THIS MONTH’S WINNING ENTRY IS BY JOANNA DODD

I’ve travelled to many places in Asia over the past 20 years and although I was aware of Bali, I had no great desire to go there. I thought it would be just another highly commercialised tourist destination… same old, same old.

However, at the urging of an old friend, I recently made a month-long visit to Bali and am still amazed at how wrong I was and how fantastic Bali actually is.
We started with 11 glorious days in Ubud to rest, relax and shop. Our homestay (Gusti Garden Bungalows) was beautiful, set in a lush garden of bougainvilleas, ferns and palms. Butterflies the size of sparrows and birds the size of butterflies flapped in the frangipanis around the brilliant blue pool.

Ubud is a small, charming hill town and the ideal spot to acclimatise to the tropical conditions while treating yourself to the many options for scented baths, massages, scrubs, facials, pedicures and other therapies. The prices are very reasonable and I used the opportunity to have a massage every evening until my work-stressed back muscles finally gave it up and softened.

Exploring is a delight in Ubud, from the hustle and colour of the main market to the traditional-style, open-air restaurants. We ate exotic feasts across a range of venues from the famous Casa Luna, run by expat Aussie Janet De Neefe, to tiny roadside cafés where icy cold drinks came in vintage recycled bottles.
Ubud is also a great destination for shoppers, offering silver jewellery, sarongs and other clothing, traditional arts and crafts, bronze artefacts and stone statues. The impressive temples provide backdrops for the frequent exhibitions of traditional legong dance and gamelan orchestras.

I scuba dived on the wreck of the USS Liberty off the eastern coast town of Amed. The wreck is an amazing looming hulk festooned with coral and is home to thousands of colourful fish and other aquatic critters. There are many other spectacular dive sites along this coastline.

At the tiny village of Sideman Road, I visited an ancient Hindu temple in the shadow of the magnificent volcano, Mount Agung. My hosts invited me to join the Full Moon festival and I was warmly welcomed by other local people to join their feast of tasty dishes after the ceremony.

The Balinese people are friendly and gentle and interacting with them was a highlight of the trip. I loved everywhere I travelled and learned to keep even stressful travel moments (lost hotel bookings, health problems) tolerable by being as calm, polite and relaxed as my hosts.

We finished our journey in Sanur, an upmarket, low-key version of Kuta. We indulged with more massages, scrubs and polishes, some final shopping for handmade leather shoes and bags, and some pool and beach time before jetting home looking and feeling very relaxed and fit.

Joanna Dodds lives with her partner and his two boys outside Tathra, New South Wales. She loves writing, horseriding, bellydance and singing, and will return to Bali in September with friends and family.

How to Win:
If you’ve travelled Jetstar to/from or within Australia in the past year, we’d love to hear from you! Send in your 500-word holiday story from any Jetstar destination and six of your best holiday snaps. The winning entry will be published in JETSTAR Magazine and win 2 JetSaver return tickets flying Jetstar between your closest port and a direct Jetstar operated port. It’s that easy! Send your travel story to: writerscomp@jetstar.com

Terms & Conditions:
Contest will run every month. Entry submissions must be received by the 8th of the month. Maximum prize value is AU$756 based on 2 return flights from Adelaide to Cairns. Entrants must be Australian residents. Ink Publishing reserves the right to edit the winning submission and the judges decision is final. Employees of Jetstar Airways and Ink Publishing are not eligible to enter. For full terms and conditions, please visit www.jetstar.com/writerscomp