Chasing the Bali sunset

Long before my best friend and I stepped foot in Bali for a girl’s trip, we were bombarded by tips, tentative itineraries and travel hacks by well-meaning friends who had recently visited the island. And mind you, there happened to be a lot of them who undertook solo trips, honeymoon visits, and even bachelor party vacations in the recent past. The reason — besides the obvious stunning beauty of the place — happens to be the extremely low currency exchange rate of the Indian rupee as compared to the Indonesian rupiah.

But between the myriad options and suggestions that we received from everyone, a common theme that ran between all of them was the same — there are no sunsets like the ones you experience in Bali.

And so we set off on what we called the anti-Eat Pray Love trip to Bali, with the sole agenda of relaxing and having as much fun as we could. Getting to the Indonesian island is quite a breeze, given the connecting flight options from both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The visa-on-arrival system too will take you a grand total of 15 minutes. Mainland Bali in itself has been neatly demarcated into areas where tourists can find everything the island is famous for in one place. So there’s Seminyak, Nusa Dua and Sanur, where you can find idyllic beach resorts and spas, and Ubud, where you can find densely forested getaways. We decided to camp out in a sprawling room in Kuta, right in the middle of the party district, to get a taste of the vibrant nightlife.

Coffee and tea tasting at Ubud

Having missed the sunset on the first day, thanks to our awkward flight timings, we decided to hit Potato Head, one of the swankiest, most popular clubs in Bali. Already in the mood to experiment with local ingredients, I decided to sip on cocktails that contained the Bali arak, a traditional liquor derived from palm trees. The bitter notes elevate the taste of the cocktails, and is best had in combination with citrusy fruit juices in your drink. Of course, nothing makes arak taste better than having it by the beach.

The next day, we decided to visit the picturesque Ubud. Situated right in the heart of Bali, the beaches give way for dense forests, winding roads, rice terraces and even volcanoes in Ubud. Our first stop, however, was a coffee plantation, where we tasted Kopi Luwak, besides other tea and coffee variants.

A Kecak dance at the Pura Luwur Uluwatu Temple

Possibly one of the most expensive coffees in the world, Kopi Luwak is made from partly digested coffee-cherry pieces excreted by the nocturnal Asian palm civet, a type of toddy cat. Disgusting as it sounds, the coffee undergoes several layers of cleaning and filtering to give it a clean, fruity taste. And you can instantly see why fans are crazy about it. Having had our caffeine fix, we head out to have lunch with Mount Batur as the backdrop. The active volcano is one of the many in Bali, and the threat that it may go off any time is quite real. We also tasted the famous Bintang beer here, a drink that’s only available in Indonesia.

Our last day in mainland Bali was spent exploring the Pura Luhur Uluwatu temple, that’s situated on a cliff. As the expansive sea stretches out in front of you, the sunset comes accompanied by the kecak dance. Performed without any music in an amphitheatre, 30 men utter the word “chak” in various tempos to make for the background, as traditionally dressed dancers enact scenes from the Ramayana — from Sita’s abduction, to Hanuman and Lord Ram taking on Ravana to rescue her. It was here that we realised why praises of the Bali sunset were true, as the breathtaking dance brought on the night.

At Gili Trawangan

We set out to taste some of the famed seafood there and over-ambitiously called for a platter that had the freshest catch of the day. While we relaxed by the seaside, and bit into the fish, a tiny band of musicians decided to play us a few tunes.

Now, the Balinese people are quite friendly; and even more so once they realise you’re Indian. Be prepared to hear the fact that Shah Rukh Khan is everyone’s favourite actor, and a smattering of Hindi that they’ve picked up on TV. The band, too, on realising we’re from India, regaled us with tunes from SRK movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, much to the amusement of everyone else on other tables.

While the seafood or the local cuisine doesn’t necessarily agree with everyone’s palate, there are options aplenty for all. With cafes like Sisterfields and nightclubs like Sky Garden, there’s food that will appeal to everyone from around the world.  

A Balinese band regales with Hindi music

Our trip then took us to Gili Trawangan, part of a three island archipelago, a three-hour ferry trip from Bali. Barely a couple of kilometres in length, the island is purely a tourist destination. The part of most plans is this: you either scuba dive in the morning or hit one of the spas, and the night turns it into a party destination, where pop tunes from the West rule the roost. Every night, one pub or restaurant is turned into the party place for the night, while others shut early. All of the island gathers at one place to dance the night away.

And it was here that we experienced the second of the most beautiful of our Bali sunsets — with our legs kicked up on the lounge chairs and an arak cocktail in hand, the sun setting slowly behind three different shades of the sea’s blue.

And we did exactly what we were supposed to do, when the fireball disappeared and a cool chill settled into the Trawangan air. We whipped our phones out and texted everyone who was in half a mind to take a vacation sometime soon, “Bro, you need to chase the Bali sunsets. They’re the best you will ever see.”