Long overdue post.

Threw a surprise bachelorette party/trip to Bali for my best friend. We only told her we were bringing her on a trip and kept the location and everything else from her. We even changed currency for her so she would not know where we were headed to.


Day 1.

The first thing on our itinerary was to attend a cooking class. We booked the cooking class prior to our trip. We took the afternoon class so we did not have the visit to the market.

They picked us up in a van and upon arrival, all the ingredients have been placed neatly on the table.





There were so many different ingredients. The instructor took time to explain each ingredient and taught us patiently. It was easy to follow even for people who have never cooked in their lives.



Look at the chefs at work :)



Even made our own satay! Though most of the time, they would help us to cook if we were tired. So majority of the satay was cooked by the helpers while our biggest achievement was to skewer the satay.







And the finishing product! After a tiring cookout, we sat down and had our dinner.

It was a great experience cooking our own dinner. The amazing thing about it was that we even created the sauces from scratch. Usually when we cook at home, it is so convenient to buy off-the-shelf sauces because the process of creating a sauce requires so many different ingredients and time.

Day 2.

Woke up early in the morning at 3am to catch the sunrise on Mount Batur. I have never climbed a mountain before, much climb in complete darkness.

We had a guide with us as nobody was allowed to hike up the mountain without one. And because we were not the fittest people you'll find around, we made plenty of stops along the way up the mountain which made the hike tolerably. The guide even pulled one of my friends up all the way because she could not continue.

The climb was definitely not that tough. While it was challenging and enough to make your muscles scream, it's quite a tolerable few hours climb.



The view was definitely rewarding though. After spending hours climbing in the dark and to be rewarded with this.



Since we were staying in Ubud the first couple of days, we had to squeeze in all the attractions while we were there. Imagine having to wake up early in the morning to climb Mt Batur and then cover the whole of Ubud in the afternoon.



Tegallalang Rice Terraces is one of the most beautiful serene places in Bali. An instagram-worthy place. It gets insanely hot though so the best idea is to get to this place early in the morning before the sun heats up the rice terraces.





Ubud has plenty of waterfalls. We picked Tibumana waterfall partly because it is less crowded.




Could even go in a for a dip. Perfect for the hot weather.



And I guess you can't visit Bali without paying a visit to one of their temples. Our taxi driver was a really good photographer who helped document our entire Ubud trip in photos.





And we ended our day with the Campuhan Ridge Walk. We did not complete the entire hike but you don't have to walk too deep in to grab some nice photos.



Something I really like about Bali is how easily available vegan food are. And how delicious the vegan food are. I had this sushi thingy and it was really amazing. If I can always find such delicious vegan food in Singapore, I would definitely turn vegan.




Day 3.


We decided to get out of Ubud and move to a secluded villa to spend the rest of our days in Bali in luxury. Booked a really expensive villa that came with our own helper/cook, and our own private infinity pool. It was paradise.

The villa had two air-conditioned bedrooms, each with their own bathrooms. And the living area was huge, equipped with kitchen, pool table, tv, and sofas. There's a dining area by the pool which made it a lovely place to have candlelight dinners.

Our helper was lovely and cooked all our meals, whatever we requested. I even asked for goreng pisang (I love goreng pisang) and she made some for tea break.

I guess, this was the best part of our Bali trip. Lazing around in the villa and having to be waited on.






I guess the next time I'm back in Bali, I'll opt for a lazier trip where I can just lie in the bed or soak myself in the pool the whole day.