December 2008 / January 2009 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Lifestyle
Escape the city life for one
big chill: BALI By Anouk Binkhuysen
Life is not easy as an expat-wife; settle down,
presenting myself on the local recruit market,
preparing job interviews, writing dozens of mails
and letters to potential employers and getting
along with my new Chinese neighbours. So, after
nearly five months of living in my clean and safe
new hometown Singapore, it was time for a breakaway!
And although Singapore is a great place to
live with everything smoothly organized, all its
perfect facilities and good weather, after a while
I became hungry for some ‘real Asia’; bargaining
for souvenirs, food stalls at every corner of the
street, crowded chaotic places, peaceful white
sandy beaches and lots of cold beers in laidback
bamboo bars. So I headed for a week Bali, which
also appears one of the most favourite getawaydestination
according the majority of the ADBmembers.
Here is my journey in a nutshell to a
beautiful island with magnificent places and lovely
people. And for those who are still planning to go,
do not hesitate anymore. For those who plan to go
back again; join the club!
Day 1 and 2: SANUR
We (my sister and I) had a late flight from Singapore,
so we arrived after midnight in Denpasar. With no
definite plan for the week, however we had booked
our first night over the internet with some help
from the latest Mr. LP (Lonely Planet). Although
our internet reservation had never arrived at
the Stana Puri Gopa Hotel, fortunately there was
still one room left for two girls from Holland; the
‘Deluxe Suite’.
The next morning we discovered that we had
made a good choice; we woke up and found out
that all the rooms are built in little traditional
Balinese houses surrounded by a beautiful garden
and a very nice pool. We decided to stay another
day and we went straight for our first traditional
Balinese massage on the beach!
Day 3: Nusa LEMBONGAN
Sanur is a nice place to hang-out for a couple of days
but we came to Bali to see something of the island
and its underwater world, so time to move on. It
is very easy to visit Nusa Lembongan by speedboat
from Sanur, so we booked a daytrip to Lembongan
and decided to stay there overnight in one of the
beach houses at ‘Dreambeach’.
After 40 minutes, we embarked off Lembongan
beach and for the first time since my arrival here
in Asia, I felt like being on the other side of the
world. Apart from some surf tourists and the 7000
locals that live from the production of seawead,
the island is very quiet and pure. For me and my
sister, reading books and some good afternoon naps
would be our main time-spending here.
Apart from the beaches and some good diving
and snorkeling sites, the island is definitely worth
a tour. We visited a mangrove and some traditional
villages and driving around the island gives you
a good impression how the locals live and work.
After being semi-fried in the open pick-up truck
during the morning, we could fortunately spend
the afternoon in the water for some nice snorkeling
near the island to spot thousands of tropical fish
and colourful coral.
Day 4 and 5: UBUD
We departed early in the morning from our bounty
island to go to our next destination; Ubud. I was
recommended by lots of friends that had been to
Bali before definitely to go here and to hang out at
this place for a couple of days. Besides the beautiful
paddy fields and countryside, Ubud is supposed to
be Bali’s spiritual heart but also a great place to
shop for silver and handicraft souvenirs.
When we took the taxi from Sanur to Ubud,
it surprised me how easy it is to drive from one
place to another in Bali. The island is relatively
small and after one-and-a-half hour we arrived in
Ubud. The vibes in Ubud are definitely different
compared to the beach places. However visited
by many tourists, the atmosphere is laid back and
with an utter choice of luxurious spa-hotels as
well as low- and mid-priced guesthouses that offer
cooking-classes and Balinese belly dance lessons,
Ubud is a favourite destination for travellers with
small and big budgets.
The owner of our guesthouse immediately
recommended us to go for an ‘Eco and Educational
cycling tour’. As we were planning to visit some of
rural Bali in Ubud and curious what to expect, we
signed up for the tour.
After a relaxed first day in Ubud, we were
picked up the next morning at our hotel for the
cycling tour. With a small group of 7 persons, we
drove to Mount Batur (north of Bali) and cycled for
approximately 40 kilometers back to Ubud through
the countryside. The focus of this tour is to learn
more of traditional Balinese (culinary) life and
nature. Our local tour guide brought us to local
villages, the paddy fields, a traditional Balinese
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Vol.18 • No. 10 • December 2008 / January 2009