After our short stay in Ubud, we headed to the port in Sanur to catch a boat to Nusa Penida, a rugged and beautiful island off the coast of Bali, and is in the province of Bali.
The 40ish minute boat ride was cramped, hot and choppy. Luckily (or maybe not?), we had Dramamine to prevent motion sickness on the boat. Dramamine messes me up, y’all. Phil too. Like sleepy and out of it and chunks of time seem hazy later. If I take it, I am not doing anything the remainder of the day that does not primarily involve being supine. I feel like in the future, I might rather get sea sick than roofie myself with Dramamine again.
Our hotel had arranged for a driver to meet us at the port and take us to the property. It was a good thing since Phil and my executive functioning was impaired by the aforementioned roof…I mean Dramamine.
Phil and I decided to change our accommodations in Nusa Penida (that we had booked months earlier) a week or so before arriving, when I happened to see a really nice looking place that was offering a significant discount. I am so glad we did. Our accommodations at the Penida View Village were a dream.
Our driver rode us over the bumpy, sometimes paved but full of potholes always when paved, roads of the island, and then up up up and around the windy bends to Penida View Village. We knew the change of accommodation would mean we’d be a little farther from markets and restaurants, but we figured; we’re used to walking a lot, it won’t be a big deal. Wellllllll, as we wound and jostled our way there, we realized the road was not safe to walk, between the zero shoulder and the many blind curves of the switch backs.
One cannot rent a car on Nusa Penida and there is no ride-share service like Grab, which is the Uber of Southeast Asia, available. One can hire a private driver to take them around for a full or half day tour, which leads many tourists rent motorbikes for getting around the island.
Penida View Village did have motorbikes their guests could rent but, hell no. There is no way I am driving or riding on the back of a motorbike on strange, super bumpy roads with blind curves. Renting a motorbike to drive on perfectly flat roads also does not particularly appeal to me. On top of all of that, they drive on the other side of the road in Indonesia which is another level of difficulty. So, again, no.
It was a good thing that Penida View Village had everything we could possibly need. The property is made up of a small reception area, infinity pool, restaurant, five private bungalows, and a yoga shala/massage area. It also offers sweeping views of the Indian Ocean and Mount Agung on Bali.
Our bungalow had the best view of all of the bungalows and had a little patio where we could sit and enjoy it. Right behind our bungalow was the yoga shala that doubled as the massage area. The yoga space was so big and they even had props (yoga blocks and straps) that I could use. And that view. Wow.
Breakfast was included and what a tasty breakfast it was. They offered three choices; a traditional, western breakfast of eggs, toast, and choice of bacon or sausage, a French breakfast of toasted brioche with Nutella or jam with fruit plate, or yogurt with homemade granola and fruit with honey. Each breakfast also came with a choice of juice and coffee. After the huge buffet breakfasts of China, it was nice to have something a bit smaller, especially since we would not be walking 12k plus steps a day. We probably didn’t even walk 1k steps a day, so smaller was just fine. I opted for the yogurt bowl most days. The homemade granola was so good! Plus, that view.
When researching Nusa Penida, we knew that it was a rugged island and many of the beaches required a bit of a climb down to them, most of them being at the bottom of rocky, cliff-side overlooks. As we flipped through the day trips offered by the hotel and read more about the various beaches and tourist hot spots, we decided that risking potential injury was not worth snapping a pic at an Instagram hot spot. The descriptions were like “Beautiful vista. The 25-minute, rocky hike straight down is a bit steep, but there is a rope to hang on to, in spots. Once the tide comes in, you’ll have to hurry it up not to be covered in water” or “Enjoy a dip in the natural ocean pool. Beware of large waves from the ocean lapping over the sides, as they could scoop you up and wash you out to sea”.
That led us to decide to take a one day-trip to the most accessible beach, Crystal Bay. There was a parking lot and actual sandy Beach one could walk out on and no hike required. This trip would also give us an opportunity to stop at a supermarket for miscellaneous snacks as our plan was to take advantage of the included breakfast and then pay for dinner at the restaurant. Since we weren’t doing a ton of activity, we figured a few afternoon snacks should tide us over.
The beach was small but pretty with turquoise waters, some beach loungers, and a few shops and restaurants. We walked the beach a few times and enjoyed a fresh coconut before heading to lunch. We would have more beach days to come, so we didn’t feel like we missed out by not getting in and swimming. Plus, we had an infinity pool waiting back at the bungalows for us!
For lunch, we stopped at a cute little Warung, (Warungs are local run restaurant that serves exclusively Indonesian food) called Warung Jungle, that we had looked up and had good reviews. They specialize in seafood so we each had fish. Phil had BBQ’d red snapper and I had fried something I can’t remember but it was really tasty! We also split some spring rolls.
We headed back to Penida View Village where we did not leave again until our departure date. We spent a week there in total and it was so flipping nice. We were forced to relax because we couldn’t go anywhere. It really helped break the “go, go go!” feeling from traveling around China. We slept in, ate delicious breakfasts; I practiced yoga, we swam at the pool, read, and laid around.
In the evenings we enjoyed delicious Mediterranean inspired dishes from the onsite restaurant. We sampled almost everything on the menu. The pasta was heavenly, particularly the pesto with housemate sweet potato gnocchi.
Penida View Village offered us a much needed vacation from our traveling. I recently mentioned vacation and travel being two different things to a friend and I don’t think she’d ever heard that. Maybe there are a lot of people who don’t know or see a difference. There are several differentiators, but I would say, to put it in simplest terms: vacation requires minimal work or getting out of your comfort zone and is heavy on relaxing and indulging. Travel requires effort, sometimes a lot. It is not always comfortable and in fact requires that you get out of your comfort zone. Both are fun and rewarding, and making sure to do both on this long term trip is important to our sanity.
Next up: Gili Air, where we actually do some stuff! but not too much : )
Jess Barrington Travels 