An Aussie Teen Living in Bali
  • Home
    • ROLE Foundation Programs
  • My Bali Blog
  • About Bali
    • Geography
    • Religion
    • Festivals
  • Things to do in Bali
  • Favourite Photos :)

Utama Spice in Ubud

29/5/2016

 
Yesterday was a really fun day for me. My cousin is over in Bali, visiting from Australia so we decided to do something different and make our own beauty products. To do this we went into Ubud, the heart of Bali, and did a class with Utama spice. Utama spice is an amazing brand who home make essential oils and other beauty products with all natural ingredients. They have many shops all over Bali and there classes are in a good price range, much cheaper than Australia. 

It only took 40 minutes to travel to Ubud from Sanur and it is a truly amazing drive. Once you start getting close to Ubud you get to see the real Bali, rice fields, Bali dogs on the sides of the road, and you pass many great shops. 

When we arrived at the Utama Spice factory we were given a quick tour of the place. Although we couldn’t go into the factory which was under ground, we got to see all of the Utama Spice products and the surrounding houses that are located in the same facility. Once we had the tour we went upstairs to begin making our own products. Our private instructor showed us how to make a body scrub, hair oil and body oil, all made from fully natural ingredients and are very good for keeping your skin healthy. She showed us the ingredients we would be using first and explained to us why they were good for your skin, they all smelt amazing. 

First we made the body oil and to do that we mixed some beautiful smelling flowers and coconut oil then put it on a low heat in a saucepan. I’m glad we made the body oil first because it made the area smell great. After getting started with the boy oil we moved on to making the body scrub. To make the body scrub there was a lot of mixing involved so your arm hurts a little after. We each had our own mortar and pestle. After making the body scrub we took a quick break and made a special Balinese drink thats meant to benefit peoples health tremendously. We saw all the ingredients put in to it. Theres coconut sugar to make it sweet and also tamarind to make it sour, it’s a good combination. I liked it the most out of everyone, and I assure you it’s safe to drink. I felt great after having my serving, my mums and my cousins.  After drinking this health juice we got back to work and made the hair oil. You get to keep everything you make on the day and the staff give you little containers to put your mixes in. 

After leaving the Utama Spice factory we decided to go to our favourite restaurant in Ubud, The Little Elephant. It’s a vegetarian and vegan restaurant so if you like alcohol and meat this isn’t the place for you. However if you're in to healthy, delicious food and a chilled vibe this place is great. It’s located on a hill side overlooking rice fields and the jungle and if you go for an early dinner the sunsets are gorgeous. If your feeling like something sweet but healthy I highly recommend the chocolate pie, it’s like heaven on Earth.

Overall I really enjoyed this little trip into Ubud and defiantly recommend doing the same thing if you're feeling like a little get away to the heart of Bali and want to make some unique, natural products.



Resim
Resim

Lembongan Island

27/5/2016

 
On new years eve my family decided to travel to Lembongan island to celebrate. Lembongan is a beautiful little island just 30 minutes away from Bali by a fast boat. In my previous posts I’ve talk about all the other islands I’ve visited but Lembongan is now my favourite island and destination since living in Bali. 

It’s very much like Nusa Penida but it has more developed hotels as well as big, luxurious private villas. The island is located right next to Nusa Penida and you have the freedom of going between the two islands easily.

Lembongan island has pristine snorkelling areas, beautiful sunsets, hotels right on the beach, healthy food cafes and much more. My family went on a one day snorkelling trip that took us all around the island and then onto Nusa Penida island for only $30. The best part of the trip was getting the chance to swim with manta rays. We went to a nice restaurant on a cliff side looking over the ocean for our new years eve dinner, which was very delicious. The night was perfect, we watched the red sun go down with Bali in the background (great photo opportunity)

On our last day on the island we went to a health food shop called Bali Eco Deli who have amazing, tasty but healthy food. Theres also a bunch of nice seafood restaurants with fresh catches and theres many western dining areas.

While on Lembongan it’s a good idea to hire a motor bike to get around on the small roads, that are usually made of dirt. It’s very cheap to hire bikes in Lembongan, only $5 a day. Or if your like my mum and dad and are to old to be on a motor bike then you also have the option of hiring your vey own golf cart. These are $80 but they are defiantly worth it, we had lots of fun exploring the island and all taking turns driving it. 

Sadly my family only had time to stay at Lembongan for 1 night but we will defiantly be back because there is a connecting island to Lembongan called Nusa Ceningan. They’re both connected buy a small bridge that you can walk across or drive a bike across. This island was smaller but very beautiful. The beaches are like something out of a movie and I can not wait to travel back. If your ever in Bali make sure to check out the beautiful, Lembongan island.
Resim
Resim
Resim

Drive a Fin Car With Munduk Wilderness - By guest blogger Jayden

27/5/2016

 
If you're looking for something to do while you're up in the Kintamani area, I highly recommend driving a fin car. That is what Sam and I did with her parents and a few others. We started off at a beautiful restaurant, their base camp, where you had the amazing view of valleys and the big lake that's located in Munduk. After coffee we left our belongings at the restaurant for safe-keeping & went straight to the fin cars.  They are small, like dune buggies.The engines are very loud when driving off & took just a bit to get used to. We followed a guide all the way to a rough road, I was a bit nervous but continued. After a while up the mountain following this guide, the road became insane. There were boulders everywhere and the trail was really muddy and uneven. I just copied what the guide did and drove full speed over the boulders. It was very rocky and bumpy, but was so enjoyable. We got stuck between some of the boulders a couple of times and needed two people to help push the car out of the mess. At one point the guide's car got stuck and they had to push reverse their own car out of it. About half an hour of that rollercoaster ride, we stopped off at a house in a very rural area up in the mountains. We had some water and avocados to snack on and then continued our journey. Sam had the next drive and we drove for another half hour. The road was pretty smooth from then on. We ended up on a main road surrounded by a few rural houses and loads of rice paddies. We ended up stopping on the side of the road to have our lunch and enjoy the beautiful rice fields.   We certainly saw rural Bali, areas tourists would never venture into.  And we also stopped and went down to a waterfall in a hidden valley. Sam and I loved the whole adventure and can’t wait to do it again, it was so thrilling and completing different to anything we've ever done before. Make sure to do it when you're here in Bali!
Resim
Resim
Resim
    Düzenlemek için buraya tıklayın.

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    October 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.