Bali, Ubud and Gili Islands

When our Asian Air plane landed on Bali the pilot welcomed us to “paradise island”. Needless to say, we had high expectations! We had a free pickup from the hotel we were staying in, and let me tell you that those dreams were shattered on the ride in to Kuta!! We saw neon signs, drunken Australians, tons of motorbikes and people selling sunglasses. I thought to myself “What is this place? Las Vegas? Thailand on speed?” We decided to sleep on it. Maybe Kuta would look better in the morning. It didn’t!

Kuta was hot, crowded and full of tourists that probably don’t really like travelling to other countries. These tourists could frequently be spotted on their motorbikes without helmets and with a beer in their hands. Some of them were even driving around with their children. WITHOUT HELMETS! We had enough of red, fat Australians after the first day (sorry, I do normally love Australians!), however, we had booked our hotel for 4 nights. We decided to spend our days drinking fancy coffee, eating great food and reading books. Luckily we had a pool where we were staying. We loved just hanging out there reading and swimming.


After our 4 nights in Gomorra was over we decided to check out what attracted Julia Roberts to Ubud. I think that’s where that movie/book Eat, Love, Pray is based (haven’t seen it). I could really see why anyone would come there to “find themselves”. We LOVED it! There are so many statues and old sculptures everywhere. The hawkers were less annoying, and there are so many cute cafes and stores. It is also very green there actually. I did feel that I was back in Angkor Wat sometimes. So yes, we did finally find our paradise Island in Bali eventually!

After a few days in Ubud we went to Trawangan in the Gili islands. There were no cars or motorbikes here! Although, there were many cute horses that seemed to be worked a bit too hard. The place was amazing though! Imagine combining diving, beautiful beaches, great, cheap food and places that show recent movies every night for peanuts! We had a really good time there. We managed to read a couple of more books, and we finally realised what backpacking is all about ; reading and eating.

We were quite sad to live our beautiful island today after 6 days of paradise. We are currently back in Ubud. We will stay here for 2 nights before we head to Jakarta. Hopefully we will get to see a Balinese dance tomorrow.


Hope all is well in Norway and the UK!

Matt&Betta