, worked and daydreamed. In the midst of all this, we cycled to Kuta’s WaterBom park and had what can only be described as an awesome time. They had vertical drops with a MI5 style capsule release system, a boomerang slider, racing slides and much more. The park totally exceeding our expectations and we easily stayed all day, running up the staircases and riding all of the rides like excitable kids. 

Obviously it’s not in our nature to stay still for long, so we promptly cycled up to Ubud – a 3 hour uphill cycle (naturally!) to the culture capital of Bali. What I wasn’t expecting was the traffic that followed you. Outside of our perfectly beautiful riverside hotel, the centre of Ubud was raging with cars, bikes and tourists cramming themselves through the arterial roads. We found the beauty of Ubud was outside the centre and with that we spent most of our time exploring the spurs away from the main roads and towards the rice fields and jungle. We met with some friends for dinner, Paulo and Effy, who were travelling around Bali for 4 weeks. After a fantastic evening eating fresh sushi, we agreed to climb Mount Batur together later in the week (as you may have seen from our photos, we got views of clouds and no sunrise). It was fun sharing our experiences, suggesting next places to visit and venturing out for cocktails.

We took some time to be creative in Ubud, watching some traditional Balinese dancing, cooking up a storm in an Indonesian cooking course and I even signed up to a Batik painting class. The class filled me with so much joy – the whole process was magical. From sketching your design onto some fabric, melting wax and adding different coloured dies, each stage was fascinating and challenged my artistic abilities! Finally, after a brief but wonderfully quiet stay in a jungle treehouse, we cycled back to Canggu, this time staying in Rhythm and Rumble hostel. 

Exchanging cycle power for horse power

Excited for more wonder, we rocked out on an dirt bike experience and I learned how to ride a motorbike with gears. As you can imagine, I screamed most of the time, but that was just fear leaving my body. After that I was able to ABSOLUTELY SMASH THE OFF-ROAD! It was so much fun, slipping and sliding over sand, rocks, jumps – you name it we did it. Just when I thought we’d peaked (and I’d fallen off after stalling – lol), we journeyed to the lava fields in Batur and were exposed to the biggest natural play park I’ve ever seen. Both Aaron and I had a whale of a time racing across deep black sand dunes. I was beyond pleased with myself as we rode up to the finishing post and enthusiastically shared our experience with anyone who would listen.

Right off the back of this success, I was convinced to try the 2 day motorbike touring organised by Intrepid Motos. Sharing a big, fancy touring bike, we joined 7 others to drive around northern Bali. With Aaron as the ‘Pilot in Command’ and me comfortably on the back, we enjoyed many hours of uninterrupted volcanic landscape with epic mountain views that stretched out into the sea. Our guide and the company owner – Canadian James – was amazing and we had the best time with our group, hanging out and sharing BBQ fish right next to the ocean. 

On our return to Rhythm and Rumble, we signed up for a surf lesson to try and make the most of the excellent waves. On the water by 7.30am, our instructors gave us a quick briefing before launching us into the sea. The most fun was had splashing away. With the help of a gentle push from our instructors, we managed to stand up for every wave! Our egos were quickly brought into check as we both rammed our feet against the coral, Aaron trapping some coral in his heel and I slicing my toe open. Regardless, we both continued and had a wonderful 2 hours out on the water. Aaron enjoyed it so much, he went out the following morning, renting a board and giving it a go on his own. Whilst I nursed my painful toe, Aaron navigated the busy waters and managed to find some good waves!

By now we were eager to meet new friends, so we got in touch with the fabulous Pete and Alessandra who are living in Bali. Luckily, they were staying in Uluwatu, a place we were keen to visit, and invited us for lunch in their home. What proceeded was a wonderful few days speed-reading book recommendations (Big Magic by Liz Gilbert), playing games of Sequence (our new favourite board game) and admiring the design genius of their villa. On top of this, there were many stunning beaches to visit, and we hired a moped to hop around several, catching sunsets and cliff views over crystal clear water. We stumbled upon Single Fin, which might just be my favourite bar ever. With a stunning location on a cliff, the sunset directly ahead, infinity pool and cracking DJ, we spent Sunday evening partying away and dancing with friends. On this day, we had chosen to cycle rather than moped, so the cycle home was an interesting one – steep hills after several beers was an eye-opener! Regardless, absolutely no regrets.

Finding ourselves back at Pete's house, we shared dinner and learned about creating Content That Matters – a platform that Pete and Alessandra are generating to build a healthy community for content creators. This provided some food for thought (expect more storytelling in our videos from now on!) and we loved hearing their insights and perspective of living abroad. We felt such warmth and generosity from both Pete and Alessandra and it made our time in Uluwatu really special.

Not wanting to leave, we slowly packed up our bikes and embarked on the epic ‘big day’ cycle to the north of Bali….