Sitha & Mohan Rangan’s Beautiful Trip to Indonesia—A Tale of Culture, Traditions & Beyond

Mr Mohan Rangan and Mrs Sitha Mohan Rangan travelled to Indonesia recently with Pickyourtrail and they are no short of stories to tell! Listen to them as they warmly share their newfound love for Indonesia.

It just started out to be yet another vacation plan. Little did we know we’ll gain memories to keep telling stories about for a lifetime! Yes, I have always firmly believed most of the greatest moments in life are the ones that are unplanned for. In travelling, it is in experiencing what we never planned to. Or is it?

Reality kicks in. What if I get dropped at the wrong place in an unknown country? What if I miss my transit in the middle of the night? There are so many you can’t control.

What started as a random conversation about our son’s classmate, Mr Srinath Shankar being in the travel industry, turned out to be one of the best decisions about our vacation. We chose Pickyourtrail and the rest of the process was a breeze.

Day 1

Each and every detail of the trip was looked into meticulously keeping our interests and age in mind. Our itinerary couldn’t have been more perfect—we were thrown several suggestions on places to visit in Bali like temples, heritage sites, cultural programmes and beautiful beaches. It’s much fair to say they left no stone unturned while crafting the itinerary.

On the 15th of September, we embarked upon our pleasure trip to Bali(Land of Deities & Spirituality, as I would call) in Indonesia. We landed in Denpasar Bali airport and boarded the transit waiting for us. Our stay in Jimbaran, the Astari Villa & Residence, was nothing short of a quintessential Bali experience, and the warm hospitality of the staffs cannot go unmentioned. We spent the rest of the day in leisure as we wanted to charge up for the upcoming days.

Day 2

After having a scrumptious breakfast, we set out on our first activity, South Bali trail. We spent some good leisure time in Tanjung Benoa and Nusa Dua Beaches before visiting the Garuda Wisnu Kencana cultural park. The rustic Asian vibes were everywhere to be felt and I still warmly recall the serene sunset experience later in Uluwatu. And the culture bit was fulfilled by the Kecak dance performance that we wound up our day with.

Day 3

We really wanted out vacation be a perfect mix of leisure plus nature experiences. And Bali had it all. We started out with visiting the 17th century Taman Ayun temple. Later we set out to take in the exquisite view of the Bedugul twin lake. The setting was perfect, the weather just fine and it was one of those days where every element works together in making your day perfect. We ended our day with a visit to the beautiful Jatiluwih rice terraces and Tanah Lot temple.

Day 4

Jimbaran was awesome and we were sure no other place in Indonesia can quite surpass it. Or that’s so we thought. But Ubud! We were so charged up from the first half of the trip that we started off right away to explore Ubud. In fact, we couldn’t wait. Our stay at Ayung resort in Ubud, as usual, was classic Bali. We had hired a car and went on a leisurely ride. The trip was very scenic and mindblowing, and it couldn’t have been so enjoyable if not for our chauffeur-cum-guide Mr Subali. His empathy and insider knowledge of Bali is unmatched. We were very relieved when we could get authentic vegetarian food there, and thanks to him we didn’t face any culture shock when it comes to food. We later went on a culture expedition around Ubud and called it a day.

Day 5

This was a day I was personally looking forward to. Tegallalang pops up just about every time someone even talks about Bali. We visited the place after a short tour of the Tirta Empul temple. The place was so stunning that it exceeded our expectations. Then came the mandatory shopping part. We meandered through the Ubud art market and bought a handful of Indonesian specials for memories.

Day 6

Our last day in Ubud we got to witness a fair share of Bali’s wilderness and traditions alike. We visited the Besakih Mother temple—the oldest and one of the most preserved heritage monuments in Ubud. We took an excursion to two of the spectacular active volcanoes in Bali, Kintamani and Batur volcanoes. We ended the day with a cultural show of Barong performance in the nearby artisan villages. We bid adieu to Indonesia the next day with warm memories and of course a handful of souvenirs:)

And yes, we understood why Indonesia is the talk of every town.

How helpful was Pickyourtrail in helping this adorable couple manifest their dream vacation? It seems, big time! Hear what they have to say:

The excellent coordination for our Bali packages between the Chennai and Bali representatives of PYT cannot go unmentioned. We encountered no difficulty anywhere, as the help was prompt and forthcoming. Everything from excellent communication networks and wonderful accommodations to end-to-end transit, it might be Pickyourtrail’s best yet!