Have you ever wondered what does it feel like to wake up in the middle of the jungle?
Well, let me tell you: it’s noisy!
Around 5am birds started chirping all around our villa, and when I say chirping I mean they started blasting the equivalent of birds metal songs!
Then a rooster took the lead screaming repeatedly it’s good morning.
If that wasn’t enough, our private pool went on causing a small but noisy waterfall to come out from a bamboo fountain.
Despite the experience was anything but quite, the result was beautiful.
Once awake I proceeded to prepare a hot tub for Sara, who was still sleeping.
Petals bath
Hot tub with flower petals
Waiting for her to wake up, I explored the property. There are 3 private villas, each one with private swimming pool, but all shares a big pool with a waterfall.
The shared pool
Right after Sara’s bath a waiter brought our breakfast. (He had to come 3 times to bring everything we ordered!)
We had to order last night, and we didn’t realise how much we ordered.
Benedict egg and bacon
Scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausages
Omelette with ham
Fruit porridge
Pancake with banana and Nutella
The food was amazing!
Everything, from the omelette, to the pancakes, to the benedict egg, to the fruit porridge tasted great.
We barely managed to finish everything, and we decided to reduce the amount of food for tomorrow breakfast.
Here’s a small video of our villa
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We felt totally recovered from our flight, so we headed out!
Yesterday it was quite scary for us to not be able to withdraw any money at the airport, so we went for an ATM hunt around the hood. Finally we were able to get some cash and buy a sim card! We feel less lost now 😉 (Apparently for some reason debit cards and some credit cards don’t work at the airport, come prepared).
Reassured from finally being millionaire (we withdraw 2millions rupiahs, which is around 140€) we decided to get a taste of the famous Jimbaran beach.
On the way there we witnessed the wilderness of the people driving here: helmets are purely decorative, there is no limit on the number of people a mere scooter can host, driving holding ladders, doors, windows, or with a long rope hanging from the rear of your scooter is totally fine.
We also noticed that every single building has in front of the porch offering of food and flowers. It’s actually pretty difficult not to step on those little poaches of food,while wild dog appreciate them.
Once we got to the beach we got two deckchair, towels and bottles of water.
In itself the beach is nothing special.
Jimbaran Beach
A long strip of sand, free from umbrellas or crowds. Battered by small waves, this is great place to have fun with a bodyboard. Just be careful as the sea bed is full of rocks and pieces of coral.
After swimming and chasing waves, Sara got a refreshing coconut at the little kiosk just behind our chairs.
Happyness in Coconut shape!
Also on the beach there was a small offer basket!
Offering baskets
In the early afternoon, we went back to our villa, where we enjoyed a swim in the shared swimming pool.
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After a short shower we got ready to visit the Pura Luhur Uluwatu. This is a Balinese Hindu water temple located on the top of a cliff in the south west of the island.
To get there we got helped by Eka, a guy working in our resort, whose brother’s a taxi driver (or something similar). For just 450k (around 26 euros) he brought us to Labuan Sait beach an then to the water temple.
The Labuan beach is very nice… Especially if you are a surfer! The beach in itself is nothing special, but its waves are quite famous in the area among surfers.
The way to get there was pretty tough. We had to walk down around 500 steps passing through a Crack in the rock.
Narrow passage through the rocks
Panorama of the beach
The rock carved by the constant waves
After this short break we went to the temple.
It was nice to see kites very high in the sky, they are said to scare the devil and they are also closer to God.
I don’t know what we expected, but for sure we found some new friends! (Monkeys)
Monkeys!
To enter the temple we were forced to wear a sarong, a kind of pareos.
Crossed the entrance we went directly to buy the ticket for the fire dance, as our driver told us they would finish very soon.
That done we went exploring. The temple is actually a complex of buildings built on top of a cliff. The shape of the cliff allows the visitors to enjoy a beautiful view on most of the temple itself and the ocean below.
At 6pm we went to the amphitheatre to see the Kecak, the Fire Dance.
The place was overcrowded at the point that the performers had trouble moving on the stage.
The arena reasonably full
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Nonetheless the show was amazing. The dance is accompanied by a choir of around 20 men. Actors dance at the rithm of this repetitive cacophony.
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Almost at the end of the performance people started to leave, creating a queue around and in front of us, not being able to see anything anymore we were forced to leave as well. That was annoying but leaving before we avoided most of the traffic on the road going back to Jimbaran.
In just 40 minutes we were back to the villa, and I took the chance to have another swim in the shared pool.
A short shower and we were ready to reach the restaurant we booked for dinner.
I’ll let the photos talk.
Welcome snack
The restaurant patio as seen from our table out in the garden
Chicken appetizer
Duck and mushrooms appetizer
Shrimp appetizer
Smoked duck
Lobster, prawn, and shrimps
Everything was good. From the appetizer to the main course. Smoked duck, chicken, lobster, prawn, shrimps, mushrooms… All tasty. I tried a glass of local white wine and it was good too, despite a little too sweet.
The atmosphere was romantic and quiet and after paying the bill, less than we expected, we went for a walk on the near beach to digest the awesome dinner.
Full moon in the clear sky and the soft crush of the waves on the shore, we walked our way home for a well deserved sleep.