Hi everyone, this week I wanted to share some of my top travel tips with you. My
favorite country during my travels was Indonesia. So today I wanted to go over
ten amazing experiences to have in Bali.
Get hashtag blessed. Yes I said that. Bali is Hindu and you see that in
every aspect of their life. One thing you can do when you visit is go to a priest
and actually get blessed. We're about to be blessed. So blessed. Yes. Essentially they'll say some
words, end up tying this little string around your wrist, which represents the
three gods. The whole concept is that you wear this and the gods always know
where you are and they protect you so once it falls off and I guess you're not
protected anymore. The other cool way to get blessed is through visiting Pura
Tirta Empul. This is a unique experience where you actually visit a
temple and you go into their sacred waters and you go there, you go under 13
waterfalls and each one blesses you in a different way.
It's almost like a meditative experience. There's a lot more history about it if
you google it and it tells the story of how the spring, the natural springs, got
there. It's been a ritualistic place for thousands of years in Bali and it's
definitely worth visiting. It's open to the public. If you're going to go I
recommend going in the morning because the lines in the afternoon can get
pretty intense and you really want that individual experience when you go there.
If you're going to Bali you need to visit Ubud. Ubud is all those classic
Instagram shots you've seen of rice fields, all the greenery. When you go to a
Ubud and you go to the rice terraces my favorite one is Tegallanlang rice terrace
this one's really beautiful. If you go just make sure that you don't pay the
locals to enter because some people end up paying and it's actually just a
tourist scam that people will stand there and
they'll say "Oh to get in you need to pay entry". You don't need to pay entry. Anyone
can enter. Definitely go during sunset it's unbelievably stunning. Staying in a
bubble hotel. In Bali there's this company that, it seems like no one really
knows about them, so insider tip. You can only book these bubble hotels through
Airbnb and they only have five of them. Last time I was there at least it was
only five. Essentially, what it is, is you hike down this cliff. It takes about 30
minutes. You get to the bottom and it's just your bubble hotel and there's
literally no one there. It's a private beach so you have this amazing view to
yourself. They can set up a campfire at night, they can bring you all sorts of
customized. There was a romantic package where they would put like rose petals on
the bed. There were cooking packages where they could bring you a little food
to cook, a grill. There was a lot of different packages and it was a cool
experience. Really recommend doing that. The link below to their site, which is
just Airbnb, is in the comments. Watch traditional Balinese dance. There are two
great places to see Balinese dance while you're there. The first one is in Ubud,
where Balinese dance was first created. That's where you'll see the most
authentic experience for dance. They do it inside Ubud Palace and the tickets
are literally five dollars. Number two is Uluwatu Cliff Temple. This one was
my favorite. It's a performance that tells a story of the gods, and they do it
in this Coliseum that overlooks the ocean and they have a group of fifty men
that make all the noises from nature and then they have actors that
danced out this traditional story of the gods. Just so stunning. They perform it
at sunset. There's a fire component as well. So if you go to one of one or the
other I definitely recommend going to Uluwatu before Ubud Palace. You're in Bali so
obviously you need to experience their party scene, which it almost feels like
Ibiza vibes at some points. It's beachy, it's fun, it's cheap. You have some of the
most stunning pool bars that are on beaches that I've ever seen in my life.
The Lawn: which has a pool overlooking the ocean and it's a really good
location for sunset. Ku De Ta: which is actually the highest ranked cocktail bar
experience and restaurant in Bali. Sundara; which is inside a five-star
resort. They have these lounging areas by the pool and they serve amazing
cocktails. This one is called La Laguna, and this one does not have a pool, but
it's definitely worth visiting because it's a gipsy vibe. They have this massive
lawn and it's just this giant lawn party.
They have a DJ that's inside of an old school like gypsy circus car and they
play great music. They have epic parties. Those four places if you want to
check out the nightlife scene in Bali are epic! Like there's nothing like it
anywhere else that I've seen. For that price, I mean for that price it is so
cheap. Just the variety of beaches they have, specifically hidden beaches. My
favorite hidden beach that we discovered while we were there was Bukit Badung
Beach. That one is really unique because you can only access it when the
tide is low. When the tides high it's not even something you can go to so on the
top cliff portion of it there's a little restaurant that you can dine at and the
waters unbelievably blue. There's little sea caves.
It's a place you want to check out. Snorkeling and the Gili Islands. Now I
know that the Gili Islands are technically not Bali, but they are a
quick weekend trip from Bali. I stayed in Lombok when I was visiting
them and from the hotel that we stayed at we could rent this amazing Dragon
Boat, traditional dragon boat, that was carved from wood and go to the different
islands. And it was literally only a hundred dollars to rent this private
tour and boat experience where you could like have unlimited drinks for the
entire day! So that's the thing I really like about Bali, it's so inexpensive. The
Gili Islands when we were snorkeling we saw turtles, we saw amazing coral, tons of
tropical fish. It's some of the best snorkeling I've ever seen and I love
snorkeling. One thing I always do no matter where I am is do a cooking class.
I think that cuisine is really a way you can learn a lot about a culture. I always
take a cooking class. I took one in Bali and Lombok. The one in Lombok was amazing
because they set up this gorgeous beach dining area. Check out this video
of it. You'll see what I mean. This is our dinner for tonight. Around here they've
lit tiki torches. It's just beautiful. We just made this meal, it's all traditional
Lombokanese cuisine. Go to hotel Tugu in Lombok or Bali. This is my favorite
hotel there. It's the best place to stay, and it's totally reasonably priced. The
cool thing about these hotels are that they're literally a living museum. Most
of the artifacts in the hotels are all antiques, they're originals, and they have
themes. The hotel in Lombok is themed towards Indonesian legends,
and this is a room tour. Check this out. This is the first doorway, I thought this
was the doorway to our room. Turns out it's actually the doorway, to the doorway
to our room. There are bowls of flowers everywhere, filled with hibiscus. Everything in here
has history and meaning. It's like a living museum, so it makes it super, super
unique. There's beach hats, there's robes, towels. Come through here, look at this
tub! Do you see this? It's a rock that they carved the inside out of, then put tile
here. I've never seen anything like this before in my life. The shower is equally
impressive, this is a rain head shower. The bedroom. We have this beautiful
canopy here just fresh flowers everywhere.
My favorite! This bed, I mean this is so thick, like this whole setup is just
so beautifully carved with flower designs and all of that. Let's take a look outside, where we have our own
private pool. Day bed here just for lounging purposes, if you want to have
some nice tea, or coffee, you can sit here and enjoy the view. That overlooks the
turquoise waters of Lombok island and this is a beautiful sunrise spot so that's
the tour of our place. And number 10. You know I can't give you all my secrets in
this video so I do have several guides on visiting Bali, Lombok, the Gili islands
on my website, SarahFunky.com, so make sure you check out Sarahfunky.com for
all of the tips on visiting Bali. I'll give you restaurant
details, things to do, and just add more unique experiences. Thank you so much
for watching. If you enjoyed this video please subscribe, and I will see you next
time.