Wanderlusting Over Indonesia *

Since I’ve been working in travel, which is over a year now, it’s opened up a whole array of places that I would never have dreamt of visiting but I really want to now. Some might say it could be damaging to my bank account but I’m all for travelling, making memories and learning about new cultures. I firmly believe that travel is the only thing you can buy that does make you richer!

Currently top of my list would be a vacation in Indonesia as it’s perfect for exploring, taking in a hell of a lot of culture and eating some really incredible foods. I’d love to spend a few weeks in Bali as it’s beyond picturesque and I think it could be really good for the soul. A time to detach from the internet, and really enjoy the moments that are in front of you rather than posting every little detail to social media.

I’d love to spend the afternoon at the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary and watch them climb around the scattered statues and temples. It’s not far from central Ubud so it’s highly accessible and most people say 2 hours is plenty of time but I feel it’d be one of those places where I’d get lost in the fun and taking hundreds of photos. I’d also love to buy some bananas to feed the babies as I’ve heard they’re quite used the humans and are more than happy to climb all over you! Just keep your bags locked tight!

There are obviously hundreds of temples to visit all around Indonesia and these would be really high on my lists. I love to fully immerse myself in other cultures when I go to visit and learning about what used to happen in these temples is a great way to do so. Tirta Gangga looks incredible with its abundance of water fountains, and the view of the rich rice paddocks in the distance. It’d be amazing to see how they grow their rice as it’s not something I’ve seen before.

I’d love to stay in a room over the sea there too, obviously a little more luxurious than the one above! A lot of the accommodation I’ve seen around Bali has its own pool with an open yard area surrounded by palm trees so I’d also love to rent a stunning beachfront villa so I could sit around our private pool and watch the sunset, and maybe even the sunrise, over the beach. How cool would that be to time lapse!? I’m such a sucker for a good sunset ever since watching them on the beach in Hawaii at the age of sixteen.

As there are no shortness of beaches and waterfront, Indonesia would be a great place to try out some water sports. In my head, the water is nice and warm to match the weather so it wouldn’t be so bad if I fell in and made a fool of myself. Aside from water sports, there are lots of other outdoor activities that I’d love to do whilst there such a hopping onto a quad bike and going off road to see more sites with a day tour and I’d even consider doing some proper trekking with a guide to see more than what you would if you ventured out on your own.

I’d also look into hiring a normal bicycle and cycling to places as opposed to getting taxi’s so if you see something exciting along the way you can just stop, take it in, have a wander then hop back on your bike to carry on to the original destination.

Of the friends of mine and all of the numerous blog posts I have read, it seems a general consensus that the Indonesian food is great! For a foodie much like myself, this is all I need to hear to be sold on a destination. I imagine the food to be really fresh, with lots of fish and meat dishes paired with rice grown locally and lots of exotic spices. I could totally get used to that. I dream of being invited in with a family to try their homemade goodies to really get a feel for the place or even to teach me how to cook them myself, sounds perfect right?

There are numerous amounts of stunning waterfalls, some of them even look like they were used in Jurassic Park so I have to go see them. The Nungnung Waterfall is really high up on my list as it’s meant to be something that not many tourists go to visit and one of the highest in Bali; it’s still very much unspoilt, you can wade out into the water and feel the force, and it’s encompassed by lush green tropical plants in their natural habit. It sounds pretty idealic and well worth the steep stairs and pathways to get down to and back up from it.

There are so many aspects of Indonesia that I’ve not even touched on yet and I can’t even begin to describe how much I want to go there. The culture there is so different to what we are used to and it’s something I really want to learn about from a first-hand experience and to be able to fully immerse myself into it. Fingers crossed this dream of mine is something I will be able to experience soon!