re: Bali - A Two Week Honeymoon

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We were able to book round trip for $800 to Bangkok from Houston. Another $400 roundtrip from Bankgok to Bali so all in about $1200/person. There was a huge sale earlier this year to Southeast Asia on United

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I feel like we got a deal of a lifetime on our roundtrip flight to south Asia. Me and my fiancée are flying to the Maldives for our honeymoon at the end of the month. Our roundtrip airfare was only $850/person. $1700 total to fly from New Orleans to D.C. to Doha to Male and back on Southwest Airlines/Qatar Airways. I'm expecting very different service between these flights

I think that would be sufficient time to see a lot of what Bali has to offer. Haven't been to Nusa Dua yet, as that is our final stop of this trip, but I'll let you know how it is there. Ubud is pretty nice - going to explore the city a little more today. It was pretty rainy yesterday so we just relaxed at our suite for the most part.

I will say, it took us about 30 hours total to get to Bali, so just make sure you have enough time here to make 60 hours of RT travel worth it.

I just landed back in the US yesterday and was busy unpacking and trying to get myself on a regular sleep schedule.

Back in the office today. I promise I will start working on my review this week and sharing it piece by piece with everyone.

Apologies in advance for how long the review will be - have a lot of material to cover.

Stay away from nightclubs

Days 2 - 3: Tabanan

We had a car from the resort pick us up from the airport, and along the route we passed by a religious procession through the streets. This was a really cool way to start the trip and see a bit of authentic Balinese culture. They were processing from the beach (pictured later) to one of the village temples, and were extremely friendly and more than happy for us to take photos of them as they passed our car. We also got some great videos of them smiling and waving as they walked by.



After the procession passed, we continued the drive through endless rice paddies (below) and eventually checked into our villa. We stayed at a newer resort called Soori – I cannot recommend this place highly enough. The rooms were incredible and the service was amazing - we splurged on a villa with a great view of the black sand beaches. I had never seen black sand before, and unfortunately the pictures I post do not do it justice. It was also pretty great having a pool that our room literally opened up to. After a long day and a half of travel, we were exhausted, so we just got a massage at the spa and had dinner in the villa. Here are some shots of our room, our view, and the property.

Rice patties:



Main lobby:



Private cabana and pool:



The next day, we had breakfast brought to our cabana:





After breakfast, we met with the executive chef on the property and did a culinary class. He brought us into the village (about 10 minutes away) and walked us through the local market, showing us all the local fruits and vegetables, as well as other items for sale.











From there, we went back to the resort with our groceries and began the cooking class at one of the restaurant kitchens on the property. It was really interesting because we made a lot of local dishes that I’ve never attempted, using a lot of spices and ingredients that are very foreign to me. They even gave us the recipes for everything we cooked to bring home, and were great about explaining substitutions for ingredients that are hard to find in the U.S. We then sat outside and enjoyed the fruits of our labor for lunch.



The afternoon was comprised of a lot of hanging out at our pool and enjoying drinks, as well as walking along the beach. View from our cabana:



About two minutes away from our room, there is a small cave where hundreds of fruit bats were sleeping, so I (quietly) walked into the cave and got a shot of that:



That night, we went out and enjoyed cocktails during sunset and listened to a couple locals play the Xylo, and had an incredible dinner of BBQed chicken and beef, then a crispy duck that was easily the best cooked duck I’ve ever had.



This chicken was actually served on a tiny charcoal grill. So that it was still cooking when they served it to you:

Dude, that is beautiful and awesome. Wow. You just made me want to go to Bali ASAP.

I especially love the market and cooking classes. How freaking incredible.

That temple with the big Ganesha is gorgeous. I have a Hindu deity statue obsession. I'd have definitely had to buy some while there.

Ya and thanks to your awesome review I'm now planning a trip there