Good morning Ubud. The girls and I got up early and had breakfast. We were served with eggs, toast, fruit salad and either a coffee or tea. It was nice to finally eat a traditional breakfast other than nasi goreng or instant noodles. Today we are leaving for Kuta. Kuta is located approximately 45mins to an hour away from Ubud known as the party district and where many many Australians hang out. We organized with the homestay for a shuttle bus to take us to Kuta for just under $5 each.
After breakfast, we checked out of the homestay and left our luggages with them as we were going to meet up with the Isabella and Danielle for some retail therapy. I didn’t want to shop as I do not have much luggage space, but I was happy to browse the streets with them. The girls took us to a few different streets filled with of little boutiques. Julia ended up buying a dress.
We were in a yoga store and Julia pointed out that this drink bottle is perfect for me. haha. It's only been a week of knowing Julia and she already knows me so well. :) I didn't buy it.
We shopped for 3.5 hours and we finally stopped by a supermarket. I was so excited to see a supermarket. I stocked up on shampoo, body wash, washing powder, instant noodles and I even bought myself a backpack that I will use as a cabin bag for trip. The girls laughed at me as they saw how happy I was to be in a supermarket. I looked like a little kid in a candy store. I look like a turtle with my new backpack. haha.
Our next stop was the Monkey forest. Entry was just under $2. I was amazed to see how many monkeys roaming around as though they were human beings roaming a park. But instead, it felt more like we were invading their paradise. The girls warned us about zipping up our bags, as the monkeys will try to snatch things out of it. The monkeys were so adorable and they seemed to be really attracted to Isabella, every time she sat down a monkey would climb on her – it was very cute. I also had a little monkey climb on my lap; we were able to capture a photo of it in time. Within the monkey forest, there was also a temple for those who wish to pray.
After many hours of walking, our tummies needed to be fed. We stopped by a little restaurant and all indulged into our pizzas, sandwiches and cold fresh fruit juices. The lemon mint juice is by far my favourite drink in Bali. It was now time to say goodbye to Isabella and Danielle as we had to quickly make our way back to the homestay to catch the shuttle bus to Kuta. We quickly powerwalked back and sat at the front waiting for the shuttle bus. The owner of the homestay took a group shot of us sitting at front.
After waiting for 10minutes, the shuttle bus arrived. Due to the fact that road was too narrow we had to walk to the main road to hop on. The ride to Kuta took approximate 1.5 hrs due to traffic. During our ride, we had people come up to our window selling masks and other funny things. It was so random seeing a gorilla rock up at our window.
Finally, we arrived in the party district – Kuta. We got dropped off nearby Kuta Square (shopping centre). Kuta is so different to Ubud. The energy was different, there were more tourists than ever and it was definitely a buzzing city. By this time, I was more excited than ever, I was pumped and super excited about partying tonight. We hadn’t booked a place to stay for the night, so our mission was to find a decent place. We checked a few and decided on Kodja Beach Inn. It was nothing flash, but the room was massive and it housed 3 single beds. There was even a pool at this guesthouse. We checked in for just under $27 for the night (for the three of us). The prices of guesthouses and homestays are ridicously cheap in Bali, however the standards are just very basic. We were really turned off by the bathroom though. There was a very nauseating smell and we did not dare to go barefooted in there – but hey, its Bali – we just have to deal with it.
We went and browsed the hustling and bustling streets and did more shopping. Julia is a super shopaholic. I bought two pairs of sandals, same style but in black and beige for just $9. Bargain! I was content. In Kuta, there was KFC, Gloria Jeans, McDonalds, Billabong and even a Commonwealth Bank ATM. For a second, I really thought I was back at home. We stumbled across a massive air-conditioned shopping centre – Matha Exhibition.
It was like a department store. I ran straight in like a kid. Seeing that I lost my watch in Hong Kong, I’m on a hunt for a new one. I tried on about 10 different ones and didn’t like any of it. All the ones that were just ok, were not water resistant. The girls bought a few things themselves. I couldn’t stop laughing when I stumbled across a local brand – Guchi.
It was now time for dinner, we randomly chose a restaurant and settled in at Segafredo Zanetti – a cosy looking restaurant with many foreigners dining in at. The menu looked appealing. I had the massaman curry with rice and veggies, Julia tried for the first time Pad Thai and Christina was being her skinny self (again) and had a fruit platter. Dinner was very satisfying, we were all stuffed.
Now it’s time to head back and get ready for a crazy night. We all got ready and it felt really nice to be able to dress up and apply makeup. The girls and I were really excited to finally get some alcohol into our system and just unwind and have fun for the night. We were told that there is just a strip filled with clubs and bars. Isabella had given us a few club names before hand so we had an idea of where to go. We ended up at Skygarden first. We noticed that there were people being charged for entrance fee but they let us through without providing ID or even asking for an entrance fee. We felt like VIPS. There are a lot of different rooms (depending on what type of music you’re into). The space in Skygarden is massive. Lots of beautiful lights and awesome music – oh not to mention, plenty of foreigners as well. We explored the club and made our way to the reggae room, they had an awesome fire performance on which we stayed to watch for a bit. The dancers were incredible and the tricks they performed were really impressive.
Moving onto the next room (Brandy’s), we were confronted by good looking, skinny and very provocative go-go dancers, dancing on top of the bar. These dancers actually know how to move, nothing like we you see in Phuket. We had a few tequila shots, jagerbombs, slippery nipple and gin and tonics – we were all in a happy place. The music was excellent and Julia and I were busting our salsa moves. I could see that it was already starting to look like a great night ahead of us.
Moving onto the next club, we ended up at Eikon. One of the bartenders stood on top of the bar offering free tequila shots – pouring it straight in the mouth from the bottle. Being a tequila lover, I had a go. It was yummy! Straight through the back of the club is known as the “Beach Bar”. They say that in Bali is populated with so many Australia – this is true. There were so many aussies in their board shorts, local singlets or topless overtaking the party scene. I felt like I was in a club in Australia not Kuta, Bali. Here, we had more tequila shots and danced the night away. We met some awesome people. Sofie and Patrik are from Finland, Alex from the UK and Matteo from Italy. They are all roommates living in Bali. Sofie and Patrik are living in Bali studying Indonesian, Alex is a landscaper working in Bali and Matteo is just travelling the world – in fact, his next stop is Australia.
After a few drinks and more dancing, Sofie suggested that we go back to their place for an after party and go wake up their other party pooper roommate. They all rode a scooter each, so I hopped on the back of Sofie’s. They live In an area called Dalung – approximately 25 minutes from Kuta. The fiunniest and most random thing happened to Sofie and I when we were on the way back to her place. Sofie was intoxicated and speeding like speedy Gonzales. We hit a rock along the way and busted the tyre. We couldn’t stop laughing about this. We were extremely lucky because it happened just 20metres from the bike repair shop. Phew… We pulled over, paid the guy 40,000 rupiahs (less than $4) and the bike had brand new tyres within minutes. I was stunned when I arrived at their villa. Mezmerized. It was such a beautiful villa in the middle of the rice paddy field. They all had their own bedrooms, equipped with a double bed (too big for one person), fan and a private bathroom. In the photo, you can see that the gang has had a lot of parties - the collection of beer bottles is crazy! When we arrived home, we woke up Jan (pronounced Yarn) who was the party popper and slept the whole night whilst the gang was partying. Jan is from Germany and also studying the Indonesian language in Bali.
Sofie and I ducked out to the local convenient store (opens 24 hrs) and bought some beers and yöruoka (late night snack in finnish) - instant mi goreng. Sofie was so cute, she has been making mi goreng the incorrect way. Mi goreng is suppose to be dry noodles, but she's been having it as soupy noodles - therefore her noodles has always been very bland. Too funny. I gave her some of my noodles and she loved it. At least for next time, she can enjoy instant mi goreng the right way. They taught us a new drinking game - Bali taxi driver. It was such an easy game to learn and will most probably get you really drunk, if you had the same luck as Patrik. They told us that Patrik has the worst luck with this game, so I had a game with him - they were right. Patrik drank pretty much on every move he made, which is also the whole deck of cards. Great way to get drunk. Luckily enough, we were only drinking beer. The local beer - Bintang is surprisingly tasty and very easy to down. I'm normally not one to drink beer, but this beer I can handle. We played a few games of Bali taxi driver and by 5am, everyone was ready to call it quits. Jan was being a smartarse and asked whether I knew the game - 52 cards, I asked him what it was and he flicked all 52 cards on the ground. The aim of the game is to pick up all 52 cards, Sofie copped it. Sofie is such a lovely person, she offered her beautiful room to us girls for the night.
Good night party people.
XOXO
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