LittleSandyBeach

Living in a Dream Bali Villa!

For five nights we stayed in our best accommodation yet, Villa Dwipa by Ayu. Entirely made up of bamboo structures we had the whole place to ourselves and our very own private garden. It was simply beautiful.

Entrance – the space downstairs was all open air, very cool!

Back end of the villa, we loved the giant beanbags

The villa featured a lounge area, spacious bathroom, bedroom with balcony including a overhanging lounge net, an outdoor bath, an outdoor private swimming pool and even a projector screen to watch Netflix on!

Our favourite spot we spent most days, surrounded by so much greenery

We made use of the projector every night, well worth it!

Outdoor bath, it did come with a few more bug bites!

We absolutely loved our stay at the villa and considering all the amenities and free breakfast included we thought we got the deal of the century! It was nice to sit back and appreciate the true Bali away from all the crowded tourist hotspots, this place will definitely be one to remember!

One of the days we decided to venture out to Ubud which was a 30 minute Grab drive away (it was actually longer if you know how bad Ubud traffic is). First we stopped by Ubud Palace which is known as the historical residence of the Ubud royal family from the 19th century. It was free to visit and you can also pay to watch the traditional Balinese dance performances in the evenings.

Kori Agung – the main ornate gateway of the palace

Gamelan (music ensemble) used in the traditional Bali dances

Opposite the palace we found the Ubud Street Market which sold lots of Balinese handicrafts, textiles and art pieces.

In Ubud there are many statues dotted around and we came across this one outside the market. It is the former king of Ubud who is credited with opening Ubud’s “palace gates” to international guests, artists, and intellectuals in the 1920s and 30s, which helped put Bali on the global tourism map.

Dvarapala – traditional Balinese temple guardians to ward off negative spirits

After fighting through the crowds and terrible traffic we decided to go back home to enjoy the rest of our stay at the villa.

Before having to leave Indonesia we decided to spend our last day in Kuta. With our flight at 8pm we had the day to explore a few stops. First we went to Beachwalk Shopping Centre, one of the iconic shopping centres opposite Kuta Beach.

Koi fish makes all the difference to a shopping centre!

Next, we headed to the Bali Bombing Memorial. It commemorates the 202 individuals from 22 countries who lost their lives in the 2002 bombing. The memorials stands where Paddy’s Pub was once located opposite the Sari nightclub.

Later that evening we headed to the airport for a very long travel day. Unfortunately, our first flight was delayed however the airline compensated us with a food voucher to use at the airport!

Fortunately for us this even included food at Wolfgang Puck, so we headed there to grab some dinner. To our delight they even did buy one get one free pizzas on Tuesdays… (it was a Tuesday yay!)

Prosciutto Burrata pizza for £1.75 each. Mamma Mia!!

It did taste as good as it looked and we even got handed some refreshing towels, very fancy!

Our first flight was from Bali to Singapore with a 9 hour layover in Singapore before heading to Cebu. During our layover there wasn’t many seats to rest on however when you’re in Singapore airport you know where else you can go, the cinema! We managed to kill some time and watched about 3/4 of The Ballad of Wallis Island – good movie! We then headed for another stroll and stumbled across the Waterlily Garden.

After a delayed flight, layover with not much sleep, long airport queues, and a final 3 hour bus we made it to Moalboal in Cebu. Known for its incredible underwater world, let’s see what we can explore once we’ve recharged our batteries!