We arrived in Indonesia right on time on Wednesday at 11:45 am. It was a long night on the plane but it was worth it and we were all so excited to finally be in Indonesia! Right when we walked outside of the airport we immediately saw a sign that said "TAXI service". We walked over to the desk and got us a taxi van from the airport to the Kayun Hostel in Kuta. Our hotel, The Kayun Hostel in Kuta was only 17 minutes away from the airport so our taxi wasn't expensive at all. It came to 90000 Indonesia Rupah which is only $10 USD. Our taxi driver was named Kersen and he was very helpful! We asked him about his favorite things to do in Bali and he gave us very good ideas! We were so excited to see what we could get into this week.
We pulled up to our hotel about twenty minutes later and were all so amazed. It was beautiful! We knew we were gonna enjoy living in the heart of Bali for the next two nights.
Because our flight had delayed us a whole day due to our connecting flight we decided to waste no time and hit the beach right away! It was about one o'clock and we immediately went up stairs, put down our stuff and switched into our bathing suits. The beach was walking distance from our hostel so we were on the beach in no time. We had such a good time! Michelle even got a massage right on the beach for only $6 USD! After the rest of the group had heard how cheap it was Emily and I decided to get one too. It was definitely worth it! We all loved this day, it was so nice to relax after a stressful night of flying.
We came back to the hotel around 6pm and took showers. Around 7 o'clock we were all washed up and were very hungry! We remembered that Kersen (our taxi driver) had told us there were some great restaurants in downtown which was walking distance so we decided to ask the front desk lady, Adhi if she had recommended anywhere. She told us about this place called Kori Restaurant and Bar. It sounded nice and casual so we gave it a try. They had delicious calamari and grilled snapper. The total cost of dinner was 751141.1568 or 78 USD.
After dinner we had a few drinks at the bar and then headed back to our hostel. We were so tired from our very long day!
-Alex
Thursday November 15th
We woke up early Thursday morning around 8:00 am and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Our breakfast was included in our stay and to our surprise they had a delicious buffet! Kevin and T.Y really enjoyed this! There were eggs, bacon, pancakes, fresh fruit and all different types of juices.
Today, we wanted to see a cultural/historical site. We talked to our new friend at the front desk and she recommended the Monument of Human Tragedy. It was easy getting a taxi there and it only cost us $20 USD for there and back. I have posted a picture of the monument. It was a very touching experience. The Monument of Human Tragedy is a monument dedicated to 202 people that died in 2002 from a massacre in two huge explosions. We all made our way up to the momument and gave a quick silence to all the people who had lost thier lives that day. This really made us feel like we were connected to Kuta better. All of us really enjoyed it.
After visiting here, we took the same taxi back to the hostel and went and showered up for dinner. It was about 5 o'clock and we decided it was time to eat! Kevin was really craving mexican so we asked the lady at the desk and she recommended TJ's Mexican Bar and Restaurant. We had the most delicious mexican food. I had beef fajitas and we all had a few margaritas to celebrate our time in Kuta! Our total for dinner came to $85 USD.
-Emily
After visiting here, we took the same taxi back to the hostel and went and showered up for dinner. It was about 5 o'clock and we decided it was time to eat! Kevin was really craving mexican so we asked the lady at the desk and she recommended TJ's Mexican Bar and Restaurant. We had the most delicious mexican food. I had beef fajitas and we all had a few margaritas to celebrate our time in Kuta! Our total for dinner came to $85 USD. -Emily
Friday November 16th
We woke up on Friday morning, packed our bags and went downstairs for our last breakfast in Kuta. Today we were traveling from Kuta to Ubud. It was about a hour trip and we had rented a taxi from the front desk of the Kayun Hostel. We left our hostel in Kuta and arrived at our new destination, the Jati Home Stay and Gallery. Our entire taxi ride cost us $60 USD or 577800.88 IDR.We had already booked two family size rooms and the total cost came to $185.56 USD for two nights. Since the rooms only fit three people each, we asked for a cot and Michelle took one for the team and slept on that for the two nights we were there.
We arrived at our new hotel at 11am and got all checked into our rooms. Although these rooms were obviously not as nice as our ones in Kuta, the rooms weren't that bad and we were all very excited to get our day started. We washed up and got unpacked and all met down in the lobby. On our taxi ride over we remembered our driver had told us about Goa Gaja, also known as the elephant cave. He explained to us it was one of Bali's most historically significant sites and it had served as a sanctuary in the 9th century. We were all very intrigued and couldn't wait to go.
We hoped in a taxi and before we knew it we were on our way to the "elephant cave". Once we got to the elephant cave, we walked inside and saw this (picture posted). Inside the cave you can find wall holes that were used by ancient priests to do their meditation. Although the holes have been purified and no longer used , we learned the place is still used to conduct holy ceremonies and rituals, with major ones held once or twice a year.
We arrived at our new hotel at 11am and got all checked into our rooms. Although these rooms were obviously not as nice as our ones in Kuta, the rooms weren't that bad and we were all very excited to get our day started. We washed up and got unpacked and all met down in the lobby. On our taxi ride over we remembered our driver had told us about Goa Gaja, also known as the elephant cave. He explained to us it was one of Bali's most historically significant sites and it had served as a sanctuary in the 9th century. We were all very intrigued and couldn't wait to go.
After the elephant cave, we caught a taxi back to our hotel and were all ready for dinner. Since our hotel was in the ver popular Sanur, there were plenty of options of restaurants near by. We decided we wanted to try a good Indonesia restaurant. We heard Rasa Senange was good so we caught a cab and were on our way. We arrived and they had outdoor seating. It was such a nice restaurant! I oredered the Beef Rendang Padang which is a sumatran beef curry served with rice and green beans. It was very delicious. Our total cost of food for tonight was $96 USD or 924766.4002 IDR.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hit the casino. Emily and Michelle won money! Everyone else however either broke even or lost some. After this we went to our rooms and were in bed by midnight.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hit the casino. Emily and Michelle won money! Everyone else however either broke even or lost some. After this we went to our rooms and were in bed by midnight.
-Kevin
Saturday November 17th
We all slept in today and didn't get out of bed until about 10:30 am! The elephant cave had really wore us out and all of us were so tired from our trip all over Indonesia so far. We met up downstairs and unfortunately unlike our other hotel in Kuta, this one didn't have complimentary breakfast. Luckily though they had a restaurant in the hotel so we all ate there. It came to about $56 USD. And we had things such as french toast, eggs, fruit and coffee. 
We were deciding what to do today when everyone kind of agreed we would like this day to be a more relaxing day considering the day before was so action packed. We asked the lady in the lobby if there was anything we could do around here to relax and to our surprise they had many options! Some including: an onsite golfcourse, swim up bar, gym, spa, and salon. We had many different options and everyone decided to do their own thing.
Alex and I decided to go to the salon considering we had been traveling for a while and definitely needed a haircut. The ladies inside were so nice and it was definitely a cool experience getting your hair done in Indonesia! We were also offered cheese, grapes and crackers which was a nice touch. T.Y and Kevin decided to go golfing and Kelly, Michelle and Emily decided to go swimming and enjoy the swim up bar.
All of our activities totaled today came to $2407503 IDR or $250 USD for the day.
For dinner, we decided to eat at the Mona Lisa Cafe. I had a yummy shrimp avocado salad. Our total tonight came to $85 USD.
-Jamie
For dinner, we decided to eat at the Mona Lisa Cafe. I had a yummy shrimp avocado salad. Our total tonight came to $85 USD.
-Jamie
Sunday November 18th
Puri Agung Karangasem is a series of compounds that house the royal palace. We all decided this would definitely be something really cool to see so we had the man at the lobby get us a cab and next thing you knew we were on our way. It was 10,000 rupiah to enter the inner court which is called Maskerdam. For the seven of us it was only $7 USD to enter.
It cost us $35 to get there and back with a taxi from the hotel.
For dinner, we ate at our hotel and the total cost came to $91. I had a salad with chicken on it and it was so delicious. T.Y and Kevin both had steaks and everyone else had some kind of chicken. Everyone said all of it was very delicious!
After dinner, we played a game of Texas Holdem poker because Kevin had bought some cards at a local conveinent store downtown. Emily definitely had the best poker face but noone could beat T.Y at poker! After our game of poker, we all went to our rooms and went to bed. We had a very fun day and were all exhausted by the end of it.
We woke up today knowing it was going
to be a big day for our group. We were off to our newest location and were all
very excited. We had our last breakfast in Ubud and were off to Amlapura. For breakfast, we ate at our hotel again and our total came to about $53 USD.
Amlapura is on Balis North coat and is in the mountains. We heard from people on our two previous stays in Indonesia that Amplapura is beautiful. We got a taxi and were off to our new hotel, the Kubu Carik. It was a two hour drive and Alex, Kelly and Michelle decided to take naps during the ride. For two nights and four bedrooms our total ended up being $574.76.
Amlapura is on Balis North coat and is in the mountains. We heard from people on our two previous stays in Indonesia that Amplapura is beautiful. We got a taxi and were off to our new hotel, the Kubu Carik. It was a two hour drive and Alex, Kelly and Michelle decided to take naps during the ride. For two nights and four bedrooms our total ended up being $574.76.
We arrived at our hotel, un packed our bags and got ready for the day. We got lunch at our hotel and it came to $64 USD. I had a cheeseburger and french fries, it was definitely nice to have some American food for a change. After lunch, we went downstairs and talked to the man in the lobby and he recommended we visit the Puri Agung Karangasem.
-T.Y.
For dinner, we ate at our hotel and the total cost came to $91. I had a salad with chicken on it and it was so delicious. T.Y and Kevin both had steaks and everyone else had some kind of chicken. Everyone said all of it was very delicious!
-Kelly
Monday November 19th
We woke up very early Monday morning because we were so excited about our last day in Indonesia. We had the complimentary breakfast at our hotel and got dressed and ready by 9 AM. Our taxi driver the night before had told us that we were only 30 minutes away from the nine directional temples. Of course, we all wanted to experience seeing these so we decided that is what we were going to do for the day. It was a 30 minute drive and he told us to make sure we got there early because we would be hiking and it gets warm during the day.
We arrived at Pura Luhur Lempuyang at roughly 10 o'clock and quickly got a tour guide. (We definitely didn't want to miss anything by not having one). Our tour guide was named Alam and he was so friendly! He gave us all a sarong and sash which was mandatory. Alam charged 100,000 rupiah for the tour.
After we were all dressed appropriately, we started our hike. Alam had informed us it was probably going to take us two hours to get to the top but we didn't mind because we were all having a good time talking and finding out interesting things about Indonesia. Once we got to the top, we saw the view of Gunung Agung which made the hike all worth it. It was a beautiful site.
After this, we had options to go to another temple but it was another 90 minute walk and by this time T.Y. and Emily were getting hungry so we decided not to go. Instead, we walked back down and got in a cab and headed back to our hotel. Our taxi cab for there and back cost us $40 USD.
Once we got to our hotel, we took showers and got dressed. We definitely wanted to go to a bar/restaurant tonight considering it was our last night in Indonesia. We decided on Sekar Bali Restaurant which was a private restaurant and bar overlooking a gorgeous pool. I had a delicious steak. Our total came to $83 USD for dinner.
We ended our trip with a few drinks and a cheers to our times in Indonesia. We were so sad to leave but we were all so excited for Mexico!
-Michelle
Tuesday November 20th
We arrived at Pura Luhur Lempuyang at roughly 10 o'clock and quickly got a tour guide. (We definitely didn't want to miss anything by not having one). Our tour guide was named Alam and he was so friendly! He gave us all a sarong and sash which was mandatory. Alam charged 100,000 rupiah for the tour.
After we were all dressed appropriately, we started our hike. Alam had informed us it was probably going to take us two hours to get to the top but we didn't mind because we were all having a good time talking and finding out interesting things about Indonesia. Once we got to the top, we saw the view of Gunung Agung which made the hike all worth it. It was a beautiful site.
Once we got to our hotel, we took showers and got dressed. We definitely wanted to go to a bar/restaurant tonight considering it was our last night in Indonesia. We decided on Sekar Bali Restaurant which was a private restaurant and bar overlooking a gorgeous pool. I had a delicious steak. Our total came to $83 USD for dinner.
We ended our trip with a few drinks and a cheers to our times in Indonesia. We were so sad to leave but we were all so excited for Mexico!
-Michelle
Tuesday November 20th
Totals for the week:
Food= $553 or
5327039.7842 IDR
Accommodations= $1,080.48 or
10403622.0017 IDR
Activities=$273 or
2629804.4504 IDR
Taxi=$165 or
1589442.2503 IDR
Total= 2,071.48 or
19949908.4867 IDR
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