Good bye Bali

Leave a reply

Good morning one last time shakey Indonesia!

Today we are leaving at around 8pm for Dubai, so we won’t move around so much. Our plans for the day are to relax on the beach, have some lunch, a last balinese massage and finally go to the airport.

Tonight there were no more big earthquake so we slept well.

So, let’s start with a good breakfast! Sara went with her Indonesian breakfast while Antonio sticked to the American one.

Bacon, sausages, fruits, and waffles.

Nasi Goreng as become a must for Sara

Some kind of folded fried banana pancake

After breakfast we packed our luggage and left it at the reception, so we could use the motorbike freely.

The hotel provided also a private beach club, easing us from renting an umbrella. We stayed on the beach for a couple of hours. Antonio fell asleep, while Sara went exploring the water.

The first thing that hits you in Sanur beach are the dead corals in the sand, literally! It’s impossible to walk without flip-flops as the corals are sharp and it’s easy to get cut.
The beach has more corals than sand, and there are small coral “islands” very close to the shore to which you can easily walk to getting wet just to the waist.

It’s very likely you can find huge amazing shells, and it’s a challenge to walk in the water without stepping on a starfish. Those were black, hairy and big, but very pretty!
After getting sun burned once again we went for a walk on the promenade along the beach.
It was full of restaurants and locals offering massages and other services. We bought a small statue of a flying pig. I seriously have no clue why. We also affined our bargaining skills, now we were able to buy stuff at less than half the starting price.

We wrote a few tips and suggestions for that at the end if this post.

Yesterday we didn’t manage to eat at a popular local warung because of the tsunami warning issued, so we decided to try again for today’s lunch. The warung is Little Bird Sanur, and it’s very easy to find, just follow the nasi goreng smell!

All the reviews were good on the quality of both food and service, but the portions were huge!

We ordered four differents dishes. As the first arrived we realized we f@#ked-up. The sizes were really monstrous.

Chicken noodles

Chicken, rice and tomatoes.

Healthy sandwich

Cap Cay – Veggies soup

Everything was delicious!

Stuffed and happy we went back to the hotel and while Sara was having her balinese massage Antonio went for a food hunt to bring something local home.

The balinese massage was nice but not at all relaxing, as it alternated good moments and painful ones.

We gathered our luggages and took a taxi to the airport. This time we went along the only highway of Bali, it’s built on water and it’s quite impressive.

Denpasar airport is bigger than we remembered, so we shopped a little and went through the very slow baggage drop.

Off we go! 9 hours of flight, 8 hours of stopover in Dubai airport and finally 6 hours of flight to finally get to Bologna!

Since this last post is quite short we decided to collect some tips/facts we apprehended during our two weeks there.

Some curiosity…

  • Bali is literally invaded by roosters. You may see them or not, but you’ll hear them. Every day. At all times. And some of them don’t even know how to sing. It’s like despacito, but worst!

[wpvideo 68aMEhMa]

  • Bamboo is used for everything. You’ll find straws made with young bamboo, baskets, boxes, etc… Bamboo is also used as construction material, to build scaffolding, ladders, and to support new floors as house construction goes.

  • When you rent a motorcycle, you will need to refuel, as all of them are sucked dry before being given to you… The only official retailer is Pertamine. You’ll find these big stations basically everywhere in the cities and in the main roads. Otherwise you can just refuel on “private contractors”. If you look closely at the corner of the streets, roads or muletracks you’ll see shelves full of vodka bottles both yellowish or blue. That’s gasoline. A bottle of the blue one costs around 10k idr. It’s more expensive than in the official stations, but you wont get stranded.

  • Balinese people are curious. It may happen to be approached by someone while walking, staring at shops, or even riding the motorcycle. They will ask you where you are going, where you are from, or more. They need to know everything about everyone. If they are not trying to sell you something the will actually help you if you need help. So don’t panic, smile, and answer politely.
  • You are going to eat a lot of fruit. Most likely you will eat dragon fruit. If you do be aware that this tasty son of a bitch will paint your urine of a lovely red colour. When in the morning you’ll pee don’t be scared. That’s not blood. It’s just crimson deliciousness.

Some tips for best experience…

  • Taxi. Once you land in Bali’s airport you’ll need to get to your hotel. Do not catch the first person who screams “taxy?” at you. The only official taxy company on the island is BlueBird. It’s cheap, safe, and will save you money. For best experience download the Android or iPhone app. With that you’ll be able to book a taxi, check the fare, see the taxi cars around you, and check the path on a map. The only downside is that you will only find BlueBird in Denpasar area. They are hard to find in Ubud and inexistent in Lovina.
  • Motorcycle. If you feel brave enough and have experience with a motorcycle, the best way to move around is renting one. You’ll find scooter rentals everywhere in every city you go. You can bargain with them on the road or ask your hotel to get one for you. Before you pay for it check blinkers, front and stop lights, tires and breaks. Driving in Balinese traffic may be a stressful experience and you don’t want you tire to go flat, or your stop light to not work properly. Once you have it, go with the flow! Bali’s traffic is like a river with a strong current. You can not stop in the middle of it or go against it. Just follow what everyone is doing. Rules do not apply here. You can ride on the sidewalk, pass cars both on the left or right. Even pass red lights if you have to turn left to follow the road. Just, do not get in the way of others.
  • Driving in Nusa Penida. The best, and only, way to move around Nusa Penida is with a scooter. Only problem is the road. It looks nice near the coast and the port, but as you ride across the island to get to the beaches and bays, the roads will degenerate. The best way to describe it is to imagine a plowed field where someone has dropped first hundreds of bombs and then rocks, stones, and pebbles. We have seen many people going around scratched and badly hurt from falling from their bikes. Don’t thrust the roads.
  • Buying goods. You’ll buy souvenirs. Or fruit, or t-shirts. And there will be no price tag. So you’ll have to bargain. They will tell you a price. This will be highly above the real price of the object you’re trying to buy. You can play it nice, bargaining slowly trying to lower the price, or you can use math. Half the first price, remove 10%, get out that amount in cash and offer it. They will look at you like you’re mad, say no and other things. It’s fine. With still money in your hands, walk away and say bye. They will call you back. And will still rake in.
  • Money. You will need cash. Despite most shops and restaurants accept credit and debit cards, if you get out of the big cities you’ll need paper money for most transactions. Also for Taxi, as not all of them accept credit cards. Do not worry. ATM are almost everywhere. Look for a CircleK, AlfaMart, or IndoMart and you’ll find one. We, like many others, had some problems with the ATM at the airport. Seems like not all the ATM work on the same circuit. You will have to find the one that works for you.

Slow day with a final shake

1 Reply

We slept.

Not too much, but enough to finally feel rested.

And we had breakfast. After so long with poor and not so yummy breakfast, we had the chance to eat for real.

No pictures, but trust me, we ate for real!

Sausages, bacon, waffles, fruit, bread. This was Antonio’s choice, while Sara went with “Experience”: poached snake fruit,curry rice, and some weird green pancake.

We went back to our room to fix some stuff before heading out.

Around 11:30 we called the reception and asked them to rent is a scooter for the day. In 10 minutes it was there.

Today’s destination was the “Bali Bird Park”.

In less than 30 minutes we were there and, after paying the 375k rupias, we got in.

The park is well structured, with birds living both free and in cages.

The cages are very big and allow them to fly around, while mimicking their habitat..

At the entrance there were big parrots ready to play with guest and take pictures with them.

Those two birds were scary, but friendly.

Walking around the park we found many areas where bird were coming spontaneously to sit on your hands.

This little guy came all the way to taste the tissue package

Like two twin sisters

The visit continued, and we tried to see as many birds as possible.

There was also a closed room with owls.

Around 3pm we ended our visit and went looking for a Warung. We found one not too far from the park.

On the way to the restaurant we found a 3 floor shop, something not so common here.

Sara went in shopping mode and I lost her for around 30 minutes.

Finally we got to the Warung.

This was probably the only authentic balinese food experience we had since landed. The place, Warung SS, despite being quite small, was packed, with people waiting to seat or take away.

The menu had no trace of whatsoever Occidental modifications, like all the place we went the past days.

What really makes this place an outsider among the other Warung we tried, was the complete absence of cutlery. We had to eat with our bare hands. For this reason just next to the entrance, there were two sinks.

We ordered two drinks, (fruit juices), grilled duck, rice, eggplants, and fried tofu.

Mango and Pineapple juices

Duck, rice, and sliced eggplants

Fried Tofu

The juices were so thick and dense that it was hard to drink them with a straw.

The duck was very good. The eggplants… Sara barely touched them. They were so spicy that you could use that sauce to send a rocket to the moon!

Finally the Tofu wasn’t so bad.

When we went to pay I could not believe to my own eyes. The bill was less than 60k rupies.

Usually in normal touristix Warung that’s the price of a single dish. We paid and moved on.

Back to the hotel we rested a bit untill 7:40pm when an earthquake hit Lombok, the big island on the east.

The quake was 6.9. as we felt it we run down the stairs, our room is on the third floor, and out into the hotel open court.

After another 10 minutes we went back to our room to get dressed and go get dinner.

As we reached the coast, another earthquake hit. This time stronger. In few minutes a tsunami alert was issued. So we rode back to the hotel.

Better safe than sorry.

As we were alredy there, we decided to have dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.this time I went with something easy and international, while Sara kept the Balinese culinary tradition alive.

Mie Gureng

Beef burger with fries.

We kept our phones always on to check on updates on the tsunami alert, but the alert was dismissed almost immediately.

Next we went back to our room to prepare the luggages for tomorrow’s flight.

Tomorrow will be a chill out day, we are heading to the private beach of our hotel, doing some final shopping and finally get some balinese massage before flying away.

Nighty!

From island to island: riding with the devil

Leave a reply

Alarm set for 6:15! We have big plans for today, we are heading to Nusa Penida. The weather is not perfect and there are a lot of waves, but going very early and coming back around 5pm we should avoid most of them.

We found two seats on Caspla fast boat, that takes you from Sanur to Nusa Penida in around 40 minutes depending on the weather.
We got a free pick up at the hotel and once at the pier we also had seats to wait for the boat.

Is this a pier?

We got into our boat and Sara was quite scared by the waves, but after 10 minutes of bumpy ride she acclimated.

[wpvideo r3K0Z1NX]

We got into the boat completely wet to the waist, but fortunately on the Nusa side the company had a private floating pier waiting for us.

Private floating pier on Nusa Penida

Once on land again, we felt ready for a motorbike trip to the most famous destinations of the island:

Angel’s Billabong
Broken beach
KlingKing
Crystal bay

We got a motorbike from a random guy suggested by the Caspla staff. The first one he gave us was basically a broken bicycle with identity crisis, it also had a crooked front wheel so to go straight we had to basically turn left.
We went to complain to some of his friends (he disappeared in the meanwhile) and after a while a girl with a kid came and gave us her motorbike. Nothing fancy but totally fine for 70k idr (3-4 €).
Little did we know what was waiting for us.

Yesterday night we spent some good time googling about the dangers of getting a motorbike in Nusa, but never we would have thought that the roads would be anything close to what we found.
It’s very difficult to express our experience, but try to imagine going on a Rollercoaster. Its super fun but at the same time scary. Now imagine that some parts of the track are missing. And the cart is missing a wheel. And the breaks don’t work. That’s it! How do you like it now?

Antonio had fun driving on the narrow broken streets of dirt, sometimes made of old asphalt full of holes or just rocks. Sara was scared as hell the whole time. We swore we won’t ever say anything about Italy roads anymore! Those are like top class compared to the Nusa ones.

[wpvideo lAAkyzqk]

After getting some serious squared shaped butts we got to our first two destinations: Angel’s Billabong and Broken Beach.
The view from up there was absolutely stunning, and the waves were so high the locals had to close a part of the walking path to the public. A local told us that all the shattered wood we saw around was what was left of two restaurants being wiped out from the waves of few days before.

It’s amazing to see how the water carved the rocks of the coast.

Shameless selfie

A look at the sea

Posing on a leg over a cliff with strong winds… What could go wrong?

Natural pool formation 30 meters over the sea

Broken beach from the inside

Broken beach rock arc

Unfortunately the wind was so strong we didn’t feel like to flying our lightweight drone this time 🙁 We had to rely on the Action Cam.

[wpvideo gCDSkRq2]

We rested a bit and went to see this famous “dinosaur” everyone was talking about.
This time the road was surprisingly pleasant for 50% of the time! Warm blackish asphalt we missed you!

The Dino head was very cool and there is also a steep path to get to the beach beneath.

Dino head

[wpvideo c3qs5osC data-temp-aztec-id=”b75017b5-e18d-472b-9889-444c65230c2c”]

Wide angle Dino and beach

It should take around one hour each way. We didn’t feel very adventurous so we went back to ride our little broken friend once again. Just to be fair, our friend had a truck clacson!

[wpvideo 7Dz7pd6W]

Let’s have some rest now.

Crystal bay sand was waiting for us already 🙂
In 40 minutes we got to its black shiny sand, we took an umbrella and had lunch (no pics this time).
We had a great time there and also used a bit our drone, as the bay provided shelter from the strong wind.

[wpvideo 9XuspYff]

Crystal Bay

We rode the scooter one last time towards the pier and waited for the boat.

Do you see the little m@$3rf@#¢€r in the above pictures? That’s not a normal scooter. That little fella is the two wheeled son of a german tank and a bullet proof Hammer!

Even with sunscreen spf 50+ we got sun burned, like many other tourists.

The fast boat ride back was even bumpier than the first one, but we were too tired to care this time.
While approaching Sanur we could see all the kites hovering on the city, which is known for its kite festivals

Once on land a driver took us back to our hotel were the spa was waiting for us!
We had a nice and sometimes painful massage. The girls at the spa, as basically everybody in Bali, were really friendly and we for sure are going to get another one tomorrow!

The usual price for 1hr balinese massages can range from 5€ to 15€ here in Bali, ours was around 30€ and it’s the highest we’ve seen here. Still totally worth it, given the quality of the service!

After the spa we grabbed something from the hotel restaurant and literally crushed the bed.

A few tips if Nusa Penida is in your bucket list:

  • Do consider hiring a local driver to get around. We saw at least 3 guys injured with the motorbikes in just a few hours. Just scratches and blood fortunately.
  • Have sunscreen with you! UV index is high as hell (was 11 as reported from Google).
  • When traveling from Sanur or Pedang Bay choose a bigger boat even if it may be slower and more expensive. The waves can be wild.
  • Expect crowds. Even if there are less tourists than in Bali, if you choose to do a day trip on the west side of the island it’s very likely that a lot of other people had the same plans 🙂

From quiet roads to traffic

Leave a reply

Waking up knowing you’re leaving such a nice place as Lovinalife is not easy.

And so we dragged ourself to the restaurant to “enjoy” a little breakfast. Literally little.

Sweet sweet breakfast

Red fruit salad

Despite not being so abundant, the breakfast was quite good.

We went to our room to finish packing our stuff and get ready. While Sara was completing the usual morning woman procedures, I went to the hall to pay the bill.

As I was there our bus arrived so I had to rush outside give the driver our luggage and ask him to wait for my wife.

We caught the bus… Unfortunately!

The trip was horrible. We were seated in the last seats of a minibus, with another driver who didn’t want to use the third gear and shifted directly from second to fourth accelerating like crazy.

View from the trunk

Plus the bus was old and smelled bad.
It took almost 4 hours to get to Sanur.

Furthermore the driver left us far from the original drop off point ,

Thanks to BlueBird, the Balinese taxi company, we reached the hotel in few minutes and spending only 30thousand idr.

Our room for the next 3 days

The hotel also had a swimming pool, and a Spa. I’m quite confident we will use it in the coming days.

Hotel’s garden, with swimming pool

We unpacked all our stuff, and rested a bit before renting a scooter for the rest of the day.

We decided to go to Semyniak, to enjoy the tourist life for once.

It took us 35 minutes… To get stuck for the next 30 minutes. Traffick between Kuta, Legian and Semyniak is something crazy!

Narrow roads, hundreds of scooters, dozens of cars, and nobody that seems like having an idea about how they got there and how to escape.

As soon as we could we parked the scooter and went shopping on the way to the beach.

Beach that was not there when we got there… Semyniak beach is barely 5 meters wide, and basically empty.

We then rode back to where we met with Dario. The beach between Legian and Semyniak. Here we enjoyed the sunset, while watching surfers, kites, and people walking on the shore.

Sunset on Legian beach

Ti conclude the day we went for a cocktail in one pub close to the beach.

Pineapple juice and Strawberry juice

Refreshed we rode thee scooter back to Sanur.

Another 35 minutes in the traffic.

We didn’t go straight to the hotel, but searched for a restaurant for dinner.

The choice fell on Kayumanis. The Menú was a bit Occidentalized, but the food was great nonetheless.

Filled we went for a digestive walk on the Sanur “lungomare” where we went shopping, and bought two return tickets for the next day for Nusa Penida before going back to the hotel.

Sunrise and Sunset

Leave a reply

There are few good reasons to wake up early:

  1. Breakfast
  2. Work
  3. You need to go to the toilet because you drunk too much the night before

Apart from those three, no other reasons are good enough.

Except maybe the chance to see wild dolphins in the ocean!

And so we woke up around 5:30 as we had to be ready at 5:50 in front of our villa to be taken to the boat.

Oh… Wait… I didn’t mention one thing: I spent the entire night fighting a f@$#&!g mosquito.

Btw, at the chosen hour we were ready and standing where told, but nobody came to pick us.

At around 6:05 the captain of the boat showed up telling us that it was windy and the sea was too rough to sail.

Already awake, we decided to book the dolphins experience for the next day, and go to the beach anyway waiting for the sunrise.

Sunrise as seen from Lovina Pier at 6:15am

While there, we noticed that many boat were sailing with their passengers on board, heedless of the waves and wind.

As we were there looking at people going where we wanted to go, the captain of our boat came to us telling that if we wanted we could go.

Why not?

In 5 minutes we were on his 4 seats jungkung.

Sara’s happy to be on board.

Sunrise from aboard the jungkung

In less than 10 minutes we were off shore heading with the other boats to the Reef. Dozens of boats. Maybe more than hundred.

We found the dolphins. It was like a game of tag. They were coming up from the sea randomly, and all the boats were trying to get close before them disappearing among the waves.

We we’re lucky enough to get close enough to see the dolphins 5 times, and the last time we got the entire “family” swimming in front and all around our boat.

[wpvideo B2mNa0SR]

Enraptured from the experience we sailed to the beach, where we thanked our captain and went back to our villa just in time for breakfast.

Mixed fruit juice, chocolate pancake and fresh fruit for Sara

Banana pancake, fresh fruit, and black coffee

No time to rest! A fast shower, checkout from the villa, and we moved our luggage to another stay here in Lovina.

We had to move as the villa was available for booking one day only. What a pity.

Well the new place was not bad at all…

Shared swimming pool

Modern and clean bedroom with annex bathroom

We left our stuff and went to rent a motorcycle as we wanted to visit Danau Batur, a lake formed in the caldera of a still active volcano.

On the way to the lake we decided to stop in Penelokan to visit both a local Hindu temple and have a view of the lake from above, given the elevated position of the village.

The first part of the trip was great as the temperature was well over 30ºC and traffic was not so bad.

Unfortunately as we climbed the mountain, the temperature dropped. As soon as we climbed half way to Penelokan temperature was way lower than when we left Lovina.

Then started raining, taking the thermometer to an astonishing 18ºC. Too cold for comfort.

We barely reached Penelokan, and run inside a shop.

Pull&Bear: now only 10€!

We bought two 100% fake true Pull&Bear for a ridiculous price. I didn’t really care if it was fake! I was freezing and wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. Everything warmer than that was welcome!

Acclimated we went to take a look at the temple in Penelokan.

After a short visit at the temple, which was very beautiful, we rode in the lake direction.

A couple of kilometers down the road from Penelokan, we stopped in a natural balcony to admire this incredible natural show.

From the picture above is visible the lake surrounded on the right by the ancient volcano side which has created a cliff. On the mountain in the center, the black spots marks recent volcanic activity with lava flows.

Seen what we came to see, and too cold to continue, we decided to turn back and ride back to the warmth of the coast.

On the way we stopped to record the following video 😂

[wpvideo vNCXi5IN]

Definitely some roosters here in Bali need deep tuning!

As we reached Lovina, we went to book the shuttle bus for the next day and then went to the beach to enjoy the sunset.

The pier was full of people so we sat on the shore and enjoyed the moment with our drone.

Picture 1 from the Drone

Picture 2 from the Drone

Picture 4 from the drone

[wpvideo YA5tUxUX]

Sunset Time!

Our fearless drone pilot!

We also met 4 guys from Indonesia, student of a local school of “Hotel & Cruise International”, who wanted to speak English with someone.

We talked a bit, exchanged WhatsApp and Instagram, took some pictures and then left for dinner.

The place we went was very nice.

There was also a guitar in going around the tables playing songs in different languages. For us he sang in Spanish 😐 well you can say it is almost the same…

The food was great.

Spring rolls

Home made pork sausages. Very close to salsiccia!

Fried noodles with staff…

Fried rice with the sea stuff on top

Tired, full, and happy for the full day, we went to our room to get some rest.

Tomorrow is gonna be a long day…

From Ubud to Lovina: back to summer.

Leave a reply

Early wake up!

We have many things to do today!

But first, breakfast!

[wpvideo 4SEExczR]

Sara enjoyed a dragon fruit, while I ate a weird banana flavoured sweet we bought yesterday from AlfaMart (local market).

Checked out from our to-do list breakfast, we rode the scooter to the city center. Next stop was a music instrument shop where Sara wanted to buy a Hang.

Unfortunately the shop was closed and, despite we passed there also later, we found it closed again. So no Hang…

As it was still quite early we went to visit a temple inside Ubud we didn’t manage to visit the day before. This temple entrance is located next to the only Starbucks in the city, and they basically share the entrance… Weird.

Panorama of the temple entrance

Temple Gate (closed)

The temple was closed to visitors, like all the other temples here in Ubud. So annoying. So we just enjoyed the entrance, and went to grab a coffee in Starbucks.

Starbucks Breakfast!

After this we took back the scooter to the rental, got back our 500 thousand deposit, and walked to our villa where we were to meet with the owner for the checkout.

It took us 20 minutes, and Sara fell in love with a strange kind of Palm…

Palm Lover…

As we got home we found the owner already there cleaning the swimming pool, and found out he already called a taxy to take us to Lovina. Such a resourceful guy.

We shook hands and left with the taxi.

The driver was a nice guy, spoke a fairly understandable English, and had zero driving capability. I mean, he survived the previous years driving in Bali, and that is quite astonishing, but he didn’t like at all the 3rd and 5th gears. He just went from first, to second, then run like hell and changed in 4th, but not before passing with the stick on the 5th without leaving the clutch. I seriously had no idea what the hell was going on in his mind, but I was too scared to ask, despite every time he was doing that my heart was sinking a bit.

Somehow we reached the Danau Beratan lake, where the homonym Indu temple is based.

Pagodas on the water

Temple Gate

The entire temple area was crowded with tourists, despite the chill temperature (chill for Bali standards. It was no less than 21º).

In the temple we also found something made from the same matter as the nightmares are made, pointing at the exit…

Sponge Ducking Bob?

From here to Lovina it took us another hour, as we took a detour to see a waterfall but too late realised than Sara would not be able to walk the path to it.

With our super skilled driver behind the wheel,the road to Lovina was a nightmare. I almost vomited but tried to smile all the way to the destination to not seem rude.

As we arrived, we found out that we made a small mistake booking this room…

We booked an entire villa. 2 floors, kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms, and toilet. Of course, swimming pool outside. Ops!

Unpacked our stuff we went to see the beach, 3 minutes walking from the house.

Black sand beach

The beach is paved by black sand, meaning it has volcanic origins.

Dolphin boats!

We also saw many boats probably used to go watch dolphins in the morning. We’re gonna use one of those the next day!

Swing on the beach

We also found a swing hanging from a three. Sara couldn’t resist and went playing.

Was it windy?

There was also a small wooden pier covered by bamboo arcs, which made it peculiar.
Hungry we searched for a place where to have lunch.

Warung Apple (not related to the money grabber pricks making electronics) looked perfect to have a late lunch.

Beer and juice

We ordered something to drink, beer for the man, juice for the lady,and waited for the food to appear!

Glass noodles with pork and chicken salad

We took booth appetizer and main course, staring with meat and then fish.

Grilled fish. Dayum!

Satisfied we went back home to rest a bit. Here Sara fell asleep, victim of the lunch.

3 hours later she woke up and we went out for a walk on the beach.

Late sunset on the Bali Sea

Unfortunately the sunset was already gone,but the sky was beautiful nonetheless.

Like nothing happened just a few hours before, we went looking for a restaurant to have dinner 🤣

We found the best candidate 50 meters from our home, the JB Warung Makan.

We tried not to over order this time. We didn’t manage thought…

Strawberry juice to start

Chicken in lemon grass and rice for Antonio

Chicken in some weird kind of sauce and veggies for Sara

Home made lemon cheesecake.

We left the restaurant totaled!

We aimed for the beach to have a walk, but ended up lying on the pier, looking at the southern hemisphere’s stars and constellations. It’s amazing how many stars are visible when there are no big cities close by.

Relaxed and in full digestive process, we walked back home to end the day.

Ubud: Walk, Swing, Eat

1 Reply

We overslept, but that’s ok when you are tired, on vacation and have no plans. So we went looking for a place in Ubud to have breakfast at 10:30.

We stopped at The Seed Of Life where we had a raw organic breakfast.

Banana Pancake

Breakfast bowl: jackfruit chocolate granola etc.

Some kind of organic drink

Some sweet weird organic beverage

With our bellies full we rode to Goa Gajah to visit the Elephant cave, a complex which dates back to the 11th century.

The entrance of the Elephant cave

One of the two twin water spring pool

Apart from the cave from which the place takes its name it has a water spring pool and some ruins washed by the spring water.

After this historical excursion, we decided to have give a visit at the Ubud best known trek: the Camphyan Ridge walk.

Sparse crowds, aesthetically rich vistas, and (maybe the only attraction in all Bali) free!

The walk consist in a 2km trek which brings on a ridge in the middle of two rivers with a great view on the jungle below.

Aerial view of the ridge walk

Despite her temporary disability, Sara was able to walk all the way up the ridge, and back down.

So proud of her.

[wpvideo 9Ndk82By]

Exhausted by the walk under the sun we stopped on a restaurant close to the entrance of the trek for a quick snack. The name was Murni Warong.

Carrot cake.

The cakes were surprisingly good, while the yogurt wasn’t bad at all.

Yogurth with fruit

Home made cheese cake with strawberry

Despite Sara really enjoyed the drink, Antonio had to order a beer to wash the taste of that think from his mouth.

Rice milk drink with green pieces of rice sweets

The restaurant also offered a great view of the forest on its back. That’s quite surprising as the restaurant front door was on one of busiest road of Ubud.

As we were recovering from the cakes Sara expressed her desire to go on a swing. We looked for a near and not so crowded one. Hard to find but not impossible. We rode to Terrace River Pool Swing, a place that combined swings, luwak coffee, bamboo nest, and rice terrace.

The luwaks were kept in cages in couples and only fed coffee beans. I used all my will to not walk away from that place after seeing that.

Swinging from 50m, by two ropes knotted to two palms. What can go wrong?

[wpvideo OCXutAyl data-temp-aztec-id=”c73e2dd6-9012-4713-a7ab-7b635a11cae0″]

The rest of the place was fine. Sara had her swing, pictures in the nests, and we enjoyed the view of the terraces.

Suspended nest

Aerial picture of our love nest

On the way back to Ubud we stopped on a rice field to take some pictures and to fly the drone a little more.

Rice field on an unnamed road

[wpvideo 5dYmhEZk]

Once reached Ubud we had a walk in the market. It was almost 7pm so most of the “shops” were closing. That was fine as there were no tourist around,and the street vendors didn’t try at all to force stuff on us.

Done this other chore, we searched for a place where to enjoy our last dinner in Ubud.

The choice fell on “Balinese Home Cooking“.

3 starters, Sara’s fruit juice and my Bintang

And we were so happy we’d gone there. Friendly staff, amazing food, beautiful place.

Pork Ribs

Some veggies and chicken Balinese combination

At the end the owner came to greet us and ask if everything was ok: we were almost in a food coma… For only 300idr! (Barely 18 euros)

3 desserts…

Tired but happy we went back home to prepare the luggages as tomorrow we’re gonna move to another city!

Between rice terrace and elephants

1 Reply

We saluted yesterday with only problems.

Well… We didn’t want to end it up like that and went out looking for food, fun, and things to do.

The Laughing Buddha

We ended up in the Laughing Buddha, a local restaurant/pub. Basically the only one who was still serving food after 11pm.

Beer for me, cocktail for Sara. And two plate of noodles.

Lemon grass, ginger, and lemon. Tasty and fresh!

Fried noodles with Shrimps

Some kind of tofu and seafood soup with noodles

No dinner is complete without a dessert. #amiright?

“The tasteless nut”

Two balls of tasteless pistachio ice cream, rolled into crushed pistachio, cashew nuts, and walnuts. Basically it was crunchy. Nothing else. Still enjoyed every single spoon.

Finally it was time to go home.

We walked back to our marvellous room, with musky smell and clogged toilet, and tried to get some sleep.

And sleep we got. Despite screaming roosters, and other jungle weird sounds.

Around 8am they woke us up for breakfast: one omelette with one slice of bread, a small piece of watermelon and a glass of orange juice. Everything was served on the patio next to our room.

It doesn’t feel like breakfast

We went back to our room to plan for the day.

We decided to rent a scooter for the next two days to visit places far from Ubud.

The first place we wanted to visit was the famous rice terrace of Tegallalang.

With the scooter it took us no more than 20 minutes to reach the landscape. Luckily for us it was still early in “touristic time” so we had the chance to witness the beauty of this place without the thousand of visitors who daily overcrowd the terrace.

Armed of drone we climbed halfway to the top and started recording the beauty of this place.

[wpvideo 2SIR0WZO]

We later climbed on a platform elevated over the jungle to take some pictures.

Someone left the bike here… some years ago.

Looking at the rice terrace

Shameless selfie

As the temperature was rising and tourist kept coming we decided it was time to move elsewhere.

We decided to go to the Elephant Safari Lodge, a safe Paradise for elephants rescued in the near island of Sumatra.

On the way there we stopped to visit the temple of Pura Tirta Empul, a Hindu Balinese temple with a bathing area containing holy spring water for ritual purification.

Wearing a Sarong. Such a masculine experience

We were asked to wear a sarong during our visit as a form of respect.

Huge root complex

We visited the temple admiring the beautiful statues, the huge pool with the water springs coming out from underground, and the bathing pool where such springs are redirected.

Mustach-ed statue?

Holy springs

Some threatening statue

In the temple there was also a big pond of fish. The fishes were bigger than a cat. And soon we understood why. Every tourist was throwing food at them. Where are you Dr. Nowzaradan?

Koi Pond

Next we decided to go to Sebatu, and so we rode following Google maps directions.

We later understood that Sebatu is the name of the region we are in rather than a city. This is the first time we don’t research much and just move around using Google Maps. It’s just fun! We went around with our scooter and decided where to stop guided just by the smell or the sights around us.

We found also a nice spot to use our drone.

[wpvideo LXsVmS67]

After chasing some chickens and waving back hello to the kids coming out from school on the back of some trucks we (Sara) wanted to touch the nature in another way. We found a nice elephant sanctuary close to where we were so we headed there.

The trip was more enjoyable than the destination this time! Following our fellow Google maps we passed by small villages, where kids were playing around with pieces of paper and seemed way happier that the kids with iPads we are used to see in Europe. Dogs sleeping on the streets, woodcarvers making some new masterpieces, women praying and putting offers on the streets, while following us EVERYWHERE was the smell of incense to harmonize all that we were seeing. No matter where you are in Bali, on the beach, in front of a shop or in the middle of the jungle in a street without pavement wondering why you ended up there… Incense will always find its way to your nostrils. It’s such a pleasant feeling, and we are definitely happy we finally choose to move around with a motorbike, since going with a care we would have missed all of this great feelings!

Back to us. Nature. Elephants. Sanctuary.

We somehow reached our destination by dodging hole after hole on the streets. We were greeted by some staff pointing us the tickets office.

The overall structure is quite nice but the monetization of those gentle creatures always gives me some goose bumps. There were different ticket options, from washing the elephants to ride them to bathe with them, but since this felt very wrong to us we went with the simple entrance ticket with which we could just see the park and eventually pet the animals.

We were given an introduction on the sanctuary and on how the elephants inside the park were rescued from Sumatra’s shrinking forests and moreover on how they teach the elephants in a kind way without hurting them. Each elephant from its birth or arrival is assigned a trainer and this person stays the same for as long as possible.

After the introduction we saw some of the pachyderms and Sara spent some time petting them taking pictures.

We then decided to have lunch there, as our stomachs weren’t happy of the small breakfast.

Antonio decided to test his luck and went with the worst thing he could possibly choose on the menu: a pizza margArita (as spelled in the menu) and a burger.

Let’s taste how the balinese people think the pizza should taste like! It looked like some Flatbread covered by layers and layers of cheese.

Sara wanted something more local and chose a nasi (rice) campur (??), basically a big portion of white rice surrounded by different meats/fishes.

Bintang beer and onion and lemongrass drinks are so far our best friends here, so we didn’t want to disappoint them either 😉

After this short break we drove back to the hotel with the motorbike, this time taking an easier path. Once there we collected our things, checked out, and rented a car to drive Sara to the new hotel while Antonio was following on the scooter.

In 20 minutes we were there.

The villa Sara found on bookings was gorgeous.

Together with other villas in this area built for the sole purpose of hosting tourists, it had a private garden with a swimming pool.

On the king size bed with canopy we found petals arranged to form a heart and all the towels folded to resemble swans.

The toilet was very nice all the stone with an open ceiling shower.

Exhausted we had a shower and fell asleep.

We woke up late, around 8pm, quite hungry and rode out to get some food.

We were so hungry we forgot to take pictures of our meals. But there is a picture of Sara’s aftermath…

Full, we went back home to get some more sleep.

Road to Ubud

Leave a reply

Last morning in our splendid villa here in Jimbaran
Better make the best of it… After all, what’s better than breakfast?

Benedict Egg & Ham

Rice noodles and chicken

All the rest!

While eating we found out there had been an earthquake close to here, in the near island of Lombok. Despite being quite strong, no alerts for tsunami had been issued.

When everything was packed and ready we checked out and waited for the taxi.

To book it we used BlueBird application. BlueBird is the main taxi company and thanks to the mobile app you can check the fare for a certain ride before booking, and see the position of the cab in every instant.

BlueBird taxi companion app

The ride to Ubud took almost 1 hour and 30 minutes, for the traffic, the morphology of the territory, and the conditions of the roads. It puts everything into perspective realising that to cover only 17km it’ll take more than one hour.

On the way to Ubud the view changed from city traffic, to less and less buildings until only few some constructions could be seen, leaving space to rice fields and pieces of jungle. At least for a while. Then the urban environment came back with shorts buildings, max two stories, and traffic. We knew when we were about to reach Ubud, as the taxi started going at walking pace.

The room we rented was a couple of hundred meters north the main road of Ubud. Not very fancy as the one we had in Jimbaran, but ok for a couple of days.

View of the room bed from outside

After unpacking few things we went out to explore Ubud.

We walked south to the monkey forest, Ubud main attraction.

Statue of the monkey king

The entrance fee is 50 thousand per adult, quite high considering that monkeys are basically everywhere here in Ubud.

Inside we met (unfortunately for Antonio) many little pests.

Mama monkey with baby monkey in her lap

Huge three with lianas

The park is basically a fenced portion of forest where humans can interact with monkeys following few simple rules:

  1. Never look the monkeys in the eyes. This may trigger an aggressive reaction.
  2. Don’t wear loose items or the monkeys will take them.
  3. Don’t feed the monkeys, or they will follow you. For ever!

Another mama monkey with her baby

View from an elevated platform of the jungle

While walking around you can see monkeys grooming, playing, running, feeding and doing other monkey things…

Tail Massage?

I tried to follow the rules but a little fella was faster than I expected.

[wpvideo LztGyboO]

Apart for this little happy accident everything went smoothly. Just be careful when you walk under the threes. You may have something falling on your head. And you may not like it. 💩

[wpvideo GHFD9LGO]

Once out we walked to a small cafe suggested by Dario to have a drink. We also enjoyed a little dessert. Absolutely refreshing!

Carrot walnut cake and local beer

Chia Bowl and something with dragon fruit and bananas

Walking back to the hotel we stumbled into the Ubud art market. Sara went crazy and on a shopping spree berserk mode.
I must admit that is quite easy to fall for it when you can bargain on the price, already low, and bring it to almost nothing, for Western standards.

As Sara calmed down we went back exploring the city.

We found many statues, almost fell in holes on the sidewalk, watched inside private homes (their open gates were like an invitation), and met a little furry rascal.

That animal is used to create a special type of coffee beans… eating other coffee bean and then pooping them out.
Disgusting, I know. But some people likes it.

We also found an Italian restaurant. In Ubud. Serving Olive Ascolane among other stuff.

Yeah.

Sure.

You go man!

Quite tired we walked back to our room. Here we found the toilet clogged, an ant infestation, and found out that all the towels were dirty as hell.

Promptly Sara called to get the hell out of here, a refound, and looked for other hotels in the area.

Unfortunately looks like we have to spend the night here.

Let see what the night will bring.

Kuta, Legian, Seminyak: The vibrating soul of Bali

Leave a reply

Yesterday we decided to have the breakfast served early so to be ready to leave around 9am and visit the island.

Breakfast came at 7:45. Not wanting to make the same mistake of the day before we tried to order less stuff, but still it was massive!

American breakfast for Antonio

Asian mix for Sara

Everything was delicious. And we were done before 8:30. But something happened…

Something unexpected…

The bed reclaimed Sara’s body!

The sleeping beauty

She fell asleep right after breakfast and slept well over 10:30, basically fucking up all the plans for the morning 😂

Luckily for us, a friend of Antonio who lives in Bali, invited us to visit him.

Dario, who has a YouTube channel I suggest you to watch and follow, moved in Bali in April living in Ubud. Just one week ago he moved in Canggu, quite close to Denpasar.

We decided to meet in Seminyak in the afternoon. Only two ways to get there: call a taxi or rent a scooter, as no bus goes around in the Denpasar area.
Furthermore there are two big “No”: taking a taxi to pass through Denpasar is a very bad idea as traffic is something crazy here in Bali, while renting a scooter equals to a suicide mission for the same reason as before.

11km in 1hour

After debating for a while we (Antonio) decided to rent a scooter. It may sound crazy but it took more than 30 minutes to find a retailer who had a scooter available.

Once taken the scooter, the first step was to top up the tank as it was obviously empty. Close to the renting place there was a small unnamed shop with a… I don’t even know how to call it! Let just say it was a gas pump.

Balinese Gas Pump

For a little less than 3 euros I got a full tank of gas. Marvellous!

Balinese traffic is something I’ve never seen anywhere. Basically you are like a paper boat in a river. You can just go with the flow.

And so we went, passing cars both on the left and right, driving on the opposite lane for some hundred meters, avoiding the long line of vehicles stuck in traffic passing on the side walk and sometimes passing slow scooters on the same sidewalk…

Complete chaos.

And I liked it 😂

In 25-30 minutes we were in Legian. We only risked our life a couple of hundred thousand time. Nothing to worry about…

Then everything was quiet…

[wpvideo lXfYue4W]

The neighborhood was completely different from Jimbaran. Dozens of shops selling goods for tourists took the place of the drab local ones, while the roads were packed with Western people.

Waiting for Dario, we decided to have a look at the beach, which was also different from what we had seen before. Clubs close to the beach rented beach chairs and umbrellas while serving drinks and cocktails. On the beach was also possible to rent surf boards.

And there were probably hundreds of these clubs for all the length of the beach

High waves and surfers trying to not fall from their boards were visible everywhere along the seashore.

[wpvideo 4NE57E66]

After a short walk we stopped on a kiosk to enjoy a couple of pressed fruit juices and wait for Dario.

As he arrived he took us on a coffee shop in Seminyak called “Monsieur Spoon Petitenguet”. Here we ordered coffees, croissants and fruit salad.

Super Dario!

The best thing about this place was the back door having a view on a rice field. Sara went out to take some pictures.

Fruit Salad for Sara

Rice fields next to the city

We spent some times there talking before moving to another place to have dinner.

[wpvideo XXZr0okb]

With the scooters in few minutes we reached the Nook, a restaurant in Seminyak area that sits on the corner of a rice field and offers a very relaxing ambient.

The view from Nook entrance

[wpvideo WLk0q9S9]

We ordered something to eat while discussing of interesting topic regarding life, the universe, “artefigense intificial” (you can ask Dario about this).

Gado-gado: Tempeh, tofu & peanut butter sauce

Once again the food was amazing.

Satisfied and full we followed Dario to our last stop, the 707, a beach club literally on the beach close to Canggu, where we enjoyed a beer, Antonio, and a juice, Sara, while listening to music e talking about the past, present and future.

After an hour, tired for the day, we said goodbye, promising to meet again in Ubud, and left.

On the way back we enjoyed a taste of Balinese traffic by night, almost worst than the daily one if possible.

As we got home we jumped into our pool to remove the thick layer of smog on our skin, and had a hot shower before going to sleep.