Good morning (Salamat Pagi in Indonesian). We start the day with a 3h trek to visit a waterfall. Then we drove down to the coast to Lovina, the place where we can see dolphins and do some snorkeling. Compare to Munduk, Lovina is much more touristy. We can’t walk without being grabbed by someone who wants to sell paint, jewels, souvenirs, clothes. The best answer we have is “Tidak, Terima Kasih” which means “No, thank you”.
Map.
We start the walk which is still a road for scooters.
A temple in the forest.
The view to the valley.
There is lots of different tracks here. Most of them reach different properties well isolated in the forest.
This is a Cacao tree.
Bamboo! Balinese people use bamboo a lot here. The most impressive is when they use the big one for scaffolding for the constructions. Bamboo is very useful here.
We are now walking along the river. The waterfall is not too far.
Here it is!
Welcome to Melanting waterfalls.
Another point of view.
Ok, so we walked down the gorge and now we must climb up those stairs.
They are really steep!
We were walking up stairs and enjoying the view when, in the middle of nowhere, a guy standing behind a counter stopped us and asked us to pay a fee for the waterfall that we have already seen. At the beginning, I was wondering if it was a joke but this man looks serious. As soon as we paid, he became more friendly and told us to go to this viewpoint (which is just behind his counter).
Effectively the view is great :-)
Apparently we did the walk on the opposite way.
Mister the counter and us :-)
Just around him, there is lots of things that can be harvested and eaten like coffee (the picture), banana, avocado, cacao. This forest, a kind of rain forest, gives a lot to the population here and it’s here, under our eyes. No need to walk several hours to find a great spot, it’s just around the corner :-)
A short time after we’ve met the counter man, we reached a wider path and continue walking quietly towards the main road.
On the other slope there is some amazing houses.
Look this one. this is a warung, in the middle of the forest. A Warung is basically a cheap restaurant own by a family. They live here, cook and offer their meals to anyone. This is the best way to eat local food for a good price. Most of the warung are situated along the noisy roads but this one has the best place. Unfortunately it’s too early to have lunch… :-)
We continue walking in this opulent bush.
Max in action.
A bamboo house (or it might become a shop maybe).
We are reaching another waterfall and a woman is waiting for us, expecting us to buy some souvenirs again. Balinese people know business.
A tap made in bamboo and using the water from the river.
The second waterfall. I could not get closer because of the sun and the droplets in the air that sticked to the objective of my camera.
Again, the view towards the valley.
The top of a temple owned by a family.
Another temple here.
And another bigger one.
During we were walking back to the main road, we have seen that restaurant, empty but with a big plus…
Its view!
The trek was nice, the restaurant as well. We are now driving down towards Lovina that is along the coast on the North side of Bali. On our way, there is more and more rice fields.
Everytime we see a good spot to take a picture it’s a bit tricky to stop because there is not really space for this. And when there is, we see it at the last minute. With all the traffic it’s a bit tricky.
Finally we have reached the hotel in Lovina put our luggages in our rooms and we are ready to have a walk around.
Obviously, this place is dedicated to the dolphins.
The beach!
The sunset over the sea.
Wonderful!
And nearly finished already.
There is lots of tourists shops here. They all sell almost the same stuff and we must bargain again and again to get the right price. The problem is we can not just have a look or stop along the street because as soon as we do that, someone is coming to sell us anything they can. If you refuse to buy some clothes, they propose you a “dolphin tour”. If you don’t want to see dolphins, they propose you a taxi. If you have a car, they propose you a driver to visit some volcano. They are very creative haha :-)
This is a nice view of Bali : Scooters, clothes shop, laundry and warung/restaurants. What a day full of everything! So much informations, so much things to get used to: the culture, the food, the people. This is why it’s interesting :-) See ya!
Et bien Damien, je vois que tu as bien cerné le pays et ses habitants. Tes commentaires sont drôles et percutants, et les photos magnifiques ! J’adore !
Nice to see your brother and Mum’s partner and YOU! Mum’s partner looks as young as you and your brother.
Beautiful photos.
I love the houses on the mountain and it’s nice to see the men of the family! PS: can I tell you about my imagination inflation? Haha evil again.