Lovina, Bali, Indonesia
February 20, 2014
After a couple of days at the homestay North of Ubud near Tegallalang we headed South of Ubud to stay with Wayan and his family in Gianyar. We thought we were a little lost after trying to find the marker I had put on my map so we had pulled in to try and get our bearings as we knew we were near. As we sat on the bike checking we looked 3 yards across the road to see a sign for Wayans homestay…….we had pulled up right outside it by a stroke of luck! They have a really nice house there and the temple in their compound is beautiful.
Wayan’s father is a wood-carver and his skills were amazing from the many carvings around the place and the sculpture he was currently working on for a customer. They all made us feel very welcome in the small village that they live in so it was easy to settle in for a couple of days and feel comfortable, it’s hard not to feel comfortable as anywhere we have been so far as everyone is unbelievably friendly here, they genuinely seem happy to see you out and about and having fun on this Island.
We had a chat with Wayan around what was out and about near his village and decided to take a ride out to see a waterfall at Tegenungung a few kilometers from where we were. We didn’t find the waterfall and got caught in a massive downpour, raining so hard it actually hurt our skin as we got beaten with the raindrops. So we pulled into a small local Warung to grab some lunch and sit out the rain.
As we sat there I looked up to find a small sign on the opposite side of the road directing us to the waterfall….very spooky, twice in one day we have randomly pulled over on the scooter only to find we were exactly where we needed to be! Unfortunately the rain didn’t ease at all, so soggily we made our way back to Wayan’s leaving the waterfall for another day. The rest of the day was a chilled affair, looking online to find out what else we want to go and see that is nearby and looking at other places to stay around the Island.
The next day looked a lot better so we headed off early to the waterfall. It was quite impressive, but the recent rains had churned up all the mud from the river bed so the water looked a lot like the river and waterfall in Willy Wonker and the chocolate factory. Although impressive it didn’t look appealing to pop in for a dip but we still climbed our way down the stairs to go and have a closer look.
On the way down we spotted a family of monkeys jumping through the river and parking up on a rock to survey their surroundings before leaping off again into the jungle and swinging past us in the trees. It’s really good to see these creatures living their lives in their natural habitat, just how it should be, well away from a Zoo.
From the waterfall we headed back through Ubud for a spot of lunch at Mama’s warung again (the satay there is too hard to resist!) before continuing North back towards the temple we had stumbled upon a couple of days earlier at Gunung Kawi as we did not get the chance to go in and explore the place before as it was getting dark. This Temple is well off the beaten track and not really frequented by tourists but it is truly stunning, set in a deep ravine with a backdrop of overgrown jungle all around it, you round a corner in the road and there it is sat below you in all it’s glory.
Once inside the gardens it is so so peaceful. I’m not sure how old this temple is but it looks at one with the nature around it, fountains and figurines all overgrown with moss, it really looks the part. We spent a good hour there before heading round the corner in search of the holy spring we had heard about where the locals come to wash away their sins. Once down a myriad of moss-covered wet slippery steps we passed a small Hindu temple and arrived at the spring. We were welcomed and encouraged by the locals to strip off and take a dip in the fast flowing water to wash away our sins. Well it would be rude not too so sure enough we popped under the fast rushing water which was immensely refreshing, flowing around you so fast it would wash away anything let alone sins. At this point I guess I should also mention about the religion here in Bali. Bali is home to the majority of Indonesia’s very small minority Hindu population. 92% of the people here practice Hindu, the rest is made up of Muslim’s and Catholic’s, and they get along seamlessly no matter what they believe or follow.
What they practice is Balinese Hinduism and it is loosely based around praying for happiness, a good day and a good life. They believe in Karma so try to live their life as pure and happy as they can. Any sins they may have they like to shed at the end of each day by cleansing themselves and start the next afresh by praying for another happy and good day. I am not a religious man at all, I am an atheist, only Buddhism has tempted me in the past when I was a curious teenager questioning myself and my beliefs but I am truly struck by what I have discovered here in Bali on this trip. During my past visits I have been overwhelmed by how happy and friendly the locals are. You have to experience it to understand what I mean but it is all around you each and every day here. You trundle through the tiniest of villages well off the tourist routes and the people are smiling and waving and shouting hello. You pull up at a tiny Warung in the middle of no where and everyone comes out to greet you. You need directions and they are so eager to help, and it is literally everyone.
It really does have me questioning if this is something I would want to practice loosely in my own inner self as it is so close to how I have felt lately. I have changed a lot over the last couple of years in my thoughts of what really makes me happy and what I want from life and this adventure I am on is starting to give me some kind of answers and cohesion among that. I am not talking about fully following a faith more a thought of how I live my daily life and live for the moment but at the same time the way the people practice their faith here is by inner happiness and belief not by the rigid preaching you see in other religions. Anyway I guess that is enough of the deep stuff I have experienced lately so back to the adventures.
Having cleansed and refreshed ourselves we grabbed a bite to eat on the way back to Wayan’s at Bintang Warung. It’s a lovely little cheap place North of Ubud sat overlooking the rice fields and ducks, it’s very idyllic and a great end to yet another great day. Once back we hung out with Wayan, his family and dog Kimmi, chatting away about this and that before packing up our stuff ready to move on the next morning.
The next morning was bright and sunny, a good day for traveling on the bike. We had checked for places to stop off at on the way and found a temple at Klungkung and a water palace at Tirta Gangga that looked like they were worth checking out so off we tootled again down small winding country lanes past even more rice fields and through tiny sleepy villages. After a few hours we rolled into Klungkung, a little lost as it’s very much a local town with no westerners around. We weaved through a few of the main streets and parked up at a warung in a main street to grab some lunch and check on the map where we were. Strangely enough as per the previous few days we had pulled up within 10 metres of the temple we were looking for. This good fortune of arriving at these places is becoming a bit of a bizarre habit! The temple itself was nothing spectacular although the paintings inside the roof were quite impressive and it was a nice place to hang out for half an hour after lunch.
From Klungkung we headed North East and climbed up some very steep rough terrain on the wee scooter, picking our way round deep pot holes, clinging on hoping not to disappear into deep holes while ploughing through 30 ft long puddles and waving at all the smiling faces along the way. An hour or so later after the guidance of many a villager we pulled up outside the water palace at Tirta Ganggan. The palace is beautiful. Set on the side of a hill in massive grounds surrounded by lush jungle and hillside rice terraces. The grounds themselves are really well maintained. Ornate fountains and water follies set among colourful gardens.
Stepping stones take you from one part to another and the way it has been constructed it makes the stones look as if they are floating on the surface of the water which is quite a strange feeling when you walk across them. Again like all the other places we have been lucky enough to visit there were hardly any other westerners there, the whole place was lovely and quiet and well worth spending an hour or two just ambling around and enjoying the place.
From Tirta Ganggen we headed off back down the hills in search of another palace at Ujung but as the day was wearing on and we couldn’t find it we needed to crack on and get to our next place to stay in Amed on the North East coast. It’s been great fun riding the scooter but I didn’t fancy the idea of negotiating pot holes and winding mountain lanes in the dark. So we headed back, up over past the water palace again and off into the wilderness of Mount Agung.
The next two hours of winding up and down the mountain saw some of the best scenery we have come across so far. Nearly every turn round the next corner drew a breath of sheer beauty with steep-sided rice terraces as far as the eye could see. It was hard to focus on riding at times so the pace slowed down quite a bit but eventually we leveled out and the coast appeared in front of us as we approached the small seaside town of Amed.
Amed is a nice chilled fairly sleepy seaside town. It’s grown a little around tourism as it is a popular place for diving and snorkeling and a few of the other travelers I met there were complaining about how much it has changed over the years and it isn’t as quite as it used to be due to tourism. What they need to remember is that when they started coming they were and still are tourists themselves. There are few places left on the planet that are iconic and worthy of visiting without a tourist industry built around it. You come to accept that. I obviously wanted to see the great wall of China and the Terracotta Army but I knew I was not going to be the only person visiting those places on that particular day.
I liked Amed. It has a nice laid back feel about it. There is a fairly strong Rasta presence there and a couple of bars have some decent live Reggae on a night so it’s a good place to relax and unwind. We had only planned on staying there a couple of nights and one of the things we had wanted to do was visit a series of six temples that climb up the side of a mountain. However Dani came down with a chest infection and combined with one full day of torrential rain (the day we attempted to get to these temples but had to turn back) we ended up staying an extra night just to let her rest up a bit more. We chilled around the town for the rainy day and ended up heading off down the winding coastal road to find the water palace at Ujung that we couldn’t find a couple of days ago.
The route down the coast was beautiful. Stunning views looking out across the Bali Sea towards Lembongan and Lombok. The road snaking its way through the tiniest of villages sat clinging to the hillside with the usual smiling waving children and adults happy to see us roll by. Taking this route it was easy to find the water palace as it suddenly appears when you round the corner from the beach at Ujung, and it’s a huge site so you can’t miss it. We were so close to finding it a couple of days earlier, only a kilometer around the corner from it. Again it was a very impressive place, even bigger than Tirta Gangga but not as ornate and well maintained. I had read that it was a palace in ruins but it looks like a lot of restoration work has been done and is ongoing so once finished it should be quite a sight
It steps up at the back with giant terraces that are now being used by the locals to cultivate rice which gives a lovely view of the restored gardens and palace below, with the sea as the backdrop to the right and Mount Agung to the left. The ride there took a good couple of hours so we headed back fairly early to avoid having to bounce our way through muddy pot holes and streams in the dark.
We hadn’t quite decided where to head off to the following day and still didn’t decide until after we had left our place in Amed and were sat in the Rasta bar pondering our next move. I had wanted to go to Kintamani near Mount Batur and Dani was also wanting to go to an old traditional village for a night called Munduk. Eventually we settled for heading right up North towards Buleleng as it would be a good base for exploring the Northern part of the Island and after that we would then drop down towards Munduk.
So tank full of petrol and bags on our back we headed off further up the East coast. A big black cloud that had built up over Mount Agung was chasing us up the road and eventually caught up with us as the bright sunshine ahead disappeared and gave way to yet more torrential rain for an hour. We sat it out at the road side at a small shop before throwing the Ponchos on and cracking on through it the best we could. Eventually it gave way to nice blue skies again just as I spotted a sign for a waterfall to our left so the brakes were hammered on and away we climbed up past a village in search of said waterfall.
The locals here are good little business men and women and sure enough when we arrived there was the standard 50p charge each to walk past someones crudely made ticket office to head off through the jungle to the waterfall. After 30 minutes trekking we arrived among the spray of a 60ft waterfall.
It was nice with nobody else around other than a local couple who were up there and I went in search of a better view wading across the fast running water only to lose one of my flip-flops as I got stuck half way across. Wounded is not the word as I had to start hobbling my way back down afterwords with one flip-flop foot and one bare foot gingerly crossing the sharp stones and rocks. We arrived at a tiny warung in the jungle only to discover a small pile of odd left foot only flip-flops that the guy had collected from the river. It’s safe to say I was not the first to experience a flip-flop disaster at this waterfall and after acquiring a spare from the pile we headed back down to the scooter, myself looking like a fool with two left footed flip-flops of different colours.
Nightfall came as we were still heading along the North coast past Buleleng and into Singaraja the second biggest city on the Island. We had found somewhere to stay about 10km past the city and as we approached the heavens opened yet again. Riding around a new city in Indonesia, in the dark and torrential rain with thousands of other scooters, cars and trucks is an experience I wont forget that quickly. Terrifying is not the word but we splashed and slid our way among it all until eventually, soaked through we found our digs for the night. It was late when we arrived and we chilled out with a couple of beers and some food, happy just to be in one piece safe and sound.
The next day brought glorious sun. Most of the rain comes in the afternoon once the heat has built up over the mountains so we headed out early in search of what is supposed to be the most spectacular waterfall in Bali at Sekumpul. From the coast we weaved our way again through the smallest of villages and rough little dirt tracks up high into the mountain side towards Sekumpul. Once there it was a 40 minute trek up and down jungle hillside until a massive steep valley unfolded itself in front of us.
It was another one of those jaw dropping moments when it suddenly appeared in front of us. A 600ft deep ravine with several massive waterfalls dropping out through the jungle foliage and rice fields up on the tall peak in the distance. The water just appeared from nowhere, literally dropping out of the jungle high above. We headed down the slippery wet steps until we reached the bottom and headed round to the main waterfalls to the left. Once there it was clear that we couldn’t really get that close to it all as the river was swelling and moving so fast that we would have been swept away. The spray was drenching us from a good 100ft away such was the volume of water that was crashing down. From there we headed back and over to the right to see if we could reach the other waterfalls. We wanted to go in for a dip but a local guide was headed back with a few travelers and warned us that as the rain had started the water was moving too quickly to get anywhere near the bottom of the falls. We hung around for a while in two minds as we really wanted to do it but eventually reasoned that the locals probably know best and that it would be worth coming back another time when there has been less rain.
A long climb back up to the house where we had parked the scooter saw us make it just before yet another massive down pour. Just as well we didn’t head further towards that waterfall. We grabbed some lunch at the guys house who had looked after our scooter and eventually decided to brave the rain as it had eased slightly. As we breezed downhill and away from the mountains the skies cleared again and the warmth hit us as we reached the coast. Another hour later and we rode back past where we were staying and onto a place called Banjar where there is a hot holy spring that you can take a dip in. The springs are set among lush jungle and the water is beautiful and warm’ It was just what we needed having been drenched through earlier at the top of mountains. It was a nice welcome break at the end of another great but tiring day.
