Bali Blog 10 - Another Trip Out, Eastern Bali

Friday 13th February

Today was another trip out with Tagel's nephew as our driver and let me tell you straight off I took a lot of photos. Sometimes I can be very lazy with my photo taking and just let Rob take all the photos, like if I'm too tired or it's too much effort to take my camera out then I wont bother. But today I was very happy taking photos and there was lots to photograph! Woop!

So the day started off early and we woke up to find a small gecko in our bin! It was so cute! :D

Anyway, I think for the first time since we had arrived we awoke before 9 am, we actually got up at 7 am. This was to ensure we were ready to leave at around 8 am, as we had many places to see on our trip today and needed to start early. I think Tagel and his wife were very surprised were up so early and I don't think they had prepared breakfast yet, as they are usually so prompt. Today they served us black rice pudding. To be honest I wasn't really a fan. It was suppose to taste sweet but I found it rather salty, so I concentrated on eating my fruit and drinking my coffee. 

The Bat Cave!

So at around 8:30 am Tagel's nephew arrived and we started on our trip. Our first stop was the bat cave (Pura Goa Lawah), it was fairly touristy and as soon as we got out of the car we were surrounded by women trying to sell us things. It was actually quite threatening! But they gave us a free wooden necklace and told us to buy something when we left. I didn't plan to! 

Sarongs!

Before we could enter Pura Goa Lawah, we had to rent a sarong (the price was included in the entry fee), it was quite a novelty and I thought we actually looked quite good in them (Rob escpecially! :)).

We looked around the temple and were respectful to the rules and the people praying, as tourist aren't allowed inside the cave. We had to watch the bats from the cave entrance but it didn't matter there were loads and they smelt so bad! So much bat poop! After wandering around for a bit and photographing some giant trees (the trees also wore sarongs) Rob got bored so we decided to leave and head back to the car.

As soon as we returned our sarongs and walked back towards the car hoards of women came out from nowhere with no care for personal space. They tried to get us buy things again, like postcards, I just ignored them and forced my way back to the car. Rob did the same. I was so happy to be inside that car, the women on the other hand look pretty pissed off! Eeeek!

Tree in a dress.

After getting away from the women, our next destination was the traditional Balinese village, Tenganan. To enter the village a donation was required which we paid and then went in. The village was totally different to any of the other places we have been in Bali and is definitely worth a visit. It was also a lot bigger than I had expected too.

The first thing I saw when we enter the village was a bright pink cockerel and then an orange one and then a yellow one! It was pretty weird but I think they a used for fighting, that is why they are so colourful. I had no idea cock fighting still existed as its illegal in a lot of places but I guess I was just be naive. :(

Little chicken with Durian.

Traditional Village

As we wandered through the village we caught up with a group of what I assumed to be French tourists. They were equally as interested as us in the giant tree covered in vines, so we took their photo in front of it and they did the same for us!  We got chatting to some of them and it turned out they were actually French Canadian and not tourists at all but travel agents. They got great benefits; free tours and free accommodation in 5 star hotels as it's their job to review and recommend them. I guess it pays to be connected. It sounded like they were having a great time and they got so many holidays, we were jealous! :(

Viney tree!

After awhile we realised we had actually been walking with these people for quite a while and should probably be getting back to our driver so we could head to the next place. They were heading up to the top of the hill of the village were their bus was collecting them and taking them to their next destination. We did not have that luxury, so walked back down through the village. Rob was actually getting scared that we would upset our driver as we had been gone so long, it was quite funny! :)

Chickens!

Next stop was the water palace. It was so hot walking around here and Rob forgot his sunglasses, so was being blinded by the sun reflecting of the concrete surfaces, therefore I was very thankful to have mine. I have no idea how you could forget to wear sunglasses on a day like today. 

Water Palace

Bridge

We basically just walked around for as long as we could stand the heat before heading back to the car. The Water Palace had many different flowers and plants as well as offering some great views so there was much to photograph. :)

Stairs

After overheating at the palace we cooled off at white sands beach. It was very pretty and much less touristy than Kuta beach. Our driver walked down to the beach with us and just chilled out at the edge of the beach, whilst we walked along the shore. We returned to the top of the beach were we had left our driver and the sea looked so calm and inviting we went for a swim. As we had our swimming stuff I thought 'Why not?' Initially, it was great and so refreshing just to cool off and swim, but I only lasted about 15 minutes as the waves began to get bigger and the sea became rougher. The women next to us were getting tumbled in the waves, so I escaped. I didn't want that to be me! I'm a bit of chicken really when it comes to the sea. Whereas, Rob is quite accustom to waves so he held out a little longer before heading back in.

White sands beach.

Poor little dead puffer! :(

We had a quick pit stop/lunch break at Candidasa, the beach itself wasn't very impressive. Yeah, sure it had the boats that you associate with Candidasa or you see on the pictures when you google it but that was it. There was no beach, no view, no nothing! So, I don't know if our driver took us to the wrong place or it was just because the tide was right in but it was not what we expected.

The only place Rob wanted to go now was to Keramas to surf so before doing that we got some food at a pretty rubbish cafe. It was quite large and had views of a near by lilly pond but the food was certainly overpriced and the staff were rude! I would definitely not recommend it!

Boats at Candidasa

We arrived at Keramas a little earlier than we initially anticipated at 3:30 pm, which turned out to be a good thing, as the surf rental place closed at 5 pm. So after Rob found out where it was he managed to rent a short board (I think that is all they rented), for an hour. I on the other hand sat in the beach bar, Komune and drank iced tea. The Komune beach club was great! It was part of a hotel just off the beach, and it had fancy seats and a small pool. I just looked really nice and colourful and it's in a great location. I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon there just watching the surf. Obviously, I had to take pictures of Rob too, to prove that he had actually surfed at Keramas. Which for those of you that don't know it's actually quite a famous beach for surfers (I did not know this until Rob told me).

Iced Tea!

So after about an hour surfing and only successfully surfing one wave (which I managed to catch on camera), Rob returned to the bar to join me for a drink and to take some of his own photos.We sat for a short while before returning home to our hotel at around 6 pm. Rob told me that one of the surfer guys thought he was crazy for surfing at Keramas as his first time in surfing a reef break. Rob is funny!

Selfie at Komune club!

Before bed we enjoyed our dinner at Warung Mina around the corner from our hotel. The food was good and we sat in little tree houses overlooking the nearby streets, which was awesome until the bugs started coming out. :( Here I tried pisang goreng guri, which is just fried banana but it was super tasty!

Take care!

Samx