From Camp Sawi in Cebu last year, to Broken Beach in Bali this year. Now, where to next?

It took me a while to write about our experience in Nusa Penida Island. I was hesitant, because part of me wanted to agree with all the positive reviews on the internet. But who am I kidding? This isn't gonna be a review or a where-to-go kind of travel post. You can find a lot of travel tips, itineraries and suggestions on the world wide web (Does anyone still call it like that?) or on Facebook groups where I actually got ours. Rather, this is a travel diary where I'm just gonna share our firsthand experience at the island. But for the benefit of my future self, I will (I think) publish a post about our actual itinerary, expenses and some first hand experienced tips.




My friends and I wanted a change of scenery, and since we read a lot of good reviews about Nusa Penida Island, we decided to go on a day tour. We asked our hired driver about the rate, and he was kind enough to ask his contacts about it. To our surprise, he said it would cost us 1.8millionIDR which is around 170SGD. Totally overpriced, so we haggled and the last price was 1.2millionIDR (115SGD). STILL overpriced. Good thing we didn't take it, as we found another package which is only 550000IDR (47SGD) with lunch.

And so our day started. We went to Sanur beach as early as 7:00am, since the ferry will leave at 7:30am. I was not actually surprise how the place was very crowded and crammed. It was bursting with people (both locals and tourists) sitting along side the road, waiting. Motor vehicles were vehemently parked as close to each other. There was no actual port or harbour or even a proper departure area—no seats for people waiting, no actual cashier or register, no systematic way, no people ushering passengers to line up. The ferry was more than 30 minutes late, and we had to stand under the morning heat of the sun at the beach, with at least a hundred of people. When it was time to board the ferry, we had to head out into the knee deep, brown coloured water and climb into the ferry, barefoot. The ride was nauseating, considering I was seated half inched close to a man sweating profusely.

Smile pa rin kahit sobrang bad trip na. Pero si Pam naka-simangot na :)

Sugod mga kapatid! Haha

We had to wait for more than 30 minutes like this.

When we arrived at the island, it was already past 10:00am and we had to get back at the harbour by 3:30pm as the ferry going back to Bali leaves at 4:00pm. The port at Nusa Penida was way much better in a lot of varying degrees than that of in Sanur beach.

Nusa Penida Island is not as marvelous as many Instagram photos suggest. Going from one tourist spot to another takes an hour or more, driving along the unpaved and narrow roads. And due to this, traffic is inevitable. You might actually think there's a convoy of vans packed with tourists leading to one place. Also, we only spared less than 30 minutes in one place. We literally just took photos, masabe lang na nakapunta ka na 'dun. But we must give credits to the views along the way as it was both scenic and beautiful. We even decided to skip one spot, so we can stay and chill longer at Crystal Bay.

One thing that tourists and Instagrammers don't want to show you, is how garbage is everywhere. At the destinations, trash bins are disgustingly overflowing, plastics and rubbish are scattered. I wish I took photos of it, as it would really speak for itself. People should really learn how to take care of our environment.

At the end of the day, I realized, the experience could have been better if we stayed more than a day at the island. We could have a lot of time to spare. But still, going to the island, is rather chaotic, in a true Bali fashion way.

Anyway, we still had a good time, and as much as tumultuous as our experience is, we chose to do what's best instead, and that is to have fun.

The background is called Broken Beach. It is inaccessible to people, so pang-picture taking lang talaga sya.

For the record, it is VERY dangerous to go down Angel's Billabong because big waves might wipe you out. I badly wanted to but our tour guide, and my friends were opposed to the idea.

So here I am, trying to get a decent picture at Angel's Billabong despite the tourists. Lol

Dati hanggang Ibaan lang, ngayon international na. Haha Love these twoooo.:)

Crystal Bay.

Still at crystal bay.

Egay alert at Crystal Bay. Haha

What you cannot see in this picture is the ton of trash and garbage scattered near Crystal Bay. Galing lang ng photographer ko, hindi nakita yung kalat. Haha