Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia
March 07, 2014
Once back and packed up it was time to head off yet again on the scooter to our next destination high up in the mountains to a place called Munduk. En-route we stopped off at a Buddhist temple in Banjar which was pretty cool and it was unlike any of the Buddhist temples I had visited in China and Mongolia. The layout was totally different and although there were many statues of Buddha a lot of the statues and sculptures still had that distinct Balinese feel similar to the statues in the Hindu temples they have here. From the temple we climbed up some seriously steep rough winding roads. Steep to the point that Dani had to get off several times and walk up behind me. Hilarious watching her trailing behind with her red helmet on looking like some crazy lost insect. Once up above the clouds the views were spectacular. Lakes sat inside small valleys 4,000ft above sea level and rice terraces that cascaded down the mountainsides for miles and miles as far as the eye could see.
Munduk is a beautiful small sleepy local village and it was easy enough to find somewhere to stay for the night for just a few pounds. The views from the place we stayed at were beautiful, facing out across a massive valley of rice terraces with clouds sat below at the bottom. I wish we had spent longer there as it was so peaceful but we headed off the next morning in search of the famous temple on the lake called Ulun Danu. A short hours ride and we found it. The temple sits just offshore at the edge of the lake and frankly it’s a little disappointing given the photos of it that you see online. It is so much smaller in the flesh than the photos suggest and the fact that someone in their infinite wisdom has decided to deck the area out with massive plastic frogs and tigers really doesn’t add anything to the experience. So slightly disappointed and not wasting a lot of time there we headed off down the mountains and south towards Canggu on the South West coast.
Canggu is North of Kuta and Kuta has changed massively since the first time I came to Bali. It now sprawls for miles up the coast and has swallowed up what used to be the neighbouring villages of Legian, Seminyak and now Canggu. We sorted a place out to stay and tried to head to one of the beaches nearby but somehow ended up bang in the middle of downtown Kuta. Kuta grinds you down within a short time. Great if you want a night out as it’s party central but not really what we were looking for. We spent the day at the beach while we were there then headed back for sunset further up the coast at a beach in Canggu just near where we were staying.
The next day was a great one. An early trip on the old trusty hog further up the coast to see Tanah Lot the temple set out at sea on a large rock and as far as temples go this one does look a bit special with waves crashing all around it.
Once we had toured around there and been blessed with some local holy water we headed off in search of Echo beach a very famous surf spot on the Island. Echo beach was really cool. Pretty quiet for a beach at least compared to Kuta and some amazing breaks really close to the shore. We hired a board for a few hours and played about trying to surf which was great fun. It was a really good laugh so we ended up staying an extra couple of nights in Canggu returning to Echo beach each day to chill out, have a laugh and take in the sunsets with a few cold beers.
We had originally planned on heading further South than Kuta after Canggu, onto Jimbaran and Uluwatu but after reading further into it it didn’t seem as if there was too much to see and do down that way and the breaks at Uluwatu are massive world class surf spots way above our very novice level so we headed back up to Ubud to chill out among the rice fields and get ready for the Cup final on the Sunday.
The rice fields up that way are beautiful and so so quiet so we spent the day hiking off into the wilderness under the sun before heading back and out for the match. The bar we found to watch the match in was pretty pricey so a cheap bottle of Rum mixed with a small amount of Coke in my Camelbak saw us through the cup final. As I got more and more into the match I lost track of how much Rum I was supping and can’t remember much of the second half but I though it was great match and we certainly didn’t embarrass ourselves against hundreds of millions of pounds worth of world-class players!
The next day was spent gently recovering from the night before and we generally just mooched around Ubud and plotted our next move back to Sanur to return the little scooter that has given us so much freedom over the past few weeks. That will be followed by a boat trip across to the little Island of Nusa Lembongan just off the East coast of Bali.
I was sad to hand the scooter back. If it wasn’t for that the past few weeks would have been very different. We wouldn’t have experienced Bali like we have. Stumbling across the smallest of villages and speaking with the locals we have had the pleasure to meet along the way. Crawling along roads in torrential rain having a laugh and stopping off at random Warungs in the middle of nowhere to dry off. Bouncing our way along tiny rough off-road tracks and crawling up ridiculously steep mountain roads with Dani walking up behind as the bike simply wouldn’t make it up otherwise. It’s been a great laugh and a definite highlight of my travels so far. What I didn’t expect to do before we left for Sanur was to pop into an art gallery that we randomly stumbled across and buy two paintings. We spotted a crazy looking place on a hill with amazingly colourful paintings and popped in to take a look. The artist is an American guy who has lived in Bali for 30 plus years and his work is inspired by Andy Warhol. I was really impressed and at first thought the place was just a gallery displaying his work but it was all for sale and before I knew it I had bought two of his paintings and they are getting shipped back home soon.
So back at Sanur we sorted out a boat across to Lembongan for the following day and chilled out in a bar with some decent live Jazz on. It was good craic and I got up to join in playing the bongos for the band for one track……hopeless though I may add!
The following morning was an early start to go and catch the boat across to the Islands. It only takes half an hour but once you are there the climate is a mile away from Bali in the rainy season. It’s hot….damn hot! and it hasn’t rained one drop since we have been here. The island is tiny and is linked by a small suspension bridge to an even smaller island to its East called Nusa Ceningan.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that we decided to rent another bike for a few days to trip off round the islands. It’s nice and cheap to rent a bike out here and petrol costs buttons so off we headed again to explore the two islands. They really are beautiful islands. Your typical tropical islands that you see on picture postcards. Again there are world class surf breaks just off shore and some beautiful little secluded beaches dotted about. We stumbled across one such beach just past a place called Mushroom bay. At high tide it is only accessible by clambering up some rocks around a small peninsular and then back down some rocks on the other side. It was like being in the film ‘The Beach’ when we scrambled down the other side to find out we had a small pristine 60 yard long white sand beach to ourselves. There wasn’t a footprint in sight on it, absolute idyllic bliss for an afternoon. From there we got lost around the small maze of roads here before eventually finding the beach we were staying at just in time for sunset….and what a sunset it was. The whole sky lit up while the sun crept down behind Bali just on the horizon. To the North over the sea to Bali the Volcano of Mt Agung reared its head up above the cloud level creating a really dramatic view.
The next day we sorted out snorkeling with a guy called Ketut at a place called Mangrove point just off the Northern coast of the island. It was brilliant to see so many fish. Angel fish, tiger fish, stone fish and parrot fish among others and I also saw a moray eel which was a beast of a creature as it swam its way under a rock. Over the next couple of days we kept returning to the ‘beach’ and every single time we had the place to ourselves as it was high tide. Unbelievable really as you never really expect to get a whole beach to yourself on such a lovely tropical island. We extended our stay on the island an extra day and changed our return boat as it was really hard to leave such a lovely quiet place but eventually we had to move on as our visa only had a couple of days left.
Our last night in Bali was spent in the party town of Kuta and it was an interesting night to say the least. We dropped the bags off and headed straight out only to bump into a guy round the corner called Billy who owns a restaurant and has a cracking collection of old VW’s. Three camper vans and a ’64 red beetle that are all in great condition with all the whistles and bells. Billy was really cool and invited us into his house which was staggering. It’s set just off a quiet lane in Legian and it was like walking into a house out of a design magazine, I was gobsmacked. His hospitality was really nice so we grabbed some food at his restaurant round the corner and then headed down the main strip in Kuta. Kuta is a crazy place, generally full of drunk Aussies and the place was really busy. We grabbed a couple of mushroom drinks and wandered down to a small local beer shop and we didn’t move from there for the next 6 hours! Sat out the front on the street having a craic on with the guy who worked there and his Malaysian mate just watching the crazy street antics unfold before us. It was a cool way to spent the night out without actually going to any of the clubs. The Malaysian guy bought us all a bottle of Arak to share and combined with the mushroom drinks that’ where it all starts to get a little fuzzy.
We didn’t stumble home until about 6am and when I woke up this morning I realised my phone was stolen last night. My last recollection is a girl dressed in a Ninja suit pulling up on a scooter, grabbing my gentleman portions and the hopping back on her scooter and speeding off, I’m guessing my parts weren’t the only thing she managed to grab. Not much I can do about it but certainly an interesting night.
As I’m sat here writing this I’m sweating my piece off in a bar trying to get my head back together before heading off to the airport later. We have decided to head to Singapore next. It’s expensive there so it’s just a quick hit for two nights then we will be traveling back up the length of Malaysia and up into Thailand.
