Ola! 

I'm back with the continuation of #lifeinbali series. 

Today I wanna share our experience when we visited south-western tip of Bali area which is around Uluwatu, Jimbaran etc. Usually we rent a car or using a tour. But today it's gonna be different  guys as we didn't use any tour and rent a car. 

This time we independently went there by ourselves. We used an online app. Yep we just wanna try something  different. From Kuta we ordered grab car to Jimbaran area and our destination is Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) statue. Fyi this is the tallest building ever in Bali. 

GWK

It is the tallest statue of a Hindu deity and the tallest statue in Indonesia. Credit: Wikipedia

If you come to Bali you will notice that there's no skyscrapers in Bali. The reason that there's a local rule based on their belief that the height of the building shouldn't exceed the height of coconut trees. When I was living in Bali  few years ago I remember one thing. I was drying my clothes and put it up near the shower before putting it outside. Then the clean lady come to my place to clean the room and she was so shocked. She asked me whether she could remove it. I didn't mind of course. Then she told me and explained that I shouldn't do it. In Bali they believe they can't put something too high like that. Well I didn't know and thanks to the lady I came to understand about many things. "When you are in Rome do as Romans."

Back to the story.

We decided to go using Grabcar at that time and headed to GWK statue.

1. Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Statue.

This is the tallest building in Bali as its not allowed to have a tall building to respect their gods. Since GWK statue is the statue of the god so they allow it.

Once you arrived you need to use a transportation to enter. IDR then once you arrive you need to pay the entrance fee is IDR 125K. You will be welcomed by a welcome drink and wet towel and you can relax for a moment. 

Welcome

The statue

The statue (2)

Nice view

Nice view (2)

We didn't go up

See you next time!

After that you can enjoy surrounding area such as performances in the amphitheater etc. You can see Kecak dance performance as well. 

If you wanna go up to the statue you will need to pay a buggy car cost IDR 30K/pax and the entrance fee which I forgot. We didn't go up at that time because we were hungry and it was so hot. So we just walked around and decided to come back.

When we came back it was a bit hard since they didn't allow online taxi. So we had to walk a bit far away to grab one. 

2. Honeymoon beach

This is a hidden gem because I didn't know this beach exist. I stayed in Ayana Jimbaran before and they have private beach so basically this beach is between Ayana and Jimbaran beach. It's nice to enjoy sunset here. Bring your own snacks and enjoy your sunset from the cliff.

Sunset from the cliff

Nice view (3)

Nice view (4)

3. Uluwatu temple and Kecak Dance Performance 

Honestly for this one we booked for a scooter bike tour IDR 275K/pax because we knew that this area will be crowded and we wanted to avoid traffic jam. Unfortunately we couldn't book for 2 bikes coz they only have limited 1 bike tour daily. Fyi guys if you wanna book scooter bike to Uluwatu temple like  better you book a car. They only provide 1 bike daily and once you book you can't cancel and it's non-refundable.  I booked for hubby first but when I tried to book for me it's unavailable. We wanted to  just let it go but fortunately the tour contacted us and we could upgrade to use a car since hubby didn't want to go alone. So we upgraded to a car and pay additional charged IDR 200K. The driver picked us up at 4pm in our apartment and we headed to Uluwatu temple. 

Sunset from the temple

Here is the video for you guys

As I thought the traffic was bad because I remember the road is narrow. We arrived at 5.30pm and we couldn't get the 1st session because it's sold out. Crazy 1200 tickets sold out for 1st session.

We entered the temple and the fee is IDR 50k/foreigner and IDR 30K/local. You can just enjoy the sunset from the cliff. Be very careful because the monkeys here are very wild. They stole so many things and just threw it away from the cliff. They are very sneaky coz they will suddenly come to you and steal glasses, phone or food. Be careful with your bag no matter what coz they will just grab and steal it from you. I'm not trying to scare you but I got scared for real lol. I saw them stealing someone's glasses and bottle from the tree! Sudden attack!🙈

Monkeys

They are wild

Sneaky

Ah don't forget before doing anything buy your ticket to watch the dance first. We got the 2nd session and it started at 7. 15 pm. The theater to watch it near the temple.

After strolling around in the temple, we queued to watch the dance performance. For the 2nd session was sold around 400 tickets.  Well the first session they sold 1200 tickets😱 crazy in total 1600 tickets daily!

Very nice

Kecak dance performance

It was a nice performance. We liked it and enjoyed it so much. It's a must see when you come to Bali!

After that we headed back to our apartment.

If you wanna have dinner you can try the seafood in Jimbaran beach. Its famous tho. We didn't go because we preferred to have dinner in our apartment. Few years ago I did it. I had dinner in Jimbaran and it was such a nice experience. You can eat your dinner so close to the beach. Yummy seafood :D

4. Sawangan Beach

One more info, Uluwatu area is actually famous for surfing. I will share you another hidden place for you to surf. I came here to arrange a wedding but because of that I found another hidden gem here in Bali 🤪 yep the  name is Sawangan beach. I didn't take hubby here yet coz it's a bit hard for us to go and hubby didn't buy surfing board. Well he prefer to swim in the swimming pool in our apartment now. He said he got lazy so he will just go surfing when he really wants it 😂

I only have this one :D I accidentally deleted all pics :(

That's it for today. We will continue our next story in the next post. Yep we will share about Nusa Penida Island! See you soon!

Ate ja!

xx Mrs. Carreiro