Bali-Tree: Bali Part II: Gili Trawangan, Seminyak

• Introduction
• ANA First Class SFO-NRT
• Thai Airways First Class NRT-BKK
• Exploring Bangkok, Royal Orchid Sheraton
• Thai Airways Business Class BKK-DPS
• Bali Part I: Kuta, Padangbai
• Bali Part II: Gili Trawangan, Seminyak
• Thai Airways BKK First Class Lounge and Spa
• Thai Airways First Class BKK-NRT, UA First Class NRT-SFO

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The next stop was the Gili Islands where we had booked a villa on Gili-Trawangan or Gili-T as most people call it for our 2 night stay.  The fast boat took off from Padangbai and took about an hour and a half.  It was a very comfortable, air-conditioned ride and was definitely worth the price over the ferry which would have taken over 5 hours.  The Gili Islands are a great place to unplug since there are no vehicles allowed, so the primary modes of transport are walking, biking, or donkey cart.  The first day we spent here we primarily explored and enjoyed some relaxation and swimming at our villa and at the beach.  The beaches on Gili-T were probably the best that we found across our trip through Bali, but with one major problem.  Everyone on the beach is in ridiculously good shape, like something out of a MTV music video.  So for us fatty Americans, we were definitely feeling a bit self-conscious until we eventually learned to embrace the fact that we probably had the biggest stomachs on the entire island.

We stayed at the Gili Villas which is a compound with four 2-BR villas, and our villa easily accommodated our group of 5.  Each villa has 2 bungalows with a bedroom and en-suite bathroom.  There's also a huge living room area with TV and DVD player and a good sized private pool.  They also provide a full kitchen, although we didn't use it and was only used by the staff that came to cook breakfast each morning which is included in the price.  The price for the villa is much more than what you'd pay at a local hostel/homestay, but for us it was worth it for the level of comfort and privacy it provided.

beach at Gili-T - make sure to bring your 6-pack

grilled barracuda and snapper skewers from the night market

our villa in Gili-T

bungalow #1

outdoor bed

kitchen and sitting area

bungalow #2

On our second day we decided to do one last dive at Hans Reef and saw some interesting sea life including more turtles, lion fish, and eels.  The current during our dive happened to be extremely strong so we weren't able to spend much time at the reef before getting blown away.  There are a lot of dive shops on Gili-T, but just pick the one that appeals to you most since there is no need to negotiate or shop around for prices as all the dive stores on the island have agreed-upon prices for diving.

Below are a couple sample videos from our dive along with some pictures.  With a couple hours of raw footage we didn't want to bore everyone, so we're planning to edit later on into a compilation.  All photos and video shot using GoPro Hero3 camera.

After enjoying our 2+days in Gili-T we were sad to go, but were excited to head back to Seminyak for the last there days of our trip.  We decided that trying the donkey cart was a must, and used it to carry our luggage to the boat dock.  The fast boat back to Padangbai took a bit longer this time (almost 2 hours) and after an hour+ car ride we arrived back in Seminyak.  We had used airbnb.com to rent a 5-BR villa and it worked out quite well.  I would recommend using this type of approach especially when traveling with a group that wants to all stay in one place.

During the last few days in Seminyak we focused on relaxing before heading back home.  If shopping is your thing, there are a ton of shops in the area that sell clothing, artwork, and arts & crafts.  Massages are also much cheaper than back home and would recommend getting as many as you can while there.  We considered doing a day trip to Ubud but got lazy and ended up mostly hanging out in Kuta and Seminyak, but we heard that the monkey forest and zoo are both interesting and worth seeing if you go.  We also had a chance to check out Ku De Ta and Potato Head which are two of the cool hangout spots in the area.  Overall, we enjoyed Potato Head much more and thought that the scene and vibe there was much better.

riding the donkey cart is a must

babi guling

hanging out at ku de ta during the day

ku de ta

beach outside ku de ta

potato head at night time

Bali-Tree: Bali Part I - Kuta, Padangbai

• Introduction
• ANA First Class SFO-NRT
• Thai Airways First Class NRT-BKK
• Exploring Bangkok, Royal Orchid Sheraton
• Thai Airways Business Class BKK-DPS
• Bali Part I: Kuta, Padangbai
• Bali Part II: Gili Trawangan, Seminyak
• Thai Airways BKK First Class Lounge and Spa
• Thai Airways First Class BKK-NRT, UA First Class NRT-SFO

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After arriving in Bali we caught a cab over to our hotel which was the Sheraton Kuta.  Even though it's not very long in terms of distance, it took about 30 minutes since the traffic was quite bad during that time of the day. After arriving, we checked-in and were upgraded to a suite with an ocean view.  We quickly settled in and then met up with the rest of our friends that had arrived the previous night. The room was quite nice and spacious and it was clear that it had recently been remodeled.  The location is great as its right along the beach and next to a huge shopping mall so there was plenty to see and do.  It's also just a 5-10 minute walk from many of the restaurants and bars in Kuta.  The beach area around the hotel actually is quite crowded and honestly wasn't that great which is certainly a drawback.  But overall we found the hotel great for our quick 1-night stay in Kuta before heading out to other parts of Bali.

suite living room

champagne welcome gift - must have thought we were on honeymoon

Before leaving Kuta the next morning we had a couple things to get done.  The first was to chow down at Naughty Nuri's which is one of our friends favorite restaurants in all of Bali.  He was the only one of us that had been to Bali before so it made things easy to have a recommendation on where to eat the first night.  We hopped in a cab from our hotel and after about a 20-minute ride (which only cost about $4-5) we arrived.  We were able to snag one of the last tables before the dinner rush started and ordered up a feast.  The ribs here are fantastic and some of the best I've had anywhere.  For Bali standards, a rack is pretty pricey at 90,000 Rupiahs (~$9), but in my mind was definitely worth it, especially when you compare it to the $20+ cost for ribs at the Tony Romas next to our hotel.  We liked it so much that we even came back one more time a few days later after traveling to other parts of Bali.

Naughty Nuri's - a must stop for ribs in Seminyak

delicious

Next stop on our list was to go to the tailor to get the groomsman's suits made for my wedding.  I had considered a few options including renting or buying back at home, but getting the suits custom made in Bali while everybody was there to get measured and fitted ended up being the best choice.  I would have preferred to get them made in Thailand as that's something that I had done previously but my 36-hour layover was just too short.  Based on reviews from TripAdvisor we decided to go with Anika Tailor which is located near the airport in a small alleyway.  As we were driving over to Anika I noticed a few tailors along the way and actually was feeling quite nervous since the quality of the suits those tailors had out in the windows were pretty terrible.  For some reason, the Riddler's suit from Batman seemed to be a popular design.

After arriving at Anika, my fears were alleviated as they had a proper storefront with many quality suit samples in the window.  We were shown to a private room where we were able to look through the library of fabrics and then settled on a price.  As is the case with most things in Asia, don't be afraid to haggle and in the end I think that we were able to negotiate a fair price.  The process from here was very easy as everyone got measured for the initial fitting, and then we came back in two more times for fittings before picking up with finished product.  I will admit that my expectations were relatively low in that I wasn't sure if we'd get something as good as what we could have gotten in Thailand or Vietnam, but after seeing the finished product I will admit that I'm extremely pleased with the end result.  I would highly recommend Anika Tailor to anyone that is looking to get clothes made in Bali.

initial fitting - is my waist really that big!?

While we had booked a chain hotel for the first night of the trip, for the rest of the trip we decided to try out private rentals through a combination of private websites and airbnb.com.  Overall this worked out very well and I would highly recommend this approach for anyone traveling in a group to Bali.  The next stop for us was Padangbai which is a small town about an hour drive from Kuta.  It is an extremely laid back place that's known for its fishing and scuba diving.  It's also one of the main ports to catch the fast boat to Gili.

We stayed two nights here and primarily spent our time diving during the day, and just relaxing at night.  The first two dives we did were just a few minutes off the shore and were great refresher dives for me since it had been a while since I'd gone.  There is a ton to see when diving here and the reefs were full of bright and colorful tropical fish.  The next two dives we took were an hour and a half car ride from Padangbai at the site of the USS Liberty shipwreck at Tulamben.  It was my first shipwreck dive and found it to be pretty cool, especially since the marine life here was great and we were able to see some interesting things including turtles, lion fish, and stingrays.

dock at Padangbai

quick boat ride for first two refresher dives

turtle sighting

diving through the USS Liberty shipwreck at Tulamben

gangnam style lives on

post-diving meal - fresh tuna steak

still hungry - grilled chicken

The night life here primarily consists of grabbing drinks and listening to live music at the local bars where it's not crowded at all and a nice breath of fresh air from the scene at Kuta.  One of the popular drinks here is Arak which is a local home-brewed liquor and actually tastes quite good and sweet.  However, be a little cautious and make sure you get it from a reputable place as there have been some recent deaths/injuries from people consuming bad Arak.  Overall, we really enjoyed the laid-back beach party scene here and a relaxing stop compared to the hectic Kuta.

rocking out with the local bands

Bali-Tree: Introduction

• Introduction
• ANA First Class SFO-NRT
• Thai Airways First Class NRT-BKK
• Exploring Bangkok, Royal Orchid Sheraton
• Thai Airways Business Class BKK-DPS
• Bali Part I: Kuta, Padangbai
• Bali Part II: Gili Trawangan, Seminyak
• Thai Airways BKK First Class Lounge and Spa
• Thai Airways First Class BKK-NRT, UA First Class NRT-SFO

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After graduating from college several years ago, many of my closest friends have gradually become more geographically dispersed as everyone moved on to do different things.  But for each of the past five years, my friends and I have always made time for an annual weekend trip to Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.  For the first couple years, we were really into the park itself - going on hikes, climbing every rock in sight, and off-roading while listening to U2's Joshua Tree album.  Over the next couple trips we became more and more sedentary, choosing to simply hang out in the cabin over exploring the park.

Then a funny thing happened.  During our 5-year anniversary trip, we literally only left the cabin to eat and grab supplies.  While we were still just as excited for the annual J-Tree trip, we realized it wasn't as much about the venue but instead really about the reunion and being able to all hang out together in once place.  So at the end of last year's trip, we joked to each other that we should do next year's trip in some exotic location, like Bali.  At the time it sounded like one of those ridiculous things you just say for laughs.  Well as the time came to start planning this year's J-Tree trip, we said to ourselves, why not do this year's trip in Bali?  Add in my recent engagement and the excuse for an upcoming bachelor party, and that was reason enough to just go for it.  So with that, Bali-Tree was born.

I'm typically the planner, but on this particular trip since it'd be my bachelor party the guys handled almost all of the details.  The main thing that I needed to plan was my flight itinerary to Bali, and for me that's where the real fun started. Having been in the points/miles game for a couple years now, I had finally accumulated enough miles and knowledge about how to best spend those miles to splurge on a first class award ticket.  In contrast to my award ticket in December on Singapore Air first class that needed no improving, I got around to booking my award ticket only three months in advance, meaning that I was left with a sub-optimal initial routing:

- SFO-ICN (United First Class), ICN-BKK (TG Biz Class)
- BKK-DPS-BKK (TG Biz Class)
- BKK-ICN (Asiana Biz Class), ICN-SFO (United First Class)

For anyone who's into the points/miles game, they know that a huge perk of booking award tickets is to be able to fly non-domestic airlines within an alliance, which in this case would be the Star Alliance.  So while I wasn't thrilled with my routing, I knew that better routings almost always open up closer to departure, sometimes even up to the day of departure.  Also, with United 1K status I'd be able to make unlimited changes without any fees or penalties.

This is one part of the process that I actually found really fun.  Starting a couple weeks out, each morning I'd wake up and check the stock market, followed by various award routing sites (united.com, Expertflyer, etc.) to see if any new award space had opened up.  If I had a couple minutes between meetings, I'd pop over to check again.  It became a fun little game to continually try to optimize the routing.  By the end of it all and after a handful of changes, I was quite pleased with my final routing since I had reduced the number of United flights to just one, and was able to secure first class seats on all flights that offered it.  My final routing was:

- SFO-NRT (ANA First Class), NRT-BKK (TG First Class)
- BKK-DPS-BKK (TG Biz Class)
- BKK-NRT (TG First Class), NRT-SFO (United First Class)

Final cost of my flights?  140,000 United miles, and $76 in taxes.  Not a bad return for having simply signed up for three credit cards over the past year.  I was particularly excited to try ANA's first class for the Kaiseki menu, and would also have a solid 4-hour layover in Bangkok to visit the first class lounge and spa.  Time to champagne and campaign!