The stuff dreams are made of. Paradise. Any superlative you can think of….this is it!
We were here in Bali for a day last month while on a cruise, and went on an excursion to the Palace of Justice and some other temples. It was a trip to explore Bali’s heritage, and we saw many old beautiful buildings, shrines, and temples. This is a totally different Bali. We are on the southern tip of the island, in an area called Nusa Dua, developed with resorts to appreciate Bali’s coastal beauty. And it is a WOW place.
Hilton took over the Grand Nikko Resort at the end of 2016 and has been upgrading the hotel and grounds ever since. It is set on 28 acres and is just stunning. Rooms are above the beach on a cliff, so every room has a view of the Indian Ocean. It is very much a maze, with walkways, elevators, and staircases everywhere, leading off in so many directions. Just as in Hawaii, the lobby is open-air, no walls, which means it can be either fairly warm or nice and breezy. We have been here over four days, and today is the first day off the property, as Mike went on an all-day diving trip, this time in the ocean. Everything we need or want is here on site, at a cost of just over US $100 per night. Bali’s prices are amazingly low for just about everything.
Bali is well-known for its indigenous monkeys, and even has a forest sanctuary for them with “monkey temples” that look like something out of Indiana Jones. We are happy to report that monkeys also hang out at all of the resorts. In the last two photos, you can see them on the resort walls and on our balcony! The mom in the upper middle of our balcony is holding the tiniest monkey we have ever seen…it surely was born in the last two weeks. They hung out for a while, looking for food, no doubt. Upon check-in, we were told not to leave food out on the balcony, as it would cause a lot of visitors to descend upon our peaceful haven. So we didn’t!…but they came, anyway. We are in Bali for a month, and could easily stay here in Heaven much longer.
