Hi guys! I have missed you! We seem to have got sucked into the beautiful Bali life here. Originally we were supposed to spend just one month in Bali and move on to the next country. We obviously didn’t realize how much happiness and friendship we would find here. Now all of the previously envied Bali Instagram’s that filled my feed completely make sense. Since we don’t necessarily have a time limitation, we decided to stay longer.
I am settling in a lot better, not questioning our choice to travel full time as much, and really taking in every experience we are having here. Every time I walk outside I feel liberated and excited to be living life here in Bali, other than the fact than the heat and the humidity are killing me. It has started to feel a lot more like a home away from home. We have found our favorite places to hang out, we are comfortable with the lifestyle here, and we have made some amazing friends. Even better, it’s really affordable to live here and do all sorts of fun activities. So, we have integrated 3-7 dollar massages into our daily routine here.
Since our visitor’s visa expired within 30 days of arrival, we decided to fly out to Malaysia for a week and then fly back to Bali so we could get a renewed 30 days’ visitor’s visa. The flight from Bali to Malaysia was only 14 USD (totally not kidding). It was great, but more on Malaysia later!
So, what did we do with our second month in Bali? I’m glad you asked! Just when we thought we had a lot of adventures and experiences here, I realized, that the more we got to befriend strangers and locals, the more hidden treasures we discovered to do here.
In our second month, we experienced Bali New Years, ventured out to the zoo, had breakfast with Orangutans, played with baby goats (I love goats), saw some temples, sunned ourselves at the beach, went white water rafting, did some escape rooms, went to the worlds #2 best waterpark here, and headed out to a couple of famously small islands known as Gili Tawanagan and Gili Air. By small, I mean you can go around the entire Gili T or Gili Air in an hour or two on a bike. The beaches here are to die for, and hallucinogenic mushrooms are openly consumed and sold at every corner. So of course, you get to see a lot of great entertainment happening here.
The only mode of transport is by horse on both islands. Horses are used for labor here too. They transport goods, building equipment, people, luggage etc. I never thought I would say this but I am so glad we are traveling in a carry on because it sucked getting to our villa by foot. All of the horse carriages were full and ultimately I didn’t feel right using the horses for this purpose. I know, they have been doing it for decades on these islands, but poor horses!
We only planned to stay on the island for a night or two, until we passed by a couple of isolated bungalows right on the shore of Gili Air beach. We asked a group of people sitting on the patio how to rent one. One quick conversation with a few Canadians turned into two days of adventuring on the island with them. Travel life is funny, accidental, and awesome that way.
As our time in Bali came to an end, I am amazed at all the experiences we have had here. Starting from the very first day we arrived here to where we are now, I feel like we experienced all the emotions, discovered so much about ourselves, and full time travel. It was hard for us to say goodbye to the friends we made here. I had no expectations of making great friends here. As it turns out, the hardest part of leaving Bali was saying goodbye to all of these amazing people. I hope our paths will cross again.
While you will always remember the places you saw and the things you did, the people you meet along the way and the relationships you develop is ultimately what you will look upon most fondly of when you think of that place. Bali, you will always have a very special place in my heart.
I hope you enjoy the photos from our second month here! If you can, go visit this beautiful country. You will not regret it! Stay tuned for a post on how we celebrated the Bali New Year!
-Love, Nurse Vanessa
