Visit – Page 12 – Simply cycling around

Villa Manuk > Toya Bungkah (Mount Batur) (49km by car)

Today we have done another walk to visit a waterfall before it get too hot and then drove towards Toya Bungkah from where we will start a trek to the summit of Mount Batur. Apparently there is a certain concern about Mount Batur and the fact we can not climb it without a guide (which cost about 300.000 IDR per person > $30 AUD). Some people have been in trouble when they tried. A bunch of 20 guides started to kick them in the legs and even grab a person to threaten her with a cigarette in the eye. Well, we might take a guide and avoid this kind of exceptional problem. Some guide book call for a boycott of this area as it getting worse and worse over the years.

Lovina > Villa Manuk (31km by car)

From the beach back to the mountains. Today we are going to visit some hot springs and then drive to the the bush again. We found a hotel in Manuk Sesa, a tiny village halfway between Lovina and Mount Batur, a volcano that we will visit very soon. We stopped for lunch at a very nice Warung where we experienced local Balinese food.

Munduk > Lovina (41km by car)

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”.

Ubud > Munduk (58km by car)

Today we are going to visit the mountains of Bali. The roads are getting narrow and windy. The most astonished thing is the traffic; it’s like we never leave the city. Everywhere where there is a road “shops” are present. Like always if we had a scooter we could find a place to repair it every 5 minutes. There is shops specialized in offerings, Warung when we want something cheap to eat, tiny supermarkets, laundry. Balinese are really into services. It looks like they don’t own much stuff live mostly outside their homes. On our way up, we stopped to visit the water temple called “Pura Ulun Danu Beratan” which is the major one in this area.

Kuta > Ubud (56km by car)

First day travelling in Bali and by car! From what we heard, people recommend to get a driver. We could not hide scooter as we have luggages. We finally decided to hire a car because we don’t have a special route to follow. We have some ideas but we preferred to be free to go where we want when we want. The first step is Ubud, one of the main destination for tourists. We had to start by something :-) Then we will spend the rest of our trip more in the countryside to discover Bali on its different facets.

Darwin, second day off

I didn’t do much today. I slept at the same spot as yesterday and then I came back to the library to charge my mobile again because yesterday night I was searching informations about sailing :-) Then around 5pm, I went out towards the beach to see the sunset. Simple day.

Buley Rockhole > Walker Creek (50km, 2h30)

Second day in Litchfield National Park. Last night was quiet. I did set up only the inside of my tent as it was really hot. I could not even close the tent and let the “door” wide open. During the night, few rain drops worried me a bit but finally it stayed like this. No big rain. Very quietly this morning I packed all my stuff and left the campsite when everyone else was still asleep. The ranger did not came yesterday night so well, this night was free :-)