Best Places on Earth: Bali.

Our impulsive escape plan this time is Bali, a week before the holiday's over. We craved for beach and sun, and Bali is the perfect place to get everything in a short time. As a local tourist, I just realised my knowledge about Bali is surprisingly limited. I only went there a couple of times, and have never really been to anywhere outside the most mainstream tourist destinations since 10 years ago or so, Kuta - Legian - Seminyak. Don't judge me, people, but I haven't even been to Jimbaran and Ubud (Eat Pray Love existed as a the novel and it turned into movie like a decade ago, and me, as an Indonesian, never been there. Lame, I know.) The last time I went to Bali was about 2 years ago, and already so many new cafes, bars, and other improvements since then. Luckily, we met our local (and non-judgemental) friends who kindly took us to awesome not-so-touristy tourist places we haven't been. By that, I mean it's quite secret but not super-private at the same time. A few of my Twitter friends know already and they suggested me these places, I also bumped into a bunch of international tourists who apparently know about Bali 's 'secret places' better than I do (shame on me.) So here I'm writing all my new discovery of awesome places, just in case you want to visit them too, or to remind myself the spots I'm gonna come back for. I am so going to come back here!

Our friend took us to Pulina Luwak coffee plantation located in Ubud. In there we witnessed the making of the famous and rarest coffee beans in the world, with the help of those cute little Luwak from picking the best beans to extracting it with special enzymes in their stomach.

After a short tour, they gave us a chance to do coffee and tea tasting, surprisingly, all these cups for free! You'll need to pay for IDR 50k to taste a cup of the rare Luwak coffee made straight from their yard, with a beautiful view of Ubud's green rice field and mountains background. Sweet! :)

Fiance slash traveling buddy slash photographer on duty for my blog's outfit posts. :p

Visiting Menega restaurant at Jimbaran for seafood dinner by the beach.

So many restaurants and bar with beautiful view in Bali that we couldn't list down. Some that we visited are Menega at Jimbaran for seafood dinner, Potatohead at Seminyak for swimming / breakfast / lunch / dinner  / whatever (good foods and the price is totally worth it. You might need to book earlier for weekend), La Plancha at Seminyak and Old Man's at Canggu for beer and light snacks at the beach. 

You might bump into this friendly dog chilling at Canggu Beach, named Kino.

Canggu Beach.

And here's 5 things you should do by the time you arrive, according to my instagram (that I probably don't need to remind you anymore):

1. Take off your shoes.

Greet the warm sand hello.

2. Collect corals and sea shells.

3. Enjoy a bottle of beer or cider by the beach.

Potatohead Beach Club, Seminyak.

4. ...or watch the island from afar, on a canoe.

at Pandawa Beach, you can rent a canoe from IDR 30K.

5. Try new gelato flavors everyday.

So many gelato and ice cream parlor in here, you have plenty of time to try it one by one.

Happy planning an impulsive holiday! :)