We caught the ferry to Bali from Ketapang in the east of Java. The ferry ride was about an hour, a calm sea despite the torrential rain that joined us on our journey.

Once on Bali we drove for about an hour to our home for the next 2 nights in Pemuteran on the northern coast of Bali. We were staying in a lovely, quiet resort with cute bungalows and a lovely pool. Dinner in the hotel restaurant that night with some local Balinese rosé wine which wasn’t too bad if I’m honest! We were also treated to some local Balinese dancing, lots of twirling of hands and bending back the palms, which is quite tricky when you try to do it!

The next day was a free day. I chose to do a cooking class in the morning, where we learned how to cook some local dishes including moringa soup which we’d had at Seloliman and was delicious, fried tempeh, chicken curry, and Dadar Bali, which is green pandan leaf pancakes stuffed with a coconut sugar filling, for dessert. My challenge when I go home is to source some moringa leaves in the UK!

The next day we headed to our stop for the next 3 nights in Ubud. Ubud is in the centre south of Bali and is something of a jungle oasis. The island of Bali isn’t huge but the terrain means winding roads up over peaks in the centre of the island and so it took us several hours, and a couple of pit stops.

Whilst I’d booked this trip through Java and Bali as one 3 week trip, it was actually 2 trips of 2 weeks from Jakarta to Ubud and then 1 week around Bali. The first part of the trip ended in Ubud and we had a final dinner with the group which sort of doubled up as a pre birthday celebration as it was my birthday the next day. There was cake!

With absolutely no conscious planning on my part, my birthday ended up being a free day in Ubud. I booked myself a spa package with a Balinese massage, body scrub and citrus bath as a treat, and very relaxing it was too!

We met the new group that evening (only 3 of us out of the 9 on the first trip carried on through Bali) and the following day we had a guided walk around a village on the outskirts of Ubud. We stopped at a local house and made a traditional Balinese offering. These are made daily, both at home and at shops, hotels, restaurants, for gratitude and balance between good and evil. You see them everywhere around Bali, they are usually accompanied by a burning incense stick.

That evening we went to a traditional Kecak dance performance. This was a real spectacle, the ‘music’ is provided by what must have been at least 50 men chanting throughout. It was quite hypnotic. There was also traditional dancing, and fire.

The next day we left Ubud, via some very picturesque rice terraces. Pretty sure people come here for shots for the ‘gram… We also had a cycling trip on the way – 15km almost entirely downhill. I’m not a confident cyclist, I’ve only been on a bike 3 times in the last 20 years and 2 of those were in Indonesia in the last fortnight. The heavens opened after 5km and I, along with a couple of the others, bailed and went the rest of the way in the minibus. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it though!

We ended the day in a small village called Undisan. The following morning we had a guided walk around the village, seeing the temples, and some local crafts including making these beautiful, delicate ornate head pieces out of bronze sheets. We ended the walk with a traditional bungkus lunch which is what the workers in the rice fields would eat – delicious chicken, veggies, tempeh, tofu and rice.

After lunch we headed to Sibetan Village, where we would be staying in home stays with the local villagers. One of the things I really enjoy about these kind of trips is getting off the beaten track, away from the usual tourist hotspots, to see a bit about what life is really like in these places. This village grows a lot of salak (snake fruit, so called because of how the skin looks). We were greeted with a glass of salak juice which was very refreshing, and later tasted some salak wine and liquors…the flavoured versions were more palatable than the neat liquor!

In the evening we went to a local restaurant and enjoyed some more delicious food, along with more salak for dessert.

In the morning we had a walk around this village, learning about salak and other plants that grow here. I’ve really enjoyed the walks around the villages and seeing everything that grows – a lot of plants that I have as houseplants at home! As I was travelling in the run up to Balinese New Year (Nyepi), we also saw lots of ogoh ogoh statutes under construction. The villagers make these and then parade them though the towns and villages on the eve of Nyepi before burning them to purify before the new year. This was also really cool to see and learn about.

After lunch we journeyed towards our next stop near to Mount Batur. An early rise (3am) the next morning for another attempt at a sunrise hike. Would I be third time lucky on my current travels at seeing a sunrise having gotten up so early?!

We drove to the foothills of the volcano, as far as the road goes, and then started the hike. It was completely pitch black and even with head torches, I found it quite difficult to see what I was doing. We walked upwards with some breaks for around an hour and 40 minutes. We waited at the top, literally in the clouds which were blowing over, but eventually we saw the sun, and a small cheer erupted from everyone gathered on the mountain. We watched for around half an hour or so as the sun kept disappearing and reappearing behind the clouds. After failed sunrises at Angkor Wat and Mt Bromo, I’m very glad that finally a very early wake up was really worth it!!

We were back at the hotel for breakfast and a shower, and then headed off back to the north coast, to Lovina, for 2 nights. After lunch at a local cafe which provides employment for deaf people (a great initiative), we had free time for the rest of the day. I mostly spent it resting in the air conditioning though I did make it to the beach for sunset.

We had a full day of activities the next day, starting with a drive back to the north west of the island, past Pemuteran where we stayed on our first couple of days in Bali, to Menjangan Island where most of the group did some snorkelling, and I stayed on the boat. We were moored over a coral reef that was quite shallow and I could see quite a lot of fish zooming in and out of the reefs. Certainly more than I would have seen without my glasses if I had snorkelled (I’ve learnt this from prior experience!)

We had lunch on the island and on the way back, we stopped off for a soak at Banjar Hot Springs which was very much like having a warm bath. Apparently bathing in these springs can make you look years younger but I’m not quite sure about that…

That evening we had dinner at a local restaurant with some more delicious Balinese cuisine. The corn fritters were a winner for me, but all of it was fantastic.

The next day was our last full day on the trip, and my final full day in Indonesia after almost 3 weeks. We headed south east across the island, to Sanur. We stopped along the way at Gitgit Waterfalls, where we were the only people there, and later at Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple, which is on the edge of a lake and has some beautiful gardens.

We arrived in the beach side resort town of Sanur in the late afternoon. I had just enough time for a walk up and down the beach before our final dinner.

Before I arrived here, I wasn’t sure I was going to like Bali. My impressions were probably based on the resorts on the south of the island, Sanur, Kuta, Seminyak – just another beach holiday destination. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, in particular the villages and seeing the local life, as well as Ubud, which was touristy but had a nice, laid back vibe to it. Disclaimer it is still low season, not loads of tourists, and perhaps I’d feel differently at other times of the year. But the people are so very friendly, and I remain obsessed with the rice terraces.

Now back to Singapore to stay in one place for the longest time since Adelaide in mid December!