#tho we plan on relaxing as much as possible on our honeymoon we have no plans other than the beach which will be right outside our hotel so

[aastarions]

tomorrow i am doing absolutely nothing and kind of in need of doing absolutely nothing because after tomorrow i will have something to do for the next like 2 weeks straightfdsklj

[17mounteens]

Sweet summer (Wonwoo)

Request: Can i request a wonwoo fluff, like beforee setting off for a honeymoon or holidayy tgt? :) thankss for this awesomme blogg tho weeohoo

» Wonwoo and you have a trip planned over your summer holiday.

» happy birthday to our beloved Wonwoo ;u; 💗

You and Wonwoo had been looking forward to your overlapping summer holiday for months, and now that you were finally packing and getting ready for the first long bus ride, you were both bursting with excitement.

The two of you had had endless amounts of fun planning your trip, starting from both of you coming up with your wish lists that you then presented to each other and merged as well as possible, although some compromises had to be made.

In the end you still had the perfect plan with multiple destinations, and while there were activities you both wanted to do, the main goals were simple: to relax, to see new places and, above everything, to enjoy being together.

All in all you both just wanted a healing trip, and that was exactly what you were going to get.

While you were zipping up your suitcase, you felt Wonwoo’s arms wrap gently around you, and soon his lips pressed to your shoulder.

“Are you done packing?” he asked, his voice bright yet calm, and you grinned as you turned around and got your arms loosely around his neck.

“Pretty much,” you smiled and leaned in for a light kiss, from which you parted with an even wider smile on your lips. Looking into Wonwoo’s eyes, full of affection and excitement, you hummed. “I just need to make sure I have everything in my bag, and then we can go.”

“Alright,” Wonwoo grinned, and slowly let go of you before moving to the living room, where he scanned the apartment to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. All the windows were locked, his backpack had everything he needed, all the appliances were unplugged...

The time he spent going through a mental checklist, you spent collecting everything necessary into your bag, and you chuckled softly when you saw Wonwoo lifting one finger after another as he went through things he had to remember. There was something about the habit of his that you found incredibly endearing, and you couldn’t help but smile.

Walking up to him, you gave him a back hug and smiled against his shoulder. “I love you.”

Wonwoo chuckled, and you felt him place one of his hands on your arm. “I love you, too.”

Some seconds later Wonwoo huffed and nodded determinedly. 

“Everything’s set,” he declared, and you grinned when you spotted a book forgotten on the couch.

“Even the book you’re reading?” you asked playfully, after which Wonwoo seemed to think about it for a moment, until he let out an “ah”. You unwrapped your arms from around him, and he went to pick up the book from the couch, hitting his head lightly with it when he walked back to you.

“Thanks, I almost forgot,” he said with a hearty laugh, and you couldn’t help but melt into the softest smile at the nose scrunch.

“I figured,” you smiled and moved to the door to put your shoes on, and while Wonwoo put the book into his backpack, you made one last check on your own bag, making sure you had everything.

With that the two of you left, beyond excited about the summer holiday you were embarking on. You were determined to not let even the incredible heat dull down any of the fun, as difficult as it may be.

Some time later, after taking the subway to the bus terminal your bus would leave from, the two of you found your way to the bus and loaded your suitcases before entering the bus and finding your seats.

“Can I get the window seat for this one?” you asked excitedly when you had found your row, and Wonwoo snorted quietly.

“Go ahead,” he nodded, and you were quick to get to the window seat, where you quickly got comfortable, finding the right position and everything. Wonwoo smiled in amusement and sat down next to you, similarly finding the most comfortable position before anything else, and placed his hand on your thigh. “This is going to be an amazing two weeks.”

Smiling warmly, you placed your hand on top of Wonwoo’s and turned to look at him affectionately. “The best two weeks, Wonwoo.”

“The best,” he smiled and gave you a kiss on your forehead, after which you sighed contently and leaned your head on his shoulder.

The bus trip began nice and calm, with the two of you talking about what you’d do after reaching the first destination, and eventually it turned into you listening to music while leaning on Wonwoo and watching the scenery from the window and him reading his book in spurts, occasionally stopping to look out of the window, too, in particular whenever you said there was something beautiful.

The day turned into evening and eventually into night, and after a stop at a gas station for some walking and food, you and Wonwoo got to sleep, or at least you tried to. It wasn’t easy, and neither of you could sleep for more than twenty minutes in one go, which was exactly why you were both quick to slump down on the bed of the motel you had reserved for the first few days as soon as you reached it the next morning.

“Was today our easy day?” you asked wishfully, your voice muffled since you had your face planted into the mattress. When Wonwoo snorted, you turned your head to him, only to see him staring right back at you with a grin on his face.

"We can fit both a good nap and our plans into today,” he said, and after a yawn, continued, “but to your question, no, today wasn’t supposed to be an easy one, but we can make it more so.”

Nearly pouting, you nodded and moved closer to Wonwoo, and since he was lying on his back, it was easy for you to cuddle up to him and get your leg over his body, too. “I’ll take it.”

You sighed contently and closed your eyes, and Wonwoo smiled to himself while setting the two of you an alarm. He contemplated on asking you to move your leg due to how warm it was getting, but when he heard your steady breathing, he chuckled softly and opted for simply turning on the air conditioning before closing his own eyes, too.

While it was merely the beginning of your two-week adventure, you were both already feeling the greatest sense of healing.

Admin Scooter

[winryofresembool]

EdWin one-shot: A Food Fight (of sorts)

Summary: Ed and Winry are preparing to move in together a bit before their wedding, but of course things don’t go like planned. (could be canon ‘verse or whatever universe you want!)

A/N: my part of the fic-art trade with @mavistuffz! I was planning to finish this way earlier but sometimes life and writer’s block happens :/ Either way, I really hope you’ll enjoy this! It’s probably not quite what you had in mind, but hey, it’s EdWin, so that’s the main thing, right? :’) Let me know what you think!

Words: 2900+ (hey, at least it’s p long?)

Genre: fluff

Warnings: swearing and some sexual implications, I guess (nothing bad tho)

Ed and Winry had only one month left till their wedding, and that meant a lot needed to be done before the big day. The quests had been invited, dresses and suits bought, the venue and the theme colors chosen (to Ed’s surprise, Winry had even allowed a little bit of black in the decorations because it had been his wish), but that didn’t mean they were anywhere near done.

Perhaps one of the biggest tasks they needed to do before the wedding was moving into their own house. It had been decided they’d move to Rush Valley after returning their honeymoon, which meant their new home needed to be organized before the wedding. That only added pressure for the bride and groom who had been stressed even before the moving.

They had found a nice small place near Garfiel’s, something Winry was happy about despite her teacher’s playful accusations that one day she’d open her own automail shop and steal all his customers. While Winry was dreaming about opening her own shop at some point, she had a secret she had only told Ed so far, a secret that would affect her professional career quite a bit. That’s why she was perfectly happy to work with Garfiel until she was financially stable to start her own business. Ed would still continue doing his research, and he had also received an interesting offer from General Mustang. He had suggested Ed become an alchemy teacher in a nearby university that had been opened recently. The young man had been a bit reluctant, reminding Roy he couldn’t even perform alchemy anymore, but afterwards he had told Winry he might consider it. That way he could spread important information that could help them avoid the misuse of alchemy in the future.

The couple finished carrying the last pieces of furniture (Winry only carrying light clothes boxes because of her condition) and decided to take a breather before starting to organize the smaller objects into their shelves. They had decided to start with the kitchenware because they were planning to spend the night in their new home and cook something for their helpers, Al, Garfiel and Paninya.

“Whew, I thought we’d never get it finished,” Ed swept sweat from his forehead and took a couple of steps back to see the final results of his work.

“Can you believe it? Our first home together,” Winry marveled as she watched the view from the kitchen.

Ed walked right behind her and wrapped his arms around her belly. “Well, technically we have been living together for quite a while now…”

“You know what I mean,” Winry remarked. “This isn’t my granny’s place, this is yours, mine and the baby’s.”

When Winry said the last word, Ed’s hand automatically sought the still non-existent bump and rubbed it lightly through her shirt.

“Do you think she will be angry?” Ed asked worriedly.

“About the baby? She’ll probably say something like ‘you damn kids start way too early these days’ and then congratulate us. I’m pretty sure she and my grandfather weren’t married yet when they had my father…”

“The old hag is something else,” Ed snorted. “Remember what Dominic told us about her?”

“Hey, this is my granny we are talking about! Please have some respect, she let you live under her roof!” Winry reminded him and slapped his hands away from her belly.

“And while there, I also got her granddaughter pregnant,” Ed laughed and earned an elbow on his ribcage.

“Ouch!”

“Sometimes I don’t know what I see in you.” Winry shook her head and turned to stare at her fiancé judgingly.

“That’s too bad because I do recall you promising to give 85 per cent of your life to me.” Ed smirked at her smugly, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

“I might still change my mind about that, Mr. Elric.”

“Nah, you wouldn’t, future Mrs. Elric.”

“Oh, about the name…” Winry seemed to taste the word with her tongue, “how would you feel if I changed my last name to Rockbell-Elric instead?”

“That sounds good to me.” Ed nodded. “I know you are proud to be a Rockbell.”

“I am. But I’m also glad you have your mother’s last name because Rockbell-Hohenheim would be a monster to say.”

“I won’t disagree with you on that. Anyway, should we start organizing the kitchen?” Ed asked. “The others might come any minute now…”

“Sure thing. I’ll carry the dry foods here, you can set them where they belong.”

The work progressed rather peacefully, until…

“What?” Winry yelled suddenly. “The chocolate doesn’t need to be in the ice box! Why would you put it in there anyway? I was planning to eat it soon because the Truth knows I’m in need of something with a lot of sugar and fat right now.”

“Oh, here we go with the cravings…” Ed mumbled under his breath, but unfortunately for him, Winry heard him.

“Excuse you, mister, I would like to see you carry a child for 9 months and see how much chocolate you want to eat!”

“Relax, Winry, I didn’t mean… I was just going to put it in there because it’s hot outside and you really don’t want it to melt, do you?”

“Fine, then… just don’t make that mistake again!”

“I won’t!” Ed promised quickly, knowing it was dangerous to fight with Winry right now.

The couple continued to fill the shelves and closets, but it wasn’t calm for long.

“Did you… did you buy blue cheese even though you know how much I hate it?” Ed nearly screamed when he opened the ice box again. “It’s even grosser than the milk it’s been made of! It has fucking mold on it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I try to remember that the next time we go do some grocery shopping. The same way you hopefully remember to not buy pickles! Even the smell of those things makes me throw up, Edward!”

“You never told me that!” he claimed. “Of course I wouldn’t have bought them if I had known!”

It was a half-truth; now that he thought of it, Winry might have mentioned something about pickles earlier, but he hadn’t remembered. If he had, there was no way he would have bought them.

“I most certainly did!” Winry argued. “Do you remember when I got sick the other day after seeing your sandwich? It was because it had pickles on it. And I remember clearly saying: ‘don’t ever eat those again near me’! You just never listen!”

“I do listen! It’s just, when you go ‘don’t do this, don’t do that’ all day, every day, some things are just easy to forget!”

“You know what, Edward? Fuck you. I really really don’t know why I’m gonna have a wedding with you in a month.” “Winry! I’m sor…”

Ed didn’t get to finish his apology before Winry marched out of the room, slamming the door angrily behind her.

“Oh, great,” Ed growled to himself. “I screwed it up again. Just when we were supposed to move in here too…”

Ed didn’t get to fume alone for a long while, because Al and Paninya chose that moment to return from their break.

“Why do you look so murderous? Not that you don’t always look a little bit scary, but isn’t this supposed to be a happy day?” Al asked, raising his eyebrow questioningly.

“If there was a moment when I wished I’d be able to hit myself, that would be now,” Ed stated, making the other two glance at each other with confusion.

“OK?” Al tried to get his brother to elaborate a bit.

“I got her mad again,” Ed said after a while. “And in the worst possible moment too. I know she’s been particularly sensitive lately, yet I couldn’t stop in time…”

“What do you mean when you say she’s been particularly sensitive lately? Is there any specific reason for that?” Paninya had become good at reading other people’s emotions and she could sense Ed was hiding something from her. He turned away from the other two, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

“I… uh… you guys weren’t supposed to know yet… she wanted to tell you herself. Oh man, she’s really gonna kill me when she finds out…”

“Brother? Could you please talk like a normal human being? I don’t understand a word you said.”

“I shouldn’t tell you!” he tried one more time, even though he knew he had already lost this battle.

“Wait a second…” Paninya had a moment of realization. “You said she’s been sensitive lately… she’s been spending a lot of time in the toilet, and… you guys didn’t tell us what you are going to do with that spare room… She’s pregnant, isn’t she?”

“I… Fine… Yes, she is.” Ed stuttered, seeing it was too late to deny it anymore.

“Way to go, guys!” Pan exclaimed and smacked Ed on his shoulder in a friendly manner. “Although, I admit I didn’t think you’d have it in you. Usually you blush when she’s simply in the same room with you. I gotta talk to her as soon as possible! But you, mister,” she pointed at Ed, “You need to talk to her first. I remember hearing something about a stupid argument earlier, and I won’t let you get away with it that easily. Go make it right. That’s what she’d tell me if I was in your situation.”

“I guess you’re right,” Ed sighed. “Why does it have to be so damn hard, though? Hey, Al?” Al hadn’t gotten a chance to say anything yet, he was just standing there, looking dumbfounded.

“You’re having… a baby? I’m… gonna become an uncle?”

“Yes,” Ed said carefully, scared of an explosion even though he should have known Al would never react like that.

“That’s… that’s so amazing, brother! I’m so happy for you!” the younger brother suddenly exclaimed and rushed to hug Ed.

“Take it easy, Al,” he tried to calm him down, although he was secretly very happy and relieved about his reaction. “I can’t breathe!”

When Al finally let go of him, he got an idea.

“Hey, before I go to talk to her… There’s something we could do.”

Ed dragged Al to a grocery store, and when they got to one of Ed’s favorite sections, he asked:

“Which flavor do you think she’d like? Nuts? Salt? Berries? Just regular?”

“Shouldn’t you be the one to know that?” Al asked back. “You’re the one who’s gonna get married to her.”

“Shut up, Al. Oh, look! There are even skeleton shaped ones! These are so cool!”

“Edward,” Al said with a warning tone, “remember that you are buying them for her, not for you. She would not like that.”

“Fine. What would you suggest then?”

“I say you should try to make them special. Something she can’t buy from this store. Hey,” he pointed at one shelf, “there are molds there! Look at this, don’t you think she’d like this?”

  After buying the products for preparing the special gift, Ed and Al told Paninya to go and distract Winry while they’d be working in the kitchen. She was still sulking upstairs, and the boys didn’t want her to come down before they were finished with their work. Paninya agreed after hearing the brothers’ plan and climbed the stairs to the bedroom, stopping to knock the door.

“Who is it? Ed, if it’s you, I swear to Truth I’m in no mood to…”

“No, it’s me, Pan.” The dark-haired young woman said calmly.

“I guess come in then,” Winry replied. Paninya wondered if she had heard a bit of disappointment in her voice.

“I heard what happened,” she said. “You know, I don’t usually defend your idiot of a boyfriend, but he really is sorry.”

“If you came here to talk for him…”

“No, I came here because you’re my friend and of course I’m worried about you.”

“OK.” Winry calmed down and sat down on the bed, folding her arms on her lap.

“Uh, please don’t get mad,” Pan said after trying to decide how to tell her the news, “but… he accidentally revealed your secret. Or rather, I guessed it when he said some weird things.”

“Oh great. That idiot. I really didn’t want you to find out that way,” Winry sighed, understanding Paninya must have talked about her pregnancy. “I was supposed to tell you soon…”

“It doesn’t matter, Winry! I’m happy for you, I really am! It’s just, you guys seem to get into a fight over smallest things, and what if… what if it gets out of control and one of you says something you can’t fix?”

“Trust me, that thought has crossed my mind a few times. But don’t worry, at the end of the day, we still love each other. He may be an idiot, but… he’s still my idiot. And besides,” Winry blushed fiercely, “afterwards, making up is always fun.”

“That’s too much information, Win!”

“OK, OK, sorry. But it’s not just the sex, he’s always super sweet and thoughtful after a fight. Sometimes he cooks something good, and once he even let me use his favorite leather jacket… You know how he loves that thing.”

“Wow. Sounds like you have him totally wrapped around your finger.”

“Even though I hate to admit it at the moment, he does that same to me,” Winry’s face got even redder. “There’s a reason why I’m marrying him, after all. But what is taking him this long?” She suddenly got worried. “Usually he comes to find me a lot faster…”

“He’s… busy doing something.” Paninya said carefully, not wanting to reveal the secret Ed was preparing.

“OK. He’d better do it fast, though,” Winry complained. “I’m getting really hungry here.”

“You have already forgiven him, though, haven’t you?”

“When you are fighting with him as much as I am, you kinda have to learn to do it fast.” Winry smiled.

“You seem to enjoy the fighting, am I right?”

“I guess you are. I wouldn’t be able to be with someone who never challenges me.”

“Aww. Then you are definitely marrying the right person.”

“Hey! Only I have the right to insult him!” Winry exclaimed, pretending to be angry, but soon burst into laughter.

The girls changed the subject and started talking about baby related things, like the baby’s sex and name suggestions. At some point Al peeked into the bedroom and told Paninya Ed and he were ready.

“Where are you taking me?” Winry tried to pry when Al came in and tied a scarf around her head, so she couldn’t see what was happening around her.

“It’s a surprise. That’s why there’s a blindfold,” Al said and spun Winry around a couple of times so she wouldn’t be able to figure out their direction too easily.

“I don’t like surprises,” Winry tried to protest but followed Al when he dragged her forward.

“Are we there yet?” she asked impatiently when her future brother-in-law seemed to take her in and out of a lot of rooms.

“Soon, Winry, soon.”

They stepped into a room that had been empty before the fight because the couple had agreed that they still had plenty of time to organize it. When Al took the scarf off from Winry’s face, she didn’t recognize the space at first. There was a chest of drawers for the baby’s clothes Pinako had given for the couple (not knowing they’d be using it for this purpose, however), a shelf for toys and other things (a surprisingly cute dragon plush already sitting there), a table for changing the diapers, and…

“A crib?” Winry asked aloud when she saw the object she didn’t remember seeing earlier. “When did you have time to get this?”

“Just a little while ago… You know, Al helped a bit…” Ed said, referring to his alchemy. “But I added some things of my own in there. And I would have added more but Al didn’t let me.” Al rolled his eyes at his brother, knowing he had wanted to make the crib black and add some spikes and gargoyles here and there. He’d have to hide Ed’s drawing from Winry…

Winry pulled the blanket on the crib away and saw a huge bowl in there. And the bowl was full of…

“Chocolate wrenches!”

“If you want to throw me with them… go ahead.”

“No way!” Winry said and took one chocolate wrench into her hand excitedly. “I’m going to eat this right away!”

As she munched happily, Ed said: “I’m sorry about earlier. I know this moving in and the wedding and now the baby too have been stressing you… I shouldn’t be the one to add you even more stress. And I promise to listen to you more often now. By the way, I threw all the pickles away too.”

“That’s good. I shouldn’t have nagged you about the chocolate either. And you don’t have to eat the blue cheese if you don’t want to.”

“You know I don’t,” Ed snorted and went to hug his soon-to-be-wife.

“We’re a pair of idiots, aren’t we?” Winry murmured when she snuggled her head against his shoulder.

“I guess we are. Hey, we’re not skipping our favorite part of making up, though?” he whispered, trying to make sure Al and Paninya weren’t hearing.

“You give me some real food first, and we’ll see what happens after that,” Winry said with amusement, intertwining their fingers.

“It’s a deal.”

A/N: In case you missed it, I drew a picture of Ed’s version of the crib. Check it out!

[hugomattsson]

Best of Bali for a month.

After spending a fair amount of time in Bali, I constantly get the question from friends in Sweden; “Hugo, what’s the best places in your love island: Bali?” or “what can’t we miss during our stay in Bali?”.

So I thought it would come very handy to make my recommended trip in Bali, the island I love. Depending on how much time you have or want to spend it will change the route but I figured a month (what a regular tourist visa will give you) is a reasonable time to spend here. If you’re planning on staying shorter or longer I will write where I would cut down time or add depending on your intended time here.

 1.       Arrive to Denpasar Airport. I would Leave the hustle and bustle of Denpasar and Kuta straight away and head for Canggu for a couple of days. Here you can take a surf lesson, or just enjoy all the good food, nice vibes and happy hours by the beach. You’re also just about 20 minute ride from Seminyak with good shopping, great beach bars and clubs as well as really good restaurants both fancy and local. Be aware tho! It’s also a bit risky to start here because it’s very easy to get comfortable and stuck in the good atmosphere of Canggu (seen it so many times). Therefore it’s a good place to end your trip. Days: 3 Total days: 3

2.       From Canggu it’s just a 1-2h drive up to the spiritual/yoga capital of the world: Ubud. Nowadays it’s pretty busy but get out of the city centre into the jungle! Check out the rise terraces, monkey forest and waterfalls! Days: 2 Total: 5

3.       *North bali. If you have more time I would have a look around the volcanos, Sidemen and Besakih before heading to Singaraja or Lovina. If you wanna escape all the traffic and people and have a quieter vibe this is it! Check out some nice waterfalls (Awesome jumps and slides at Aling Aling waterfall!) and dolphins here for a day or two! Days: 2 Total: 7 (skip if short on time)

4.       *Are you a diver I would definitely recommend to stop by Tulamben & Amed for a day to two to do some fine diving. Here you’ll find the majestic USS Liberty wreck and really good diving for finding small, weird, beautiful creatures in the sand. Days: 2 total: 9 (skip if not a diver or short of time)

5.       Time to leave bali to go over to the paradise islands of Gili! You can take a 2h speed boat from Amed. There are three of these and depending on what you like there’s one for you (or if you have enough time, why not check out all of them?)

Gili Trawangan: The biggest island. Also known as the party island with the most people, most nightclubs and restaurants. Its also the best island for diving with a lot of option of diving schools and dive sites! Sunsets here are also superb!

Gili Meno: The honeymoon island. Not much happening here. There’s a really cool “alice in wonderland”-hostel, but other than that not much happening. Very relaxed and quiet. (lots of mosquitos..)

Gili Air: The chill-out island. Very relaxed vibe and good for lazy days.

Days: 4 Total: 13

6.       *When you’re on Gili it’s a good decision to book a tour up the epic Rinjani volcano. This is for the trekking people. It’s a 3 day tough hike up on of the coolest volcano in Indonesia! The scenery is fantastic and so rewarding. In my opinion one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in Indo! If this isn’t for you, I would skip to next place. Days: 3 Total: 17

7.       *Kuta Lombok, time to surf! I went to Kuta Lombok 3 years ago and I guess a lot have changed since then. But I remember it being a quiet oasis with pristine beaches and good surf, less crowded than Bali. Also amazingly beautiful to cruise along the coast with a scooter! Days: 3 Total: 20

8.       Nusa Islands! Here’s three islands in these group and one of the most beautiful places in Bali! Penida is the biggest one. I would recommend 2 days of adventuring here to see the famous Kelingking beach (the most beautiful beach I ever seen), Broken beach and Crystal bay. I would then spend another 2-3 days on the two other islands, Lembongan and Ceningan (which connects by a yellow bridge). There’s a big variety of things to see, everything from amazing beaches & blue lagoons to dramatic cliffs & mangroves. I usually don’t go on snorkel trips but here in Nusa I can really recommend one. you have the chance to go snorkelling with mantas, mola molas and buddha statues. It’s a really nice day trip. For those who dive I can also recommend to go diving, especially during June-September when it’s Mola Mola (sunfish) season. I absolutely love this place! And would put it highest on my list. Days: 5 Total: 25

9.       Back to south Bali! Now the month is almost over (It’s gone so fast!?) and it’s time to wrap it up on Bali. This time heading down south to Uluwatu. In the south is where you find the crystal clear water and white beaches on Bali, like  Pandawa, Green bowl and Dreamland beach. Here’s also a nice temple on top of a 100 meter cliff stretching down into the sea. This is the place for sunsets and a nice calm ending of the trip. Days: 2 Total: 27

That’s my intense trip to explore all the best spots in Bali. I don’t really like to rush when I’m travelling (that’s why I never have less than 2 days on each place) but I also like to be active and see as much ass possible on my vacation! As you see the trip ends on day 27 which leaves you a couple of days to spend wherever you enjoy the most!

I’ve made a smaller itinerary for people who have less time to spend. Personally I rather cut down on places to go rather than days on every place just because I don’t like to rush, it builds up stress which is exactly what you want to escape when you’re travelling!

My top 3 Bali places would probably be: 

1. Nusa Islands

2. Gili Islands

3. Canggu

If this post helped you, please share or comment what you think! Or maybe I missed a spot worth going? let me know!

[aleksju]

hello my wonderful readers,

this is a fresh blog post since March 2o18. sorry i have been such a lazy bum i didn’t wrte anything new for quite some time eh.

but i am about to change that. before i dive into my big blog post about woooonderful magical BALI i would like to say that i am doing well. as well as i can, still based in Chengdu China (but soon that’s about to be changed) and well currently in bed recovering from that same trip to BALI. so here we go..

life in China can be dull and grey so my wonderful boyfriend decided to add some colors by taking us to Bali right on the first day of a New Year! best surprise ever!

from Chengdu we took a late nights flight to Malaysia and landed in beautiful Bali Denpasar airport after our 5 hour layover, right into the blue skies and sunshine! when arriving to Bali you can easily take one of the drivers right there at the airport to be your taxi and take you whenever you want, but bare in mind the reasonable price to pay would be 400,000 – 450,000 rp per day (also depending where you’re going) or you can download Grab taxi (bali’s uber version) and get around town or to your hotel like that. third option (and the cheapest one) is renting a motorbike for 100,000 rp which comes to about 7 dollars for a day and the highway is yours.

when we landed we got picked up by a dear friend of my boyfriends (a local driver), that took us straight to Padang Bai which is about 2h drive from the airport, towards the north on the east coast where we stayed a night to later in the morning take a fast boat straight to mini paradise called Gili islands. *note boat leaves 2 times a day morning and afternoon.

after another two hours we finally reached our destination Gili Air island, which what they call half relax/half party island. Gili in Sasak language (local language) means small, Trawangan being slightly bigger party island and Meno being small honeymoon island.

when we got to our little bungalow and settled in on the shore of the Bali Sea/Lombok Strait (connecting Java sea and Indian ocean) *Bali has complicating geography it started to rain for seven hours straight. now the weather in Bali divides into two seasons dry and wet, November until April is a wet season nonetheless it is still popular to come here in January to surf and enjoy the island. it is absolutely useless to check weather reports, in Indonesia weather is dictated by volcanoes and if you need to know the forecast just ask the locals!

and so we did and the next day welcomed us with beaming sunshine and good weather, and it remained like that until the very end of our trip!

crystal blue water, hot sandy beaches, washed out coral and a vivid underwater life, these islands have everything you need to relax and have plenty of adventures! snorkeling, SUP, diving, spas and bodily treatments. here is your ultimate vacationing spot!

we stayed on Gili for a while, we simply couldn’t leave earlier as planned because we wanted to enjoy the nature and those beautiful views just a tiny bit longer. good food, snorkeling trips, massages and those freshly squeezed fruit juices! mmmm paradise on earth! *for a beautiful and peaceful stay we recommend Private Slow Villas where you will be in very good hands. amazing service!

after 4 days in paradise and eating plenty of very delicious food we took an afternoon boat back to Padang Bai and from there out driver picked us up and took us straight towards Mt Batur which is located more towards north to climb 1717m to see the sunrise. the trekking starts at 3 am you get picked up and taken to have breakfast delicious banana pancake and local Bali coffee, we  started to go up at about 4 am and reached the peak at about 6. 10 am, but upsi there was no sunrise, it was covered in clouds and steam which was coming out of the volcano (there are 139 active volcanoes in Indonesia) after some time it cleared out tho and we could see a breathtaking view of Batur lake and Mt Rinjani and Mt Agung (both active) the view was amazing and experience well worth the following day leg pain!

we came down Batur and walked around local plantations taking a breathtaking car ride back to the town and then moving towards north to stay at our drivers local village. he was kind enough to let us visit his local coffee shop, dine with his family and play with his kids, we saw real local Balinese peoples lives. each family in the village has their own little house and a yard in the middle, everyone’s living across from each other. then there’s also a temple for each family. father sleeps in the middle of the houses, outside covered with curtains around his bed. epic. we saw traditional dancing and praying rituals, found a kitten in the jungle and had a chance to swim in the waterfall. we saw the poverty in which they live yet happiness on their faces! i think they value the fact that they live in such a magical place where nature in each corner is absolutely bewildering. they get to eat local produce freshly picked from the fields or collected from the trees. vegetation in Bali is god damn amazing, everything grows here, from fruits to rice to vegetables and different plants to make coffee, tea and medicine from. beautiful flowers and loads of different creatures around. oh so exciting!

after spending a night sleeping on a hard floor we took about 3h car ride back to Denpasar, rented a motorbike, stayed at the local guest house (even guest houses look like palaces or some magical shrines here in Bali) and took a 40 minute drive down south to see a famous cliffside temple called Uluwatu and roam around in a search of a cool beach to soak in! again cliffs and beautiful rocky beaches, fantastic views, warm water and very calm atmosphere. for a sunset we went to a famous sunset spot (which unfortunately gets overcrowded with tourists) to watch the sunset from and had a lovely nasi goreng – fried rice with veggies.

after so much adventure we were soo exhausted, but happy to board our plane back! not because we wanted to leave, but because we have seen so much beauty we couldn’t believe that what happened – happened to us!

BALI IS AN ULTIMATE PLACE TO RETURN TO. and not just Bali, but Indonesia itself!

there are more than 170 000 islands in Indonesia, so many things to do and see! infinite exploration possibilities!

*swim in the volcanic currents *swim with dolphins *learn how to surf *trek Mt Rinjani off Lombok island *meet monkeys *see Toraja tribe burial ceremony *visit lake toba *walk through rainforest canopy in Kalimatan *go see Komodo Dragons in Komodo National park *visit pink beach in Komodo *go caving in Jomblang *go on a Safari *visit Trunyan village

ahh guys the list is endless!

      entering year 2o19 – BALI hello my wonderful readers, this is a fresh blog post since March 2o18. sorry i have been such a lazy bum i didn't wrte anything new for quite some time eh.