AdBlock

Thursday, 20 April 2017

Bali & Penida (April 2017)


Hello world! This is my first post on my blogspot. Hope you enjoy it!

Blogged about the recent travel to Bali and Penida Island on April 2017. We have booked AirAsia flight ticket almost one year ago and managed to grab the fares for less than RM500 per pax (inclusive of 20kg luggage allowance for return trip) for trip from Penang to Bali Island. Want to know how I spent a total expenses of RM1500 per pax including flight and accomodation for a 6D5N trip to Bali and Penida Island? Please read on and find it out :) 

FYI, our bali trip is emphasizing more on relaxing and slow pace. It is not about the post to rush from one famous landmark to another, instead, it is a road less traveled and hidden paradise in Bali that has yet to be discovered and engulfed by the tourism. A lot people will wonder where is Penida island (Indonesia called it "Nusa Penida", which Nusa stands for island). There is actually very scarce piece of information and blog that reporting the post on this beautiful Penida island. I came across research to find it is actually Bali in the 1970's. Do you know just by sitting 30 minutes of speedboat from Bali, you will reach this small paradise? It is actually adjacent to Lembongan island (a.k.a. Nusa Lembongan). Let's see the google map snipshot here. Look at how it is so near to Bali and Lembongan island, but is usually forgotten.

  penida (5)

Well, Lembongan island is a famous place for day tour tourists to do water sports and snorkeling. However, people have not really realized, there is existence of Penida Island just nearby it. While Lembongan island gives us amazing blue color ocean view, Penida island gives us crystal clear ocean view. Why Penida island captured our attention? Do you know this place actually exists in Bali island? Here's the sneakpeak.

Stunning landscape of cliff view from top? ~

 Am I on the surface of Moon? ~

Crystal clear mirror-like water? ~


Welcome to my off beaten track blog of Bali and Penida! ♥ First of all, have a glance on my itinerary and expenses here..

Day 1 (Jimbaran Bali): 
Flight: 
♥ AirAsia from Penang to KL and KL to Bali 
(RM468 for 2pax)

Activities:
♥ Ayana Rock Bar for sunset (IDR 242,000)
♥ Dinner @ Made Bagus Cafe Jimbaran (IDR 358,000)

Transportation:
♥ Uber from Denpasar airport to Jimbaran Lestari 
Culture Villas & Spa (IDR 47,000)
♥ Uber from Jimbaran Lestari Culture Villas & Spa to 
Ayana Rock Bar (IDR 23,000)
♥ Uber from Ayana Rock Bar to Made Bagus Cafe Jimbaran 
(IDR 29,500)

Accomodation:
♥ Jimbaran Lestari Culture Villas & Spa (RM73)

Misc:
♥ 7 Days 420MB Sim Card (IDR 47,000)

Total (exclude flight and hotel): IDR 746,500 

Day 2 (Ubud Bali):
Activities:
♥ Blue Point
♥ Lunch @ Naughty Nuri Warung (IDR 138,000)
♥ Dinner @ Bebek Bengil Dirty Duck Diner (IDR 301,000)

Transportation:
♥ Grab from Jimbaran Lestari Culture Villas & Spa to 
Blue Point and Tegal Sari Ubud (IDR 400,000)

Accomodation:
♥ Tegal Sari Ubud (RM200)

Misc:
♥ Parking Blue Point (IDR 5,000)

Total (exclude hotel): IDR 844,000 

Day 3 (Seminyak Bali):
Activities:
♥ Campuhan Ridge Walk
♥ Karsa Spa (IDR 590,000)
♥ Starbucks Ubud
♥ Saraswati Temple
♥ Ubud Palace
♥ Ubud Art Market
♥ Lunch @ River View Cafe (IDR 90,000)
♥ Romantic Self Made Dinner @ Villa (IDR 90,000)

Transportation:
♥ Uber from Tegal Sari Ubud to The Sanyas Suite 
Seminyak (IDR 119,000)

Accomodation:
♥ The Sanyas Suite Seminyak Bali (RM478)

Total (exclude hotel): IDR 889,000

Day 4 (Bali - Penida):
Activities:
♥ Relaxing @ The Sanyas Suite
♥ W Hotel Seminyak
♥ Potato Beach Club Bali

Transportation:
♥ Grab from The Sanyas Suite Seminyak Bali to 
Mola Mola Express Speedboat (IDR 84,000)
♥ Speedboat to Nusa Penida (IDR 500,000)

Accomodation:
♥ The Mel Homestay (RM79)

Total (exclude hotel): IDR 584,000

Day 5 (Penida):
Activites:
♥ Kelingking Point
♥ Broken Beach
♥ Angel's Billabong
♥ Crystal Bay 
♥ Lunch @ The Mel Warung (IDR 60,000)
♥ Thousand Island & Treehouse
♥ Atuh Beach
♥ Dinner @ The Mel Warung (IDR 90,000)

Transportation:
♥ Day tour by car (IDR 375,000)

Accomodation:
♥ The Mel Homestay (RM79)

Misc:
♥ Snorkeling equipment (IDR 100,000)
♥ Snacks (IDR 25,000)
♥ Admission fees to Thousand Island & Treehouse 
and Atuh Beach (IDR 20,000)

Total (exclude hotel): IDR 670,000

Day 6 (Penida - Bali):
Transportation:
♥ Speedboat to Bali Island
♥ Grab from Mola Mola Express Speedboat to Denpasar 
Airport (IDR 54,000)

Activities:
♥ Sanur Beach Street Walk
♥ Inna Grand Bali Diamond Wedding Chapel
♥ Lunch @ Denpasar Airport (IDR 176,000)

Flight:
♥ AirAsia from Bali to KL and KL to Penang 
(RM468 for 2pax)

Total (exclude flight): IDR 230,000

Total expenses for 6D5N trip to Bali and Nusa Penida for 2 people is as below:
Flight: RM936
Accomodation: RM73 + RM478 + RM200 + RM158 = RM909
Daily Expenses: IDR 746,500 + IDR 844,000 + IDR 889,000 + IDR 584,000 + IDR 670,000 + IDR 230,000 = IDR 3963,500 (~ RM 1183; with the exchange rate of 0.000335)

Hence, the total expense per pax is RM3028 / 2 = RM1514 for 6D5N trip
p/s: Divided by two because I went with my dear :)

Done with the cost break down. Let's go to the journey with me! :)



Day 1: 

It is my first flight together with my dear. I brought along my Duffy bear with me throughout this trip. Can't sleep without bear :P

We arrived at Denpasar airport on 1.30pm. Using Uber apps, we managed to grab a car to check in our Jimbaran hotel. It was my first time using the Uber apps, but thankfully everything turns out fine! We even met the nicest driver which brought us to buy sim card for a very affordable price. Compared to the sim card offered in airport which is IDR 300000, we managed to get only IDR 47000 for 7 days which is a steal!

FYI, sim card sold at airport is 12gb for a month while my package is only 420mb for a week. Since we only need it for uber and grab transportation, thus we opted for the cheaper option and is better for the wallet.

We reached Jimbaran hotel at 4pm and they upgraded us from Deluxe Garden to 1-Bedroom Pool Villa due to some error in Agoda booking (Lucky! ♥). Private villa is a two storey villa with kitchen, living room, dining area, private swimming pool, bedroom, bathroom with ensuite bathtub.


We kicked off our 1st attraction in Bali island with this amazing sunset view in the beautiful place, Ayana Rock Bar bali. It is known as one of the best bar in the world and is the place in Bali that I am most looking forward to! I came across this rock bar in a travel show and it certainly captured my attention. In order to reach the bar, we need to sit a cable car down, and trust me, you will reach to a little piece of heaven in Bali. Welcome to the Ayana Rock Bar, cliff bar in Bali! ♥











We ordered two glasses of fruit juice, can't drink alcohol, please forgive us >.<''. The good thing of fruit juice is -- it is slightly cheaper than alcohol (L.O.L). Every penny counts right? Haha.. Good news for budget traveler, although the cost of drink is prone to higher side, there is complimentary crackers basket provided for all guests at the rock bar! Drinks checked! Tidbits checked! Sunset view checked! What else you would ask for? Let's just relax and enjoy the scenic view. ♥

TIME FOR TIPS: 
♦ Please take note that reservation is strongly recommended for the rock bar sunset experience as it is very famous among locals and tourists. The place is almost full and left only 2 tables as we reached there before 5.30pm for sunset. Hence go ahead and make reservation so you don't feel sorry to miss it!
♦ It is compulsory for each guest to order one glass of drink at Ayana rock bar, but entrance to the cable car and bar is free, and so does the amazing sunset view offered. Don't forget the crackers basket is free too. :)

We sat in the bar, enjoying the tidbits and the sunset, while hearing waves crashing on the rocks of the cliff. After 2.5 hours of relaxing moment in the Ayana Rock Bar, we headed to Made Bagus Cafe at Jimbaran for seaside seafood dinner! Lobster spotted! :D We ordered two seafood plates, with lobsters, king prawns, clams, fish all marinated with bbq smell. Definitely fruit juice is a plus too after the seafood dinner.

Jimbaran seaside boasts a lot of restaurants for seafood lovers. When night falls, there have candle lit on the table which makes it to be more romantic. Eating the seafood dinner facing the sea view under the starry sky with wave music therapy is certainly a moment to be remember.♥

TIME FOR TIPS:
♦ Jimbaran seaside has tons of seafood restaurants to choose from. So, compare the package price offered first and then say hi to seafood basket!
♦ There is a "mobile" music band which will move from table to table, asking for tips and playing you the songs that you would love to hear for. So, you may pick up your favourite songs and challenge them. Even non native songs (i.e. english songs, chinese songs, etc.) they will try their very best to sing for you too! I have even encountered one very sweet couple dancing, hugging and kissing with the backdrop of songs from the music band. After all, who can resist the sea view, waves crashing therapy, starry sky and little soft music, with your beloved in front of you. It just sparks! ♥




We called it a day by walking back to our hotel, after a full tummy. Good night day 1. Thanks for the lucky day! :)

TIME FOR TIPS: 
Check out the hotel link here: https://www.agoda.com/jimbaran-lestari-culture-villas-spa/hotel/bali-id.html 
- we booked through Agoda website for RM73/ night (Deluxe Garden 1-Bedroom Pool Villa)

Day 2:

Rise and shine! Morning from Bali. Got breakfast served to our villa. Enjoy the yummy western breakfast with my dear.



We checked out from Jimbaran hotel and sat Grab car to Blue Point. Our initial plan was to visit Blue Point Chapel, however it was closed for renovation that day. Hence, we need to cancel the plan off and proceed to next destination, Ubud. This is what I able to find the photo of Blue Point Chapel from Google. Wrong timing to visit this beautiful Blue Point Chapel, but fret not, on the last day of the trip, we managed to pay a visit to Diamond Wedding Chapel! Diamond, a luxury name for girls. We have seen before diamond rings, but have you seen before diamond chapel? Stay tuned! :)


Although we not able to visit to Blue Point Chapel, we have managed to take few photos of Blue Point beach from afar thou. This beach has a breath taking view from top and the sea is really beautiful. There are surfers spotted on the Blue Point beach too (for surfing lover).




TIME FOR TIPS:
For those that uses Grab or Uber, there is no pickup allowed in Blue Point area. We manage to secure the Grab by booking him for entire trip until Ubud which he was hesitated at first. Information from him, they can be fined up to IDR 1,000,000 (~RM3,000) if caught picking up passenger from this area. Public transport/ taxi from this area is about IDR 500,000 - IDR 750,000 to Ubud, so we pay the driver IDR 400,000 from Jimbaran to Blue Point and Blue Point to Ubud. Seriously, the driver kept on repeating how dangerous it is for him to be seen and get caught by others. For those travelers who use the Grab or Uber service, please bear in mind that there are actually banned in certain areas of Bali. Some places allow drivers to drop off passengers, but not pick up. They are only allowed to pick up at a further distance away from the main road. So, for those travelers, please exercise a bit and walk further down the road, if some areas are not really permitted for Grab or Uber driver to pick you up. Be mindful and play safe. Just in case there are forbidden areas for Grab and Uber (car) and Gojek (motorbike), please proceed to engage with public transport/ taxi instead. 

Before checked in our Ubud hotel, we actually asked our driver to stop by Naughty Nuri Ubud warung to buy and takeaway our lunch, the signature spare pork rib. After research, I found out that Naughty Nuri has opened few branches in Bali, and the one in Ubud has the best spare rib among all the reviews. There are a lot of articles and news hung on the wall of the small warung. Some even mentioned before, if you come to Bali and not try the spare rib in Naughty Nuri, then don't even treat that you have come to Bali. Thus, Naughty Nuri spare rib as lunch checked! The meat is tender, sweet and juicy, plus the sweet sauce that poured on top of the spare rib, is a must for meat lover.


We reached our Ubud hotel, Tegal Sari. Ubud is famous for paddy field view, hence is a must for us to check in hotel that overlooking paddy field! Well, that's why Tegal Sari came into our mind. It shares the same view of paddy field with Green Field Ubud hotel, and the famous movie "Eat, Pray, Love" was actually photoshoot at the hotel. Let's feast our eyes with the greenery together.



Tegal Sari Wooden Room



TIME FOR TIPS: 
♦ Check out the hotel link here: http://www.tegalsari-ubud.com/ - 2 booking options can be done: a) through Reservation tab of official website: http://www.tegalsari-ubud.com/reservation b) through email to  info@tegalsari-ubud.com for RM200/ night (Wooden Room) 
♦ There are several room types available. Please choose according to your preference. For us, we booked Wooden Room as it is an upstairs room which is facing paddy field. 
♦ Tegal Sari is famous among tourists. Please make reservation few months ahead to secure your preferred room. :) 
♦ There are planting and harvesting seasons of paddy field and each season comes with different view, such as full green paddy field, mixture of brownish and green paddy field or brownish paddy field.

After checked in Tegal Sari, we lazed around and recharged. Then proceed to Ubud center for dinner at Bebek Bengil Dirty Duck Diner. Is just a short walk of 5minutes to the beautiful restaurant for the famous duck dishes in Bali. We ordered fried rice and crispy duck as the dinner. We reached there around 6pm thus we had some spare time to walk along the paddy field before the romantic dinner. There are different branches of Bebek Bengil Dirty Duck Diner in Bali. After research, we found out that the one in Ubud has the best paddy field view. Since our hotel is just nearby, everything becomes perfect.







TIME FOR TIPS:
♦ There are different seatings In the restaurant, be it indoor or outdoor. You may choose according to your preference.
♦ Reservation for private hut overlooking paddy field ('VIP seating') is strongly recommended! 👍🏻 We are the VIP for the night! :D


We walked along the Ubud street and back to our hotel. Sleep tight tonight and prepare for early morning spa pampering session tomorrow. :)

Day 3: 

Morning from Tegal Sari. Woke up to the paddy field view. The feeling is so nice. However don't have much time to indulge in the view as we have booked spa session at Karsa Spa on 9am. Let's take a morning picture with the paddy field view at Tegal Sari before heading to Karsa Spa!


In order to reach the spa center, one has to walk along the forest and all the way up to the hill then reach to one small local village. After 40minutes trekking, finally you reach Karsa Spa. Thankfully, we sat free shuttle van from Tegal Sari to the Ibah village, starting trekking point of Campuhan Ridge Walk. Early morning exercise at the Campuhan ridge walk and feast the eyes with greenaries. Sweating non stop but at the same time you get to see the view changing from one place to another. The trekking scenary is out of the world.
 






The environment of Karsa Spa is really pretty as it is nestled among the beautiful paddy fields. The masseurs will lead you through the beautiful view to your private hut for massage. There are soft musics played throughout the massage and pampering session, outdoor shower, bathtub for you to soak after massage and body scrub, tea for you while soaking yourself in bathtub, and a small waterfalls and small pond just beside. Listening to the waterfalls flowing slowly down to the pond, certainly is a good therapy for your soul and for maximum relaxation!





 
    Us glowing after spa retreat session!
TIME FOR TIPS:
♦ Remember to book Karsa Spa online, advisable two weeks prior. As it is very famous spa center and gets the ranking of number one as featured in TripAdvisor. You won't want to miss it right.
♦ You may opt to top up for full package spa which includes not only massage, but body scrub and flower or detox bath.
♦ Remember to point out your preferred massage strength to the masseurs before spa session too. Their staffs are really attentive though. 

After the spa retreat, we walked our way down to Ubud center for sightseeing and lunch. We reached Starbucks Ubud and adjacent to it is a temple called Pura Saraswati. Starbucks Ubud is worth to take photos here as it is a traditional building nestled among the lotus flower pond outside with a serene temple. Guess only Starbucks Ubud offers this view. Starbucks Ubud is fully crowded with people on the day. Thus, we just took photos on the outlook of the building and had a walk at the lotus pond outside the Starbucks Ubud. The lotus pond is actually the view offered from the Lotus Cafe, however it is opened for public to pay a visit and photoshoot with a backdrop of Pura Saraswati.





Our stomach were growling and thus we headed for lunch at River View Cafe. We ordered fried rice and rice with soup. It seems like ages for the foods to be served to us, because we were truly hungry at that hour. The foods tasted okay for us but you able to dine in the lush greenaries. However, the river view is actually hidden as there are a lot of trees around the areas. There were not much visitors at the time but the good thing of this cafe is the pricing of foods are relatively cheaper than nearby Ubud cafe.



We continue our walking journey (again under the hot sun! 😵) to Ubud Palace. Ubud Palace is famous among the tourists because the location is really accessible and just nearby Ubud Art Market. Ubud Palace is closed for renovation on the day, however tourists still can visit the front part of the Ubud Palace. As it is a famous landmark, we need to queue in order to take photo of the Ubud Palace, as we coincidentally met a group of tourists delighted from bus. Okay, think of the pros of queing at Ubud Palace, you typically get a lot of free photographers to help you take your photos. Everything also has bright side right 😂. And what's more, your free photographers will ensure the customer satisfaction by asking you to check out the photos outcome whether you are contented or not, if not, they are very happy to help you retake again! But, you better move fast because a lot people are queuing too.. 😝





After Ubud Palace, we headed down the roads to Ubud Art Market. We just had a short walk around the Ubud Art Market as we need to travel from Ubud to Seminyak and check in the private villa that we anticipating the most! Before traveling to Seminyak, we dropped by a minimart to buy fishes and potatoes for our self made dinner tonight. It was our first self made dinner together 💕. On the way to minimart, spotted teddy bear lying on a lovely hammock! Must take photo again! Teddy bear craziness comes again 😆.


Finally we were on board Uber car to Seminyak and escaped from the hot sunny weather at Ubud. Checked in our private villa at Seminyak! The private villa has private pool with sunlounge, living area, dining area, kitchen, huge bathroom with indoor and outdoor shower, bathtub with jacuzzi, big and comfortable bedroom. Everything on this villa is so lovely and perfect! We fell in love immediately with The Sanyas Suite Seminyak.





We cooked our dinner after 1.5 hours of battle inside kitchen. There goes our dishes for the night, grilled butter fish with french fries. Well, we really tried our best already, and because is the effort of us making the dinner together, the moment was certainly unforgettable and it was really the most delicious meal! 💗 Apart from the private dining table inside your villa, you get an Iphone docking speaker with bluetooth and usb function, just beside the dining table too. Imagine having dinner with your beloved and listening to your favourite songs. It is certainly a blessing. Thanks for the wonderful and romantic night at The Sanyas villa 😍.






TIME FOR TIPS: 
♦ Check out the hotel link here: https://www.agoda.com/the-sanyas-suite-seminyak/hotel/bali-id.html
♦ You may specially request them to decorate your bathtub with flower petals too! The aroma from the flower petals will certainly makes your jacuzzi session to be more relaxing and fun!


Day 4:

Rise and shine . Morning from The Sanyas Villa! We were greeted with wonderful breakfast while still in the dreamland. Woke up naturally at 10.30am, what a great feeling! We enjoyed our breakfast slowly at the private dining table with classic music songs played behind. It had been ages since we last indulged ourselves in the full resting and recharging mode. The servings portion is satisfying, plenty of varieties, and yummylicious. We really dined like a king at the morning! Overlooking the swimming pool with sun shining on top of it, listening to the classic music songs, while eating the delicious breakfast together with your love one, that's truly a blessing in life 😃. After enjoying the scrumptious breakfast for 1 hour, we had our own sweet time at the swimming pool, here's some photos of the beautiful swimming pool and villa 💖.







After the relaxing stay in The Sanyas villa, we checked out from the villa 😧 (miss the villa so muchiee.. 💋 💑)  and had a short stroll along the Seminyak street. We walked along the street and reached a beautiful pathway leading to W Hotel Seminyak. It is a 5 star chain hotel with the beach facing the sea, pretty private gazebo overlooking the beach for guests and few dining areas with pubs available for diners. Seminyak is very famous among the foreigners and there are a lot of fine dining restaurants and beach clubs for tourists. As we walked along the W hotel beach, we reached to a famous beach club called Potato Head Beach Club. It has a swimming pool for us to dip inside and relax. You can order foods while resting on the lounge and sofa to enjoy the beautiful view, and splash into swimming pool and have fun whenever you want! The beach club is heavily packed with tourists, thanks to the unique structure of the beach club building!












We left Seminyak and sat Grab car to Sanur port. Thanks to the amazing 3 days in Bali island, and now we were excited to start our adventure in the Penida Island, just adjacent to Bali island, by sitting 30 minutes speedboat. Still remember the sneakpeak of the cliff view and the crystal clear water? It's time to reveal more photos now! Stay tuned to Day 5 💖




We had simple dinner inside our homestay at Penida Island then slept early for the night. Before the end of the day, we managed to walk to a nearby beach outside the homestay to stargaze at night. As the island is not packed with tourists, the light pollution is also very minimum and thus we were able to observe the night sky full with stars and coincidentally it is full moon (Starry stary night songs playing★🌕).





TIME FOR TIPS: 
♦ Check out the hotel link here: https://www.agoda.com/the-mel-homestay/hotel/bali-id.html?cid=-218
♦ You may enrol their day tour using their van service, as the road in Penida island is not well paved and rocky, is quite dangerous for those who rent bikes or self drive. The road sign to some off track attractions is actually quite scarce, as the island is still new to tourism.

Day 5 :

Kicked off our great morning with the delicious breakfast served at the homestay. We ordered banana pancake and fried cheese banana as the breakfast. After the full breakfast, we started our day trip journey to west and east part of Penida island. We used our homestay car service for the day tour to visit the beautiful island and shared the car with another friendly Phillipines couple which came to the island for their pre-wedding photoshoot! The beauty sights of this island is truly to behold and there are tons of Instagram worthy photos. Truly recommend for those nature lovers or adventurous folks who are seeking for excitement in life! Come to this island before it is engulfed by the tourism and enjoy the peaceful feeling offered by this island. Somebody said before this island is actually Bali in the 1970's and if you want to escape from the busy and hectic feeling of Bali, this might be the place for you to consider a short getaway 💜.



We went to west part of Penida island first. Our first stop was at Karang Dawa View Point. It has a stunning landscape of hills and cliffs with pretty bayshore and the bottom of the cliff has a pristine beach which is called Kelingking beach. Kelingking beach is hidden below the cliff and way down from the view point to the beach is very steep but suitable for those who is adventurous. We just took photos from the view point which already took us 1.5 hours (we always in slow pace taking photos and enjoying the view, like sloth in the Zootopia movie 😄).







Drone view. Thanks to the Phillipine couple.





Next destination is Pasih Uwug or Broken Beach. Broken beach looks like a giant pool when look from top as it has high cliffs that surrounding the sea. Above entrance lies a natural bridge of rocks that we can cross. See if you dare? For us definitely a yes! Not to forget Angel's Billabong which is just beside Pasih Uwug. Walk a short distance and you will reach to a crystal clear mirror like pool. Some torists climbed down the steep rocks to reach the pool and had a dip. However, please be extra careful in the event of strong current. Swimming is at your own risk at the area. For us, we just captured the beautiful photos from the top of the cliff and headed to another destination. Pasih Uwug and Angel's Billabong already took us nearly 2 hours. It was very funny that the Phillipine couples who had their pre wedding photoshoot and live drone video shooting, was actually faster than us, the usual tourists who had the couple photoshoot. Oopss.. please forgive us as we ran up the hill back to our car 💑😕😂.


Adapted from Google









We headed to Crystal Bay for snorkeling. Crystal Bay has a white sandy beach for us to sunbath and famous for snorkeling and diving. Our initial plan was to snorkel to see the underwater world. However, the strong waves crashing on the bay on the day made us quite worried. We had bought the snorkel equipment and made few attempts to try to snorkel, but the waves kept on crashing continously on my body and I was extremely terrified. I did not manage to make my body relax and faced downwards to snorkel, as I kept on looking at the upcoming waves which were continuously formed and crashed towards us. Thus, we decided to call off the snorkeling planning. We sat the van back to our homestay for lunch and then continue to explore the east part of Penida island.

Our first destination on the east Penida was Thousand Island and Molenteng Tree House. We climbed down the steep stairs with ropes tying from one small tree branch to another as the handrail and you will reach a panaromic view with thousand small islands at the middle of ocean and two small tree houses with monkeys. You can actually enter the tree house using the wooden staircase, but please be mindful as there are monkeys at the area.







We then moved on to the next destination which was Atuh Beach. You can see coastal cliff and white sands beach over here, and the famous dragon-like head rocks. However, to come to this view, one has to exercise again by climbing down 100 steps using steep and huge staircase, and then climbing up again to back to the van. So, if you have energy with you, you may opt to do so. Else, just sit back and relax at the coastal view above the Atuh Beach. To go or not to go, is up for your decision 😂. For me I chose to stay at the top of the Atuh Beach and being bitten alive by mosquitoes (doing good deed by donating  blood to the mosquitoes 😂) and my dear was being cheated and ended up climbing the steep staircase down and up the hill. We did not realize the 100 steps downhill and 100 steps uphill until he did so with the tour guide. He kept on complaining the feeling of being cheated and tired of climbing to the extend that he used both his hands and his feets while climbing, sounds terrible 😟. For the tour guide, was his first time climbing the steep trail down and up too. Seriously, he was still panting heavily while driving us back to our homestay. The road was not well paved and very rocky and very small at Penida island, plus the strenuous exercise at the Atuh Beach, was truly not easy for him. The east Penida really gives me a feeling alike to the Great Ocean Road at Melbourne, which you can view a lot of uniquely and naturally formed rocks at the hillside and middle of ocean.




Small rocky unpaved road on Penida island

TIME FOR TIPS: 
Folks, for your safety, please opt for day tour with tour guide. You can't go wrong on this if you would like to see many attractions is one day and it's certainly the worry free and hassle free option. Imagine we still need to cling on and hold tightly to the seat belt and shake terribly inside van while driving through the unpaved and small rocky roads. However, there are exception too, for those who have few days in Penida, want to explore slowly in their own pace and are truly experienced motorists, they may opt for self drive. Get lost in the Penida island and who knows you might end up finding a hidden paradise and be the first few to step onto the place!


Day 6 :

Woke up early in the morning to catch the speedboat back to Bali island. It was our last day in Bali island. Holidays always end so fast 😩. Before leaving Penida island, we took photo with the owner of The Mel Homestay. Thanks for the hospitality for these two days! Our speedboat reached Sanur port, and then we walked along the Sanur beach. After 10 minutes of walking, we reached this beautiful 5-star hotel, Inna Grand Bali Beach Hotel. Why do we purposely made a stop here before boarding flight back to Malaysia? Well, Bali has a lot of beautiful wedding chapels, however the one with the shape of a diamond? This is the first ever unique appearance of wedding chapel in the Bali island! Welcome to the Diamond Chapel,the pretty chapel overlooking Sanur beach 💖! Finally, we had a chance to pay a visit to chapel in Bali, feeling grateful and excited 💋!









Nothing to Declare: Me. Something to Declare: My Duffy Bear



GOODBYE BALI. You are certainly to be missed! Thanks for the wonderful memories. 
Thanks my dear 😘. Looking forward for the future trips with you! 💕😗😍💑



Last but not least, Please Follow my Instagram (melon_journey) or click on the Instagram link to the page for more complete and detailed photos! Thanks for the support! Cheers :)

Link HERE for the chinese version blog if you are interested~