Travel Diaries: October 2017

We just came back from an exciting 6 day trip to Bali and the overall experience was really unique specially with the news all over about Mt Agung eruption. We went along with my friend Abhinav and his family. While planning for this trip - we looked at various options like - Greece (as it was annual theme for my son Ved's school), Thailand, Maldives and Bali. With all the debate over what to do, what fits the pocket etc. it came down to Maldives and Bali. At then end, we finally landed on Bali primarily due to kids friendly hotels/resorts and of-course cost.

I usually do not like 'packaged' tours coz I feel it boxes you with its own agenda in rush to cover all 'famous' and must see things. We knew that we did not have as many days as would have wanted, so, we skipped the makemytrips of the world and planned the trip ourselves which included 3 days in Nusa Dua and 2 days in Ubud.

Just the day before we were starting, Abhinav broke the message about news coverage on possible eruption of Mt Agung. All of us checked in various sources for this news, and pretty much all talked about possible eruption in couple of days and possibility of air port closure. Now, we were not sure that whether we will go to Bali!!!. With so much uncertainty and being aware of risk involved, we took a decision that - if Australian government does not issue an official advisory against going to Bali, then we are going, else we cancel. Primary reason being that a number of Australians had planned Bali vacation with school holidays coming up. I clearly remember that, on the day of departure, we started checking news since morning and finally as no news came, we decide to go to airport and try our luck. Luckily, there were no cancellation and we landed Bali on Sunday - 24th Sep.

While booking for stay in Bali, we checked options like Kuta, Seminyak and Nusa Dua and finally picked Nusa Dua based on reviews that its more secluded and family friendly area compared to Kuta or Seminyak which is more for party goers and water sports enthusiasts. Our resort at Nusa Dua - Holiday Inn Bali Benoa was great. We were little disappointed to see the beach in front of hotel as there was no water in evening !!. Later on we found out that the tides pick up from around 10 in morning and stay up to 6pm.

We spent 3 days in Nusa Dua with one day completely at hotel enjoying pool and beach. The jetsking was very exciting and I remember that Ved kept on shouting in excitement for all 15 min. Pool was great as well, there were 5 swimming pools including indoor and outdoor which kept kids busy all the time.. The best part at resort was Kids Club where kids could do many activities with supervision from hotel staff. It was blessing to keep kids engaged so, we can relax and have some time for ourselves. While in Nusa Dua, we did not explore the city as much, but did visit Kuta for dinner and spend some time at Bali Collection mall which was pretty nice.

After 3 days at Nusa Dua, we travelled to Ubud, about 25 km from the beaches. Ubud offered a totally different experience compared to beach area. It was very green with rice fields and amazing landscape. Our hotel was at the top of a ridge with lobby on 4th floor and all rooms below it. While in Ubud, I had a chance to run on the Campuhan ridge walk and it was great.. Although I was disappointed a bit that it ended too soon. All the reviewed I had reach on tripadvisor and such mentioned 9km stretch but it was merely 2.5km.. Regardless, the place was awesome for morning run. We took a day trip from Ubut to visit the waterfall and most importantly, Mt Batur which is one of active volcanoes in Bali. While looking over at Mt Batur we could see Mt Agung as well and I remember that kids called Mt Agung as 'bad boy'.

Overall, the trip was relaxing, exciting and quite satisfying.. I am witing this after a week and Mt Agung hasn't erupted as yet, although I hear some folks have cancelled their trip to Bali over Mt Agung eruption news. While I understand their worry and reason to cancel, I think it is still safe to go to Bali and one must not miss it.

Here are some memories of the trip