BALI TRIP
Day 1:
The flight landed about 1.5hours delayed. The delay was due to heavy traffic and rain at Mumbai. The connecting flight from KL to Bali was also delayed. Landed in airport at 1.05pm and went to visa counter and it took about 30 minutes to get the visa on arrival. It is not exactly a visa but a permit to stay upto 30 day’s with minimum questions. Taxi counter is out the airport gate and you should bargain a bit. The counter said 450000 but one guy was ready to come for 400000. We did not bargain much and Sukaya, the driver picked up our luggage and took us to the parking bay. Drive to Ubud for about 1.5 hours and in beteeen stopped for water (5600 per 1.5 liter at a Msg Indomaret shopping center but we observe that people can charge 25000 for the same at other places) and Butik factory. Reached Sugriwa and Jatayu Road at about 4.30pm and took sometime to find out the Homestay we booked. The place is located in a residential area and away from market area. The place has a house temple inside and Mr. Tutde welcomed us at the gate. Checked into Tutde’s Homestay after driving from Bali Denpasar airport. The room has very basic facilities – 2 beds where 4 people can sleep. Bath is clean but no hot water facility. They provide hot water on request. The room had ac but not very efficient. Met 3 other female guests from USA. One of them was in India for a month. The place was okay and facility as per the price we paid. Took rest as the travel was hectic. Talked to Mr. Tutde for cab service snd he agreed. Originally agreed for 5 hours for 500000 plus 80000 per additional hour. It was looking a bit costly but did not explore much and agreed for the same. In between has tea and coffee without milk. Tea is made with addition of a local plant (payas pats in Bengali) which is grown in everybody’s house. Shared the wish list of sight seeing places to him to plan our day travels. At about 8.00pm went to explore restaurant for food. Landed up in a place called Tamarila terrace restaurant. Very quiet but nice place. Had Balinese and Indonesian food. Food cost about 189000. Came back to hotel and went to bed early.
Day 2:
Morning was cool and went out to road to observe the activities of local people. The grocery shops are very crowded in the early morning as fresh arrivals are typically early in the morning. We saw people buying chicken (small pieces – may be 100 / 200 grams in a packet), fish small single whole piece kept in a basket, green items like spring onions, various leaves, bananas, flowers, etc. People pray in their own temple which houses the spirits of ancestors. Every house has a temple in the east side of the house. The people believe in spirits and it is important part of their life and culture. They offer their Bhog in small leaves (typically a spoon of mashed rice with a small pinch of topping) to the spirits. The Balinese people believe that the body leaves with death but spirit remain with the family and they bless the family for prosperity. People are very religious in this sense and thus culture and tradition is a part of their daily life. Breakfast of bread and omelet with coffee was complimentary. Got ready for our day tour. Started from our Homestay at 9.30am and straight drive to Butterfly Park. The place has entry fee of 75000 per person which includes a welcome drink and some discounts at coffee shop and souvenirs shop. Various types of butterflies are housed here. We visited the lava room and saw large snake / cobra butterflies. You can take them into your hand as they don’t typically move or fly much. Spend about 1.5hours there and took some videos and photos inside with different types of butterflies. Good experience. Our next stop is Waterfall Tengungun which is about 30 minutes drive from the butterfly park. Bali roads are fantastic and you pass through forest areas and village areas in the city of Ubud to reach the waterfall. There is entry fee of 50000 per person and then you walk down the stairs to reach the foot of the waterfall. The path is good snd well kept and should be able to reach in 10 minutes max. We spent some good time with photos and videos. Spent about one hour and then climbed up. People were taking bath there and some enterprising people were climbing up from the foothill of the waterfall to reach the middle level height of the fall. The stairs are made for that purpose. After about one hour we climbed up and took about 15 minutes to come to the exit gate. Had coconut water at 20000 per piece and used the toilet there otherwise shops charge 2000 per person fir using the toilet. On our way stopped for wood carving and purchased few stuffs from the shop which was known to our driver Mr. Tutde. You have to bargain too much as they quite a price too high. A carving originally quoted for 200USD was purchased by us with one fixed quite if 100USD. Another stuff was quoted for 50USD was purchased for 200000 (15USD). We could have bargained for less as we could buy at our price only.and it will remain in our memory for ever.
Day 3:
Started the day with a small stroll on the road to see early morning activities of people. Breakfast was served at 8am with bread butter jam and eggs with coffee. Packed our bags as we had our booking at Prui Saraswati Bunglow near Ubud palace. Got ready for our trip and loaded our luggage in the car and moved towards Money Forest. The place is close to the main city center at Ubud and the forest is full of greenery and tall trees and provide a dense cover as well as pollution free environment to people of Bali. Tickets cost 60000 per person and then you walk around and see monkeys everywhere. The monkeys here are little different types compared to Indian monkeys. The faces of the monkeys are differently built. There is a holy Spring inside and river flows inside the forest. We spent about 1 hour inside the forest. We drive to our hotel to drop our luggage at Puri Saraswati and move towards our next destination. Mr. Tutde was busy and had to pick up his wife from hospital and hence he directed his nephew to drop be us for next few days. We drove to Goa Gaja temple after dropping our luggage. The temple is small inside the cave. We have to buy tickets for 40000 per person which included cost for using the Sarong. Spent sometime there and walked down to the Buddha temple down below. Walked back to the car through a very long path of exit. Shops are everywhere on our path but the shopkeepers are very polite. We drove towards Nungnung waterfall. It is little far off and on our way we stopped for lunch at Warang Dadari for lunch. It was a huge place on our way and food was very good. After food we drove towards the waterfall Nungnung. Purchased tickets for 75000 per person for the waterfall. From the parking area we walked down about 500 very steeps steps to reach the waterfall. It is very difficult to reach the bottom of waterfall. Takes about 20 minutes to reach down. A huge waterfall worth the hard work and magnificent one. Spent about 30 minutes and walked back. It was a very steep climb up and took about 30 minutes to walk back. Had some flavored milk drinks in the shop at the entry point and drove towards Tanha Lot temple to see the sunset as well as the cultural dance programme in the temple. Purchased entry ticket for temple at 60000 per person and walked towards the beach where the temple is located. We got delayed by 10-15 morning nurse and saw the sunset on the road and it was almost dark when we reached the temple. Spent about 30 minutes there and then walked to the cultural programme where Ramayana story was going on. Ticket cost was 50000 per person. Watched the Ramayana story and enjoyed it thoroughly. After Ramayana story, we drove back to Ubud area and reached hotel at about 7.30pm. Checked into the room and got freshened up and went for dinner at Fair Society Warang. Ate in Balinese style with low height tables (sitting on mat). Food was delicious and we walked back to the hotel room. It was a very quiet place and stay was really good.
Day 4:
Got up early and roamed around the magnificent garden area which housed our bungalows. We were allotted Bima and Arjuna rooms (side by side). The lotus garden was huge and in front of the palace temple. The Bungalows belonged to the royal family who also stays in the same place. The royal family temple is very old and every day royal family members participate in the religious functions. The palace also organizes cultural dance of Ramayana and we just had a glance on the previous day when we were checking in. The dance is performed on a stage created in front of temple and adjoining the lotus pond. Lotus has a special place in Balinese culture. Breakfast was served at 8 with bread (butter and jam), cut fruits, coffee, omelet, etc. It was delicious and we got ready for our trip to Lovina at about 9.30am as we wanted to visit Ubud market for picking up few stuffs. The market is just a walk of 5 minutes from Puri Saraswati. The Ubud palace is just on the adjoining compound across the road. We drove towards Taman Ayun temple first. The temple is a huge compound very well maintained. We purchased the tickets for 40000 per person that includes the right to use a Sarong. If you are putting on a full trouser then you will not require the Sarong. The concept is to cover the lower body part fully when you enter the temple. We went round the temple and took some photos. Met an American young man who was taking videos with his spider cam. Requested him to share the same and he readily agreed. Moved towards Terrace Rice field. First we stopped at a view point from where we can see the beautiful rice terrace all around. However, the local area has commercialized the same after about 2km from the said view point with access to the Jati Lilluiah rice fields and walking around the area. Lot of visitors visit the place every day. We drove towards the said area and paid 75000 per person to go inside the rice terrace main view point area. Walked around the place for 30 minutes and purchased black, red, white and sticky rice from the shop. There are a few restaurants but we did not try as were full at that time and wanted to drive further before lunch. We stopped at a place for lunch Taman E Seri for lunch and it was a ver bad decision. The place is huge but nobody was there except us and the reason being useless food they supply. Earlier we left a good place for buffet lunch with a beautiful view of rice fields and and came to this place. Bad decision. After lunch we drove towards Ulun Danu temple. Stopped here to visit the temple and purchased tickets for 75000 per person. The temple is located on the bank of the Lake and has magnificent view. The local people (boys and girls) were practice Kechak dance with the help of two seniors guiding them. Once they successfully complete the training, they will be allowed to enter the dance troupe for the temple. Spent about 1 hour and moved towards Lovina. In between we stopped at a view point to see both lakes from the said point. Beratan and Tenglan lakes side by side. The road passed through hill tops of Munduk area and it was really awesome in the evening with clouds all around. After spending some time for photos in between we drove towards Lovina which is located on the beach area of Bali in extreme north. Lovina is simply beautiful with fantastic roads and houses, shops on the roads. We first wanted to see the sunset and went to the beach to see sunset. The sunset was really good view and we loved the place. After spending about 30 minutes we drove towards our accommodation booked at a villa on 28 Jalan Kartika, a lane going from Bakery Bali on the main road near Greco Cafe. Loved the place. Before reaching our reserved accommodation we met one boat owner named Laou and asked about dolphin trip. Bargained the rate from 500000 to 400000 per boat that will take 5 persons including our driver Adi. Paid 100000 as advance. The trip starts at 6.00am and we should reach 10 minutes before 6am. The rooms at our reserved villa were at the first floor and private swimming pool and kitchen at the ground floor. We were greeted by Putu, the care taker. After dropping our luggage, we went to the swimming pool for about 1.5 hours. It was almost 7.30pm and we wanted to have dinner and landed at Bakery Lovina. They have a fantastic bakery and provide delicious dinner, but they used coconut oil as the local practice. We should have requested them to use some other oil. But it was okay. They freshly made all our food. After food we went for rest ad we had a hectic day.
Day 5:
Adi came at about 5.30am and we were almost ready to start for Dolphin trip. It was dark and were reluctant to go so early as we though it is too early even for dolphins to show up. We reached the beach area and found our captain waiting for us. We boarded the small canoe with twin engines and drive for about 30 minutes and then we saw the magnificent sunrise from the sea. The sea at Lovina is totally calm and no wave. Hence the drive was enjoyable and we found large number of boats with tourists mainly foreigners (Australians and Americans) and Chinese and Singaporeans. We were the sole Indian tourists as the places like Munduk, Lovina, Singaraja are not visited by them. The captains were taking the boat into derp waters and trying to locate dolphins from distances. We saw good number of dolphins and spent close to 3 hours in the sea. It was worth the money we paid. The captain was apologetic that he could not show us more today as normally they see large number of dolphins every trip. But we were satisfied. After getting down from the boat we went to the nearby restaurant for breakfast – continental breakfast of cut fruits, orange juice, coffee, bread with jam and butter for 29000 per person omelet (separately ordered for 20000 (4 numbers)). Good breakfast and then drinks be back to our villa. Children went to the swimming pool and we started packing our bags as we have to move towards Munduk for our next journey at about 11am. Our first destination was Aling Aling waterfall. The drive was very smooth through Singaraja area. The roads are wide and clean with full decoration of Basuki. Stopped to fill petrol at a petrol bunk. The petrol cost is 7500 per liter compared to 18300 in India in comparable price unit. Reached Aling Aling at Sumbangan and purchased two tickets as children wanted to sit in the car. There are three waterfalls and each provide activities and waterfall slide, waterfall jumping, etc. We just wanted to go to the waterfall area for view and were charged only 10000 per person. The walk is about 15 minutes climb down from the parking bay to reach the foothills of the waterfall and steps are not very steep but manageable. Spent some time to take photos and started our ascent. Reached the car in 15 minutes. It was a good experience. Drove towards our next destination at Sekumpul waterfall. The drive is through lush free forest and hills with clouds everywhere. The drive was very pleasant and we had to take a detour from the main road to reach the waterfall area. The car was stopped by the entry registration people and the entry fee was 220000 per person that comes with a local guide. Afterwards we drove about 15 minutes followed by the local guide in the bike. The local guide is a boy named Jhon and he was duly supported by two very young kids. John has completed his graduation of 4 years in the university in tourism. They took us up the last parking bay from where we have to first walk for about 1.5km downhill to reach the starting point of trek to the waterfall. In between you have a selfie point at about 700 meters from where you can see the rice terrace and the forest. We continued our trek till the start point. Once we reached the starting point for trek to waterfalls – Fiji and Sekumpul we stopped for sometime to take snaps. The trek is for 375 steep steps to reach the mid-point from where we have to go towards right to Sekumpul waterfall crossing some streams flowing. The trek was difficult but enjoyable. The waterfall is full of rainbow at the bottom and water is flowing down with such speed it wets everything. Many were taking bath near the waterfall. We reached the last point with difficulty and spent about 30 minutes at Sekumpul. Trekked back to the mid point and crossed two makeshift bamboo bridges to go to Fiji waterfall. Fiji has three waterfalls while Sekumpul has two waterfalls. Fiji trek take about 10 minutes from the moment d point but difficult to walk through rocks and streams. Finally reached the end point near the foothills of Fiji and took sone snaps and videos. Camera is fully wet and so also our clothes. But really enjoyable trip. The guides were so helpful. We met a local person who shared jungle chilies with us. Trekked back to the top and reached the parking bay after taking selfie at the selfie point. The visit lasted for 3 hours and we reached parking bay at 5.30pm. It was a very hectic activity but most enjoyable experience. There was no time for Gitgit waterfall and hot spring at Banjar and we decided to do it later next day as the drive to Munduk is still 1 hour at least. The drive through hills with clouds and mist everywhere. In between we also witnessed beautiful sunset from hilltop while driving to Munduk. Reached sour booked accommodation at Kori Homestay. Found gate locked and searched for the caretaker but no sign of him. It was almost 7pm and came out to main road and searched for accommodation. We found Amartya Puri nearby and hired a villa for 1.2 million IDR for 4 people. It was a great decision and we liked the place. It was exclusive place and ordered food and water to be served in the table outside our cottage. Hot food was served at about 8pm. The day was hectic and retired to bed by 9.30pm.
Day 6:
Morning in Munduk was simply awesome. Our villa was located inside full green cover with forests of tall trees in side, huge expanse of rice fields in another side. Lilies were in the pond and took some photos. The eco swimming pool was inviting but did not venture as we did not know if the water has been cleaned or not. Roamed around in the area for sometime taking snaps. The place is outskirts of a Munduk on a lower level than Munduk city which is located on a higher level and you can see the clouds surrounding the city. Went to talk to the owner of the villa, Mr. Wirata for sometime. Met his son who is a prosecutor and cock fight enthusiast have large number of fighting cocks. He works in the city and now came home for I’d festival holiday. His father was a banker for 22 years and then joined Plastic company as Auditor director and worked for 17 years before taking retirement. He manages the villa after retirement and very active at 72. We talked about religion, society, culture of Bali, the local traditional music taught in the school in front his house. tBreakfast was served at 8am with Indonesian Fried Rice and noodles and eggs and orange juice supplemented by hot coffee. It was very good and we thoroughly enjoyed. The workers were feeding fishes and told us that these fishes are used for cooking if the guest orders at least 3 hours before lunch or dinner. Tilapia fish is favorite of local Munduk people as it is not close to the sea. We then started packing our bags and paid the bills. Ready to start at 11.30am and wanted to go first to Happy Valley waterfall first. The climb down was among coffee plantation and steps road. Reached the waterfall in 10-15 minutes and paid the entry fee of 10000 per person. After seeing the waterfall we decided to walk to Munduk waterfall from there through inside road among jungles. It was a walk of about 30 minutes and steep descent among forest path through rocks and bamboo bridges over the streams. The walk was very comfortable and walked for about 25 minutes to reach the waterfall entry gate and paid 15000 per person to go to Red Coral waterfall also commonly known as Munduk waterfall. After see by the water we searched for our driver Adi who was not at waterfall. Then we decided to hire a biker to send my daughter to parking area with instructions to wait for us at Melating waterfall parking area. We were misguided by the local boys selling entry tickets for Red Coral Waterfall about Melating waterfall path. It is a very tedious walk of about 2 hours to reach the waterfall with bad path and very steep joints. Very few tourists visit the area and without a guide it is a must “No”. We purchased the tickets for 15000 per person for 3 and the seller told us that we can walk to the other side to Munduk village among forests instead of coming back this rocky path to go to parking. In fact he said there is no parking for Melating waterfall and we have to reach Munduk village to get any help, On our way, our son fell sick and we did not have water with us and suddenly we met couple of foreigners who supplied us water. To save my son from falling and hitting his head on the rocky path, I also fell down and lost balance and twisted my knee. After our son became okay we decided to carry on further and the steep descent was killing but there was no way to return to the starting point. After struggling for 2 hours or so
among rocky path and dense forest, we reached the waterfall and were in mood to enjoy it and my son’s safety was paramount and I could not leave his hand. Sharmila was struggling to walk up and down. The entry path from Munduk side was not very steep compared to the other side but it was bad path and at times no path. Struggling for almost 1 hour or so, we could reach the Munduk village and saw one person. It was like seeing God. We requested for help as we were completely exhausted thinking about our daughter. They were desperately searching for us with local people helping them with their bikes guiding them to go to various waterfalls to locate us. She was showing our photos and enquiring if people have seen us. We met a girl who had little bit knowledge of English and understood the meaning of hell and bike. She called her brother out and we requested him to take us to the main road. He readily agreed but he had only one bike and initially we decided that two persons can go with him and he will come back or request one of his friends to pick up the other person. But going a bit it was felt that two persons can not ride pillion. So we decided to tie my son with a dupata and drive up. The boy also called his two friends to help us to ride. Three bikes were managed we started our travel back to the civilization and reached the main road to look for our driver and daughter. Mobile network was very poor near waterfall areas. They were searching for us everywhere possible. We went to Munduk parking snd did not see our car and were informed by the local shop keeper that our car had gone down and being parked at Melating Hotel. We drove back to the said place and found our car and our joy saw no bounds. But we did not see our daughter. The bikers started calling the owner of the hotel who had taken his bike to take my daughter to search for us. Finally managed to contact him with request to come back. They came back after 10 minutes and it was almost 4.45pm. The driver was not reachable. After some frantic trying by almost 20 local people, he was reached and was requested to come back with any bike he gets. Adi arrived at about 5.00pm and we were so happy to see him. Then we ordered some food and strong Bali coffee and started for Ubud at about 5.30pm. Drive was okay and we requested Mr. Tutde to cook some Balinese food for us with chicken as we will be tired to go out for dinner after reaching Ubud. It was a real hectic day for us with lot adventure. Reached Ubud at about 7.30pm and Tutde’s family was there to welcome us. Dinner was served in Balinese style and enjoyed it thoroughly as it was a day when Balinese people cook for their ceremony called Kalungan which happens to be next day. Retired to bed early as we planned to go to Nusa Penida next day.
Day 7:
Got up early as the Tutde family were awake for starting their ceremony for Kalingan festival offering. Morning tea with herbs was served by Mr. Tutde’s sister. Talked to them. Breakfast of bread butter omelet tea was served at about 7.45am so that we can start for Sanur bay at 8.30am to reach there by 9.15am. The road was jammed because of Kalingan ceremony going on everywhere. We managed to reach the Maruti Office for speed boats at about 9.45am as the boat starts at about 10am. We booked 4 tickets after bargaining for 450000 per person with return trip on 12th June. The boat started about 10.30am and the drive was smooth and water splashing occasionally. Reached Maruti harbour bay at about 11.10am. Mr. Teja was waiting for us at the exit point and he picked us up and brought to his Homestay. It is a family managed Homestay with one room of 4 beds and two tents. He is building few more rooms to meet the demand. The room was very good and we enquirer about food. The food is not available at Homestay but a good restaurant is only next door. Further we can order food through the Homestay and it would be delivered to our room. However we decided to go to the restaurant Arsa Santhi Restaurant for lunch. It was a very good place and we ordered our food to be served at about 1pm. Grilled fish (2), chicken fried rice, chicken fried noodles,sweet and sour chicken was served hot for lunch. In the meantime we tried to contact Mr. Beautiful but he was not reachable. We left message and at about 2.30pm he called up and we requested him to start our local sight seeing trip at about 3pm. Our driver Kadek Ismail arrived at about 3pm and we drove to Klungklung cliff to see the beach down from top. It took about 1hour to reach the place – the road was generally good except a patch of 5-6km where the road condition was pretty bad. The water at the beach was emerald blue and it was very difficult to go down as the access path is rocky steps to reach the beach. We took snaps from top. Only few foreign tourists were seen close to beach. Most people’s lie avoid the beach because of its difficult to walk. But the view was magnificent. We understood from local people that Nusa Penida has relatively more Muslim populations compared to mainland Bali. But all speak same Balinese language as we see in Kerala (people from all communities speak Malayalam). Houses or villages are sparsely located in Nusa Penida. For miles you will not find any house or shop. The entire island has one small mini market selling all groceries. One ATM we could see but local people said there are couple of more ATMs. From Klingking cliff we drove to Crystal Bay and the road was generally good except a small patch of bad road of 4km or so. But at places, the drive down was an extreme descent from top making you scary. But local people are used to the same. We saw large foreigners are riding hired bikes to move around. Penida is a rocky island but we could see lot of banana trees and most restaurants have bananas selling on the table. Banana and coconut are the most important produce of Nusa Penida. We reached Crystal Bay at about 5.25pm and walked around the beach for sometime. Local People and tourists were taking bath in the sea and were enjoying the place. Our son again fell sick and was helped by couple of foreign tourists and local people to make him comfortable at a tea shop at the beach. Ordered some strong Bali Coffee and spent another 30-45minutes or so in the beach before starting for our hotel. We stopped at the mini mark to buy few stuffs and the place is close to Yasa. The Homestay is most conveniently located. We released our driver and spent some good time with our hosts of Homestay family. Teja has studied upto high school as college is not available in Penida and people have to go to Bali for further studies. He has a small shop about 100 meters from his house to augment his increased me. He has other two siblings (sisters) and family is very happy with each other. They were doing their offering to spirits because of ceremony Kulingnan. Since my knee was giving problem they suggested one cream to apply and they provided the same. I was putting ice provided by them. Teja lovingly wiped out the ice water from the affected area and put the medicine. It was really a very good gesture on his part. Dinner was ordered for 8pm at Arsa Santhi with grilled fish, noodles and sweet and sour chicken. Delicious food and we came back to the room and talked to the family members before retiring to bed at about 9.30am. It was a good day at Nusa Penida. Before retiring to bed, we enquirer about the local waterfalls. The family discouraged it as it is very difficult and at times 90degree descent without properly protected path/steps. We decided against going to see the same
Day 8 :-
Early morning was peaceful and walked towards the sea (200 meters from Homestay) but dogs started barking and forced to return. Had a cup of hot tea and talked to the hosts for sometime. We discussed if we can interchange our booking with Beautiful House for one day so that we can start from Yasa for Bali at 9.00am on 12th. Both Mr. Teja and Mr. Mede Suartshu agreed for the proposal. We packed our bags accordingly and left our luggage at Yasa taking only one bag with us. Complimentary Breakfast was very heavy with fried rice and noodles with eggs and juice. After breakfast we started for our day trip of Nusa Penida. First we drive towards Thousand islands (Atuh cliff). The drive lasted for more than 2 hours to reach the place. We stopped in between Suana for taking snaps of the sea beach there and stopped at Sampalan for ATM withdrawal. Then we drove towards our destination. About 10km from the main toad, the road to Atuh area is real bad, it makes you sick at times. Pathetic road condition till the parking area. Once you enter the place after parking and entry fee, you will be mesmerized by the sheer scenic beauty of the cliff which is known as Thousand island. The path to the lower level of the cliff is steep steps and difficult to negotiate. We went upto the middle level and took snaps. The view from top was magical and our driver Gameng who was very nice person but no idea about English and we have to make pot of gestures to make him understand what we want. He was very helpful and held the hands of my son and wife whenever required to go to the cliff view point. The view was simply great with waves splashing on coast and rocky hills. The emerald blue water provided perfect backdrop to the scenery. After the cliff visit, bought fresh coconut water from the local shop. Met a newly married couple who have come to take their pictures in the cliff with their makeup artists. Then we drive to Atuh beach area. Paid for parking and entry fees and Gameng helped us to walk to the hill too from where we can see the beaches and small hills/ islands very well. It was scary but the view was magnificent. Then we walked towards the beach which required a big descent from hilltop and really tough. We decided against the same and watched the beach from top only. Then we drove towards tele tobbies area and it was not great after going through real bad road to reach the place. Our next destination was Angel’s Bilabong and Broken Beach areas. It was a very rough and bad road of about 5-6km to reach Angel’s Bilabong. The view was simply superb from top. People were taking bath and swimming in the place and taking snaps. We spent about one hour walking around and taking snaps. Then my daughter and wife decided to walk to Broken Beach which is about 15 minutes was but the road was not so good. The Broken beach was very nice and they took about one hour to return from there. Then we drove towards Puchak Mundi temple at hilltop and requested for Sarong to enter the temple outer area there. Spent about 15 minutes and then drove back to spend the night at Bakung Cozy. As Beautiful House was full, the owner has accommodated us in Bakung Cozy. The cottage is located on the beach front area and the view from
Balcony was superb. Had some coffee. There is no restaurant facility in the area and we requested the owner of Beautiful House to help. He readily agreed to provide transport for dinner at Warang Jukung which is an extremely good place. East side of Penida is the most beautiful with beach fronts. But finding a nearby restaurant for food is really tough. We ordered some pasta, chicken, prawn, rice , etc. for dinner and it was costly and delicious. We returned to cottage at about 8.15pm after dinner and it was a real hectic day at Penida
Day 9:
Got up early to see Sun rise at the beach. Morning was very peaceful and we walked around in the beach from for sometime. The sun rise was not very clear because of the dark rain clouds at the horizon. We could see a bit. Returned to the cottage to get ready for our day trip to a Lambongan. Breakfast of bread butter and egg was served with coffee as complimentary. Started from hotel at about 8.15 and drove to Toya Pakeh to get to get the private fast boat to Lambongan. Cost was at 500000 for both side. We took about 15 minutes to reach Lambongan harbour near yellow bridge. Our driver and guide for Lambongan trip, Mr. Wayan Menju was waiting for us near the harbour to receive us. First he drove us to Dream beach which you can see from top. There is a path to walk down a bit toward the beach front but we were advised against the same as it was risky to go for tourists. We did not find a single tourist in the beach area. After spending 15-20 minutes we went up Devil’s tears area which was a magnificent place to take snaps. The waves were splashing in such high intensity and creating rainbows at times when the sun shows up. Huge number of Chinese tourists in the place and only few other foreigners. We did not see any Indians except us at Lambongan. After spending about one hour at Devil’s Tears we drove to Mahagiri beach front. The beach is not very friendly as few tourists were seen in the beach. Most tourists were in restaurant pools as sea bathing is not very friendly here. People were also doing snorkel and scuba. Our driver suggested us to go for mangrove trip. We paid 400000 but it was totally useless with the lady driving a traditional boat. It was not a very good experience and we cut short the trip and came back. Then we drove towards Mahagiri beach and didn’t sometime there. Then we drove to Mushroom beach (harbour) and had our lunch in Yangyang restaurant nearby. The restaurant is on the beach front and has fantastic view of the sea. Ordered Pizza, few drinks of shakes and tomato pasta. Bill was 435435. Then we drive back to harbour to take our fast boat back to Penida. It was low tide time and we could seaweed cultivation in the area. The fast boat arrived in 10 minutes and we drove back to Penida in 15 minutes. The owner of Beautiful House was waiting for us and we had a good chat with him. Paid him 1.8million IDR for the trip. He is a secretary for cultural association and works on Devanagari scripts. We thanked him for the trip arrangements. He dropped us at Yasa at about 4pm. We just relaxed in the evening talking to local boys and girls doing Basuki decoration for the next ceremony. Dinner was at Arsa Santhi Restaurant next door with grilled fish, sweet and sour chicken, pasta with chicken. Decided to visit East Bali on 12th and talked to Adhy for the car. He was free and agreed to provide us the transport for the day trip. Agreed for 600000 for the trip. He agreed to pick us from Sanur jetty at about 10am to start the trip
Day 10:
We wanted to take 9am Maruti Fast Boat to Sanur and hence were planning to start from Homestay at 7.45am to reach the jetty by 8am. Got up at 6am and got ready and finished packing our bags. Breakfast of bread jam butter omelet coffee was fabulous and after breakfast bid goodbye to our hosts and left Yasa with the dropping vehicle. Teja’s father accompanied us to help with our luggage. Registered for our travel and waited for the boat to arrive. The boat arrived bed full but return was filled about 50percent. Return trip took about 30 minutes or so to Sanur. We reached at about 9.45am at the jetty. Since the sea was with high tide, water level was high and it stopped at a place quite far away from the usual Maruti boat boarding point where Adi was waiting for us. Since Network was not available, we decided to pull our luggage till Maruti point and meet Adi there as he was supposed to wait for us there. On our way we met Adi and he helped us with our luggage. We reached the parking bay and loaded our luggage and started our day trip to Baseki temple. The temple is called the mother temple and it is huge. But requires steep climb of stairs to go around. The drive was about 1.5hours through Klungkung area and it passed through rice fields, villages, forests, greenery and hills to reach the temple. It was not very crowded but local people were coming for their prayers and offerings. We purchased tickets and for 60000 per person and a local guide accompanied us to take us around. The place is about 3km from Mount Agung which is still an active volcano. The temple is in the foothills of Mt. Agung. In a clear day, one can see the Agung very clearly from the top of the temple premises. But we could not see as the sky was fully covered with rain clouds. It has been raining daily there. We climbed 900meters to reach the entry gate of main temple. The gate was locked and we could see the main temple from outside and took snaps. The guide took us around the other parts of the temple. The temple hosts Bhramha Vishnu and Maheswar – tri Shakti. The view from the top was very good. There are other temples belonging to clans and the king. You can see them only from outside. The visit lasted for about 1 hour and after temple we drove towards Ulu Watu palace. The drive was only through hills and forests and villages and rice terrace and fields with a bit narrow roads. We drove almost 1hr 30 minutes to reach the place. GPS was jut very good and we have to ask people at times to find out the direction. In between stopped for ATM work and reached the palace at about 2pm. Tickets at 40000 per person. The palace has been a large garden with many ponds and people were allowed to bath in one pond after paying charges. In one pond the walking pillars have been created at water level where you walk inside the pond area and feed the fishes. Large colorful fishes around. Good number of tourists were present. We walked around and enjoyed the place throughly. After spending about 1.5hours here we wanted to visit another garden palace which is about 30 minutes from here. Taman Ujung palace once belonged to the king and they have converted it into a well managed garden with a large waterbody inside. You can walk the garden path very well and climb steps to go to the top to see the view. The sea is nearby. We found the garden not to be worth 50000 per person for a visit. Very few tourists come here. We found some Indian models are being photographed by a team of people from India and Bali for commercial shooting. Spent about 1 hour and our daughter was unhappy as she dropped her phone and it cracked a bit bringing sad face to her. I promised that I will get it repaired when I go to Mumbai. We drove to White sand Virgin beach which is about 30 minutes drive from here. The entry fees of 10000 was paid and we parked our vehicle at Parkir and walked down to the beach. The road is only a little steep climb down but manageable. The beach beach became very famous after the Julia Roberts movie which was shot here. However, we did not find many tourists but local people were taking bath at sea beach. We walked for 30-40 minutes and it was 5.30pm Already and we decided to walk back to the parking to start our journey to Jimbaran bay – the final staying destination. The road was through Klungkung and Candidasa and at times heavy traffic of tourists vehicles on the road as most tourists take day trips to interiors of Bali and return to stay at Sanur, Kuta, Nusa Dua or Jimbaran as there places provide better staying options with good food choices. As we found that the road is full, Adi decided to travel via sea link overpass toll road to avoid some traffic. We reached the Villa Happy Jimbaran at about 8pm. Thanks Adi for his help and checked into the rooms. They gave us one full villa of two floors but we decided to take only two ground floor rooms of two villas. After getting a bit freshened up we asked for restaurant options. The reception area informed us that we can walk 100 meters and we will land on the sea beach from where hundred of restaurants are located and we can choose our eating place. We walked slowly for 5 minutes and found all restaurants are on the beach front. And tables are placed in the beach and people were enjoying their dinner relaxing there. After choosing our fish to be used for cooking at the order counter, We ordered for fish grilled, chicken grilled – rice and vegetables come with the same. It takes a bit of time as good number of tourists were there. The food was simply great. We finished our dinner at about 9.40pm and walked back to our hotel. Immediately went to sleep as we had a very long day.
Day 12-
breakfast at 7.30am. The sky is little overcast and we decided to start from Hanle at 9.00am to Tso Moriri. We have to drive through desert and rugged mountain ranges and witnessed mild sand storms. We crossed Rongo in about 1 hour and reached Loma Bend for clearance from ITBP. The road at Loma bend divided into two – one going to Pangong side which we used at the time of coming and the other is going to Tso Moriri through Mahe Bridge. We crossed Muth village and then stopped at Nyoma to visit a senior secondary school as a co-passenger we picked up from Hanle wanted to meet his daughter who is studying in the school. We met the principal of the school who happened to be from Nurla village from where our driver hails. The school has 210 students and 19 teachers and caters to only 9-12 std free of cost. Most children belong to Nomadic families and it is a co-Ed school with free boarding provided by the Government. The weather was windy and we saw many army posts including air strips and helipads. We drove towards Mahe and reached the place at about 11.30am. We obtained permission to visit ChangThang Valley to see the hot springs. It is about 22km from Mahe bridge and the road is very good as it leads to Leh and army uses the same very frequently. The hot spring is something to see. Near the river there are many pits from where the hot water is bubbling. At one place we saw the large hot spring ( when we reached it was an ordinary stone pit without any water and after some time the large pit was full of water with bubbling hot) where water gets completely sucked out after few minutes and the place becomes a stone pit. It was an amazing experience to watch the phenomena. We recorded a video. Our co-passenger got down here as he wanted to go to Leh. We drove back to Mahe bridge as we wanted to go to Tso Moriri. The road to Karzok (Tso Moriri) is really bad as it is only boulders over which you have to drive. On our way we encountered snow fall. We reached Sumdo where the road divided into two – one goes to Leh through TakLakLang La and the other goes to Karzok. We stopped for tea in a road side restaurant as it started to snow heavily. On our way to Sumdo we saw a large hoard of Ibex (mountain goats) and took snaps. As the snowing became mild we started to drive towards Karzok. The road has been really bad. We saw the small lake before the Main lake. We reached Karzok at about 3.15pm and took permit from the ITBP. The place is badly developed. Only two brick mortar hotels and rest are camps. Very few tourists here. After checking in, had some tea and went out to see the lake from the highest point in Karzok. Returned to hotel at 6.00pm. Dinner and went to bed. Very cold in night and required heavy blankets. Did not have sound sleep.