Day 1 - Seminyak

It was about 9.30am when I woke up this morning to the sound of splashing in the pool directly outside our bedroom door, amazing! I had a shower in our beautiful outdoor bathroom then went outside for a dip in the pool with the rest of the family - what a great way to start the day!

After a nice swim in the pool we decided it was time to leave the villa for a bit, to find a bank & explore some of the local markets. Allan & Ian have hired some scooters for us whilst we are in Seminyak so we were able to cruise around on them through the back streets to avoid walking the whole distance in the heat (this is something I always said I would never do due to the crazy-ness of the roads in Bali & the lack of safety...but F#ck it) I figured Al & Ian know what they’re doing, at least that's how I’m justifying it anyway ha and as crazy as the traffic is here, it was honestly so much fun! (& don’t worry Mum, even though the helmets here are optional - I totally wore one, it wasn’t just for show)

I didn't buy too much at the markets today, just a little bag

as the one I had brought from home was getting too sweaty to carry around. I made my first purchase by bartering in Bali and quickly ran across the road to Allan & jumped back on the scooter ready to head back to our villa. I excitedly told Al that I had bartered in Bali - his response was “oh, that’s ok it smells so bad around here no one will notice anyway” OMG..I did not say I fartered, how embarrassing!! haha

We then took the bikes around to one of the local beaches & had lunch at this cute little beachside cafe right on the waterfront and they had the most comfiest bean bags. You could just chill out on the bean bags & drink your alcohol whilst overlooking the ocean it was so relaxing! After lunch, we headed back to our villa for a quick dip in the pool and to get ready for this afternoon’s adventures.

We were getting picked up at 2.30pm to be taken around Seminyak on a bit of a site seeing adventure, to see the streets, a couple of temples then heading on out for a nice dinner on the beach. Our driver Alfie was lovely, spoke very good English & managed the chaotic roads pretty well. It was interesting to see the different streets of Bali, the roads were still crazily manic but

somehow over here it just works - it is absolute organised chaos to a tee!

Our first stop was to view a massive statue famous in Bali - Garuda Wisnu Kencana. It was lovely & super massive but we couldn’t go inside as it was still under construction. The statue was massive though, you could see it from miles away and stopping in front of it for a nice photo opp was just as amazing, we were just in awe of the sheer size of it. Unfortunately the photos of it just don't do it justice.

Our next destination was a weird one, a visit to the Luwak coffee shop - a poo cafe! Yep, you heard it right...Mongoose poo! The local Luwak cafes feed the mongoose coffee beans and when they poop it out they make coffee from the pooped out beans. Weird? I know right! I can without regret say that I DID NOT have poop coffee, but some of the others in my tribe did and from what i heard it didn't taste as feral as it sounds.

Next stop was Uluwatu temple & it was so beautiful! We all had to put on a sarong before entering into the park and then started our walk through the temple & out the back to watch the sunset over the water. The sun setting over the water here was such an amazing sight & one i would highly recommend if you're ever travelling to Bali!

It was a lovely afternoon and there were monkeys everywhere, i'm talking thousands! We were warned to take off our sunnies & put any objects we were holding away so that the monkeys cannot steal them & after being here for only 30 mins, we quickly understood why! When you see these thieving monkeys in action it is quite hilarious, they are so quick and not shy at all about sneaking their way over to you and snatching items. We saw monkeys steal a phone, a woman's thong (shoe) and multiple pairs of sunnies, gone just like that - it was crazy!

One poor guy was enjoying the view through his prescription glasses when one of the monkeys came running up and snatched them straight off his face, started chewing on them then when he realised they weren't food just threw them over the wall into the water below..my gosh. As crazy as the monkeys were, it was actually beautiful seeing them roaming so freely with each other even though they were getting up to tons of mischief. It isn't every day in Australia you get to see things like that.

Tonight we had a lovely dinner on the beach and we were literally on the beach. The tables & chairs were set up on the sand with beautiful candles lit on each table, a slightly annoying mariachi band going from table to table signing songs to the people seated at them for tips (whether you wanted them to sing for you or not!) and the sight & sound of waves crashing onto the sand in front of you was just absolutely beautiful.

Ian had mentioned to us previously that the street corn in Bali is to die for and he was not wrong. On the beach, a man had a little stand set up where he was cooking fried corn & it tasted even more amazing than Ian had described, if we hadn't of been there for dinner i would have order another 2-3 more for sure!

After our day was almost done and dusted we decided to head on back to the villa at about 10pm for some drinks and night swims. It was a lovely way to end a great first day in Bali!