What do we love about Bali? And what brings us back time and time again?
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The people, the food, the warm weather and the cold Bintangs. The surfing, spa treatments, shopping and live music. Restaurants on the beach and drinks around the pool. The hussle and bustle…and the tranquility. And those beautiful sunsets!!
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Drew and I first came to Bali together 27 years ago – in 1992. Bali has changed a lot since then, but we still love it just as much!!
That first trip, we came for a month. We spent time on the beach in Kuta, hired a motorbike and travelled all over Bali, and stayed in beautiful villages surrounded by rice paddies. We took the ferry across to Java, where we visited Borobudur and Mt Bromo. And also took the ferry to Lombok, where we explored the island by motorbike, did an overnight hike up Mt Rinjani, and stayed on the Gili Islands.
We came back again for month two years later, and again the following year, in 1995, for a month for our honeymoon. Bali in those days was very different to the Bali of today. It was a lot less developed – there were still rice paddies in the back streets of Kuta. But with development, which many people who know the Bali of old would say is a bad thing, there have been good changes too. Kuta beach was once like a rubbish tip. If you went for a swim in the ocean, you were likely to surface with a plastic bag on your head and the high tide mark was piled with garbage. In fact, just very recently Bali has banned plastic bags in all supermarkets. Such a great thing to see!
Other notable changes for us were the on the streets. There has been major improvement of roads and sidewalks. Once upon a time you had to watch every step in case you stepped into an open drain. We have also seen the disappearance of hawkers in the streets of Kuta selling anything from sunglasses, to watches – and other stuff I won’t mention here!! The hawkers still wander the beaches, but don’t hassle like they used to.
Another major change is the number of locals who speak english. Everyone these days who works in a hotel and even most taxi drivers speak very good english. Back in the early 90s everyone wanted to learn english. We’d sit on the beach for sunset and everyday without fail some locals would come sit down next to us and ask to practice their english. To this day, many people ask us how we learnt to speak Bahasa (Indonesian) and it was on the beach, through the locals trying to learn english that we learnt most of our Bahasa.
We took a long break from Bali from 1995 to 2004, not through a deliberate choice, but because we spent 7 of those years travelling and living in other parts of the world. (Click here if you’d like to read about those years). It was on our way home in 2004 that we stopped into Bali for a few days – and our love affair with this beautiful country was renewed!
We came on holiday the following year, for a couple of weeks. And again the next few years – usually with big groups of family and friends. We always stayed in Kuta and spent our days swimming, surfing, eating and drinking. Between 2006 and 2010 we continued to come through both of my pregnancies and with our young babies. At the time we were travelling abroad twice a year and were alternating our Bali trips with trips to Phuket.
As the boys became toddlers, we found it easier to come to Bali. The flight was direct and was only 6 hours. And we had found the most wonderful nanny, Komang, who adored them as much as they adored her.
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For the next 5 or 6 years, we would come to Bali twice a year! I think Cameron has now clocked up over 15 trips to Bali!! I can pretty much document our kids early years and milestones in Bali photos. Below are a few pics, but most are on my computer at home.
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Around this time we moved our base to Legian (from Kuta) and for the next few years divided our time between Legian and a few other spots – usually Sanur and/or the Gili Islands. The Gilis are beautiful and still very laid back, although very different from the first time we visited Gili Trawangan in 1992 when there was only a handful of bungalows and no electricity on the island.
Since returning to Bali in 2004 we have made many local Balinese friends. Now every time we come back it is a little like we are returning home, as we are welcomed back by our drivers, the hotel staff, the boys on the beach, the girls in the spas, and staff at our favourite restaurants.
The story of meeting two of our longest time friends is one of a big coincidence. Back in our Kuta days we had two favourite restaurants in Poppies Lane, and at those two restaurants, a favourite waiter at one and a favourite waitress at the other. It was only after many days that we discovered that these two were in fact engaged to each other. Now, over the past 14 years, we have seen them become a married couple. Then our pregnancies – their first child, our first child, our second and then their second. And still we go and see them every time we visit Bali.
This is our first trip back to Bali in nearly two years – and the longest break we’ve had in over 15 years. This is mainly due to the fact that in the last few years we did a big Africa trip and then ventured on our first 6 month Aussie Lap. Since then, I guess we have been laying low in terms of international travel in preparation for saving for this next big trip.
So nice to be back…familiar and easy and beautiful!!!!
The Travelling Dixons 