After honeymooning in Maldives in May, newly weds Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover who are self-confessed water babies took off to Bali on a whim two months later for some quality time together. Bali is a popular tourist destination known for its dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking and music. With a population of 4,225,000 according to the January 2014 census, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. Over to Karan for an insider's account...


GOING THE YOGA WAY
Both Bipasha and I are fitness enthusiasts. There were days when I would feel too lazy to go for a workout, but Bipasha never missed out on a gym routine and that would motivate me to swing along. I'm so glad my wife is like this; I wouldn't want it any other way. Even in Bali we'd wake up early and begin our day with yoga and meditation. We had a tutor at the luxury resort in Sayan to guide us through our yoga and meditation routine. We lived by the river Ayung near the forest and would take off on long walks in the lush green woods. It was beautiful! We tried aerial yoga at our hotel in Jimbaran. It's an unusual exercise, which involved two thick sheets, which are turned into ropes to swing from. We hadn't attempted it earlier. It was intense but great fun!


OF SUNSET CRUISES AND STAR-GAZING
Also, since we're both water babies and the Jimbaran resort is by the beach, we spent most of our time at the beach and in the pool. I am a Piscean and given an opportunity, I can stay in the water all the time. We went on a sunset cruise with amazing music and champagne on board. The champagne was wasted on us because neither of us drinks alcohol. Another amazing dinner was at a rooftop restaurant in Sayan with great music and a telescope to watch the stars. Unfortunately for us, the sky wasn't too clear that night so we didn't get to do much star-gazing. But it was still; a memorably serene evening and we gorged on some amazing Malay food. I love their roti-canai and mutton curry.

Whenever we travel, we make sure to try the local cuisine. One of our most memorable Indonesian meals was the Murtabak which is a stuffed panfried bread with layers of egg and kheema.

My personal favourite is Nasi Goreng, a rice-based dish with skewers of chicken and fried eggs on top. Basically, it's their version of biriyani and I gorge on it whichever part of the world I'm in. Since it's an Indonesian dish, I had to try the original and it was just as great.

Bipasha loved the desserts and found a strange similarity with Bengali sweets like Pithe with patali gur, which is a steamed pancake with melted jaggery and Narkeler Nadu a coconut ladoo.

MOSTLY INDOORS
We mostly stayed in the resort but did make a trip to the local market. However, that too was with the intention of exploring the place and experimenting with the local cuisine. We didn't shop much and just strolled around.

We saw this huge monumentlike structure of Lord Ram with Hanumanji and his monkey army which showcases how culturally similar India and Indonesia are. Bali is known for its nightlife but we didn't go out to party. We went back to the hotel by 9 pm. Basically we are young looking, old people.

The reach of our cinema and television is huge and we are usually recognised where ever we go except for Bali. People would occasionally approach us for photographs and small talk, but that's about it. The locals are pleasant, sweet, humble people.