72 Hours in Kenya

We booked our flights 2 weeks before the trip and had to visit the travel clinic in Dubai to get vaccinated against yellow fever.

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I’d say Kenya was one of the most amazing trips of our lives. As soon as we landed in Nairobi, we took a van and drove to Masai Mara. We stopped at 2 provinces on our way. It is a 5 hours drive from Nairobi to Masai Mara.

As soon as we arrived, we had lunch and went on a safari. We met Timon and Pumba LOL and saw giraffes and lions. We went back to the resort before it got dark. We had dinner that night and enjoyed a presentation by the Masai Tribe.

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The next day, we woke up REALLY EARLY in the morning and we didn’t have enough sleep of the hyenas. YESSS!!! HYENAS!!! We later continued our safari trip to meet the big 5 animals of Africa and had lunch in the middle of the jungle overlooking the crocodiles and hippos. Our tour guide explained the migration process which we missed by a month. We drove to the Masai Village to meet the people and they performed a wedding ceremony. They taught us how they build their homes and their lifestyle. They also showed us how a man would propose to a woman and I pretended to be a potential pride. Basically, the man who wants to marry her has to jump really high, if he can’t he has to provide 10 cows as dowry but if he manages to, he then can offer 6 cows instead. Tim jumped really high that the chief of the village joked and said sorry Nissreen you don’t get any cows LOL. We bought lots of items from the village because everything they offered was made by hand was beautiful.

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Our final day in Kenya, we drove back to Nairobi and had dinner at a province. We also stopped at a souvenir store to purchase a painting of the Masai Tribe. We were so upset that it was our last day in Kenya because we really fell in love with that place.

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Here is a fantastic article written by my close and good friend Christina Voskou. The article is called ‘Safari Holiday – Jumbo Kenya’.

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Monkey Forrest in Ubud

Tim and I stayed in Ubud and the first highlight of our trip was the Monkey Forrest which we highly recommend. It is a sanctuary for Balinese Monkeys. It’s in a village called Padangtegal. There are approx. 700 monkeys in the Forrest. It is one of the most visited places in Ubud and have about 100,000 visitors a month.

The Monkey Forrest is huge and has 3 temples inside. Good Luck finding it all. The villagers believe the Monkey Forrest to be a spiritual place. Honestly, the Forrest is breathtaking and the pictures are not enough proof of how wonderful the place is.

 

 

 

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4 Days in Bali

In our 4 days in Bali, we stayed at an amazing resort called Sankara Resort which is located in Ubud. They serve amazing meals and offer free yoga classes early in the morning and the view is extremely breathtaking.

Day 1:

We arrived late afternoon because we had to wait for almost 2 hours for our luggage. We were picked up by the resort and since it got late, we decided to have dinner in the resort. They had a Traditional Night and served an amazing 5 course meal and we enjoyed a night of Balinese music and food.

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Day 2:

Our resort offered a reasonable private tour around Bali. We started our day with a delicious 3 course breakfast and headed out to explore Ubud. Our adventure started at the Monkey Forrest which we highly recommend. We then visited a small town and walked through the rice field. Funny thing you need to pay for every level of rice field you walk to. Tim and I just used the drone LOL. After taking pictures and meeting locals, we continued our journey to the Volcano called Galunggung. We were so unlucky, it started raining heavily so we took lots of pictures and drove straight to the Holy Spring. The Tirta Empul Tampak Siring, the Bali Holy Spring Water Temple. When we arrived there, the rain stopped but the weather became so humid and SUPER HOT. I don’t do well in heat and I’m a desert girl but I’m used to cool weather and air condition. So whenever it gets really hot, I need tsunami of nose bleed. It was over flowing and I was standing in the middle of the temple. I rushed to the toilet, people thought I got beaten up and I left the toilet looking like a murder scene and I’m not exaggerating. It was so embarrassing so I paid the lady and helped her clean the toilet.

After relaxing for a bit and getting cold iced water and ice cream for me to cool down, we visited the Rocky Temple and the Elephant Cave. I felt like Lara Croft when we got there, I never would have imagine historical places like that. You see it in movies like Indiana Jones or something. It was WOW!!! Left me speechless.

We stopped to try different types of Balinese coffees and had the Luwak Coffee. The famous and most expensive coffee that has poop. LOL

Summary of the Day Trip: Monkey Forrest, Rice Field, Volcano, Holy Spring, Rocky Temple and Elephant Cave.

At night, we walked around the town and of course went for a foot massage (fish massage) where those little tiny creatures just bite your feet to remove the dead skin. Although it was my second time to do it, I don’t find it pleasant at all because I’m ticklish. Of course, we also had a full body massage followed by dinner.

Day 3:

We got up early in the morning to have breakfast and head really early to the medicine man. Our hotel guide dropped us to the medicine man who was mentioned in Eat Pray, Love. Sadly, he passed away; however, his son took over his fathers duties and read my palm. I’ve blogged about it previously. Check it Out ‘Meeting the Medicine Man from Eat, Pray, Love’.

After our session, we rented a moped and drove around town. We went to local markets to do some shopping. At night, our tour guide took us to the Bali Zoo and we went for a Night Safari and had dinner there.

Summary: Medicine Man, Ubud Market and Bali Zoo

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Day 4:

We got up really early in the morning and had a quick breakfast and packed our swimming gear. We went for a swim under the Tegenungan Waterfall, Ubud. It was so slippery, everyone were helping each other not to slip.

As soon as we were done, the tour guide asked ‘so guys, where would you like to go?‘. I just shouted the WATER TEMPLE. The temple is called Ulun Danu Temple, it’s located in Bratan Lake. It took us 3 hours but we stopped to take a break but BIG BIG MISTAKE we stopped at the strawberry farm. If you guys don’t know, I’m allergic to strawberry so I started getting rashes so we had to move immediately.Ā  As we got there, it started raining so we took lots of pictures and stopped at a restaurant called De Danau. The food was delicious.

We later visited the biggest rice field in Bali and headed to Tanah Lot Temple to watch the sunset. We ate dinner at the local market and tried a lot of street food. That’s how we. Bellion Travels spent our time in Bali.

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Art in Baku

We travelled with my architect best friend Mimi and we dedicated one whole day to visit all the art museums and galleries. Little did we know that we picked the worst month to visit Baku. All the art galleries and museums were closed that month and we didnā€™t even know why. We walked a lot that day from one museum to another but the doors were locked and we even crossed a motor way LOL to get to one which was closed. Even the famous Museum of Modern Art was closed.

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The main placed we wanted to visited were Museum of Modern Art, National Art Museum and YAY Gallery and all were closed in the month of October but we managed to check out some quirky cafes and witnessed amazing building architecture (especially Zaha Hadid) and statues.

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Baku is one city that would be amazing to visit for Art Lovers. Hopefully, we get to visit it again and check out the art works.

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June 2018 Recap

June was a busy month compared to May. We’ve done a lot and visited places in the UAE. Eid (Muslim Celebration) was in June so we got a day off and enjoyed the holiday.

Destinations we’ve visited

Tim and I started hanging out more in Abu Dhabi. Since we are new in this city, there are a lot of places to explore. We stayed in Sharjah for a night to celebrate Eid with my family. We stayed in Ajman for the weekend at a luxurious 5-star hotel called ‘Ajman Saray’ and of course, we met up with friends in Dubai.

Highlights of the month

  • Iftar at Meydan Hotel WOOOW!!!
  • Stayed in Sharjah for a night to celebrate Eid
  • Stayed in Ajman for the weekend

What have we watched?

Series:

  • 13 Reasons Why (Season 2) – DONE
  • Breaking Bad – Season 3
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine- Season

Movies:

  • Jurassic World
  • Incredibles 2 – OMG! LOVED IT

What have I blogged about in June?

So here are some of the highlights for the month of June. Lately, Tim and I are gardening, sorting some things in the Philippines and “trying” to relax more, which is not happening. So hopefully, we won’t have to drive a lot more to Dubai and Sharjah in the month of July and just spend more time in Abu Dhabi. I’m sick of the drive since I commute everyday from Abu Dhabi to Dubai because of work. Yes, I did resign but it was verbally and not officially. I’ll keep you updated once I do.

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