Bali - North to West
After a few nights with mice, rats and other unwanted guests in Villa Ratu Ayu it was time for Brigitte to move. Lovina on the Northern coast wasn’t far. It’s one of the most popular resorts of Bali. Driving there also meant driving through Singaraja, Bali’s second biggest city, but fortunately it all went very smooth. You get used to the different way of driving very quickly and the mutual respect amongst drivers results in very few accidents. The chances you get RSI from horning is a lot bigger though, but as explained, it’s a necessary evil; if you do not horn you’re a nobody on the road. Lovina cannot be compared to the Kuta area. There are lots of hotels and home stays along the black sand beach and behind the main road you find the compounds where the locals live. We checked out a few home stays and hotels in Banyualit. We finally decided to check out the Melka Resort which had a nice and small entrance in a back alley not far from the sea. All of a sudden we found ourselves in the middle of kids’ paradise; a resort with a complete zoo, swimming pool number 1, swimming pool number 2 with four dolphins in it (!), a playground and a kids club. Negotiated a reasonable price for 2 nights and Sara was off to see the dolphins. The dolphins were mainly used for sonar therapy with handicapped, autistic and Down syndrome children but it was also possible for others to have a swim with them, one of Brigitte’s biggest wishes. In the end we decided to not do it here, but to wait for Australia or New Zealand and swim with dolphins in the wild.
We had a bit of mixed feelings about the rest of the zoo. It was actually quite sad. Jerry the monkey who had his own show, cockatoo Joe who was going silently mental in his cage. Sara loved the fact she could get so close to the animals and she went for a stroll every morning through the zoo. Almost immediately at arrival we met Made ([Ma-day]), who called himself ‘Roy’ for tourists since almost everybody is called Made in Bali. Just like everywhere else in Bali, you are a tourist thus target for everyone that has got something to sell. And so Made sold us a ‘must see’ when it comes to Lovina: a boat trip to the dolphins. At 06h00 in the morning we found ourselves sitting in a junkung, a long and narrow boat with drifters made of bamboo on each side to keep it balanced and to keep it from sinking. What we experienced next was like theatre and we couldn’t help but to laugh. Imagine over a hundred boats in the sea, all with over-excited tourists who are all completely focussed on the water and will not take their eyes off for one second, looking for that one fin, that one dolphin. As soon as one spotted a dolphin all boats went the same way. As a result of course the poor animals were far gone by the time the boats got there. Our sailor had a different approach; he waited on one spot and was convinced the dolphins would eventually come to our boat instead of the other way around. And just when we thought we would end up like the Canadian back at the hotel that had gotten his family out of bed at 0600 in the morning for three consecutive days already without seeing one single dolphin, dozens of dolphins showed up right next to our boat. Sara had a hard time equalling the screaming of our Japanese companion, who ecstatically took as many pictures as her camera could handle. The nicest part of the boat though was the sunrise that would reveal the colours of the mountains slowly.
We saw Made regularly and one day he invited us for dinner at his place. We would pay for the fish and his wife would prepare it for us and the rest of his family. We knew we paid more than the actual price of the fish but we had seen so much poverty around us already that this looked like a good way to contribute a little instead of just giving it away. Made had three children and lived with his wife and parents in a small house with a patio at the back. The living room was furnished with a TV and a floor mat to sit on. When it rained the house would flood because of the leaking roof. School fees where not that high, but simple things like a school uniform and books made the financial threshold too high to get proper education. Despite his handicapped leg as a result of polio at a very young age, Made had to support his own family, his sister’s family and his parents. Still he thanked the Gods every day for his life and the heavy but important task he had to fulfil. The fish was wonderful and the kids were playing with Sara’s toys. She amused herself with their pet chicken by taking it out of the cage, cuddling it and then putting it back. A very hospitable welcome and despite the language barrier (Brigitte doesn’t speak Indonesian) we had a wonderful evening. Back at the hotel Brigitte and I were uncomfortably silent and were fighting the tears. The real Bali life away from all hotels and resorts was tough and like Made there were so many others. How come their lives aren’t improving while tourism peaks year after year and brings more money than ever? Probably because the money stays within the resorts; the average tourist books an all inclusive holiday and a few day-trips organised by their resort itself with the end result that only few benefit from it. Something we don’t understand since Bali is a perfect island for self-exploring and travelling around away from mass-tourism. Saying goodbye to Made was very difficult but we took his address and decided to do something for him and his family back in the Netherlands, especially for his kids.
Leaving Lovina behind we decided to go back to the mountains. We drove a curvy but scenic road to our destination: Penelokan at the Gunung Batur. Of course we drove the wrong way a few times since the road signs were of magnificent clarity as usual. One of the roads was so steep that our jeep had lots of difficulty, even in first gear, to get to the top. When we got there it was a dead end road. Immediately we were surrounded by curious local kids and when Sara got out of the car they were amazed by the colour of her hair and all them were touching it to see if it was real. We eventually got to Penelokan and checked in at the Lakeview Hotel. The hotel was at the crater rim of the Gunung Batur volcano, still active today. The crater is filled with water and has formed the largest lake in Bali. The view from our balcony was breathtaking. During the day Penelokan was overloaded with day trip buses full of tourist. They would get out of the bus, take the obligatory picture of the volcano and lake to finally all at once enter the same restaurant where they enjoyed an overpriced buffet lunch. The result was that an army of locals selling souvenirs gathered at the stairs of the restaurant day after day. After 17h00 the buses were gone and the place was absolutely dead quiet. This became more than clear when we had dinner at Windu Sara restaurant. It was a bit awkward to be the only guests in a huge restaurant where we were outnumbered by the staff. We did get pampered though. Back at the hotel we got a call from the hotel’s restaurant to check if we would still come for dinner, if not they could close early that evening. The staff at the restaurant of the hotel was extremely slow anyway, preferring laziness over tiredness. The spelling error on the breakfast voucher turned out to be pretty accurate if you wanted to get something to eat (see picture). You could go on a guided hiking trip at 04h00 from the hotel to the top of the volcano for a stunning sunrise. With a back carrier we would definitely have done it, impossible to carry Sara on our arms or neck. Instead of the trip we got up at 05h00 and sat in our first row seats on our balcony admiring the sunrise.
The eastern part of Bali was next to be discovered and we set out a road trip via the rice fields and the Waterpalace of Tirtagangga to Amed on the coast. The road from Sidemen to Iseh is generally seen as the most impressive road through the rice paddies. Farmers were preparing the ‘sawahs’ with their ox for new seeding, physically very demanding work. Sara ran over the little paths of the rice paddies and all of a sudden found herself in the mud, knee-high. She just wanted to ‘help the cows’. One of the farmers pulled her out of the mud and all the others were visibly amused by her little accident. We made a stop for lunch at the Waterpalace of Tirtagangga. We remembered this place from RTL travel on TV when it looked really impressive. There was a hotel inside the Waterpalace and we wanted to stay overnight but unfortunately it was fully booked. Not that unfortunate we found later as the place was quite disappointing and lacked the mystic atmosphere that was so vividly described on TV.
In Amed we were confronted with the July/August high season for the first time. Amed is the start of a long row of hotels down the East coast of which Lipah is the only place with a decent beach. After driving for nearly two hours and getting a ‘sorry we’re full’ answer at all places we ended up at Made, who owned four small bungalows. According to him three quarters of the tourists were French and that was noticeable when it came to the names of many hotels and restaurants in the area, some of which didn’t even bother to translate their French menu. The beach at the back of the bungalow was rocky but it had a nice little pool. Made had an eight-year-old daughter called Medi who would be Sara’s ‘big sister’ for the days to come. Sara really enjoyed playing with her and she copied everything Medi did. She would follow her into the kitchen to get something to eat or to drink and she ate bowls full of rice in salted water, Medi’s daily lunch. It was great to see how much fun they had together despite the language barrier. Made also enjoyed it and he was very conscience of the fact that if Sara was happy we were happy too. We spent an evening eating and drinking with Gualter from Portugal and Caroline from Canada who lived together in Quebec and had seen a lot of the world already. Gualter was a music teacher for little kids and Sara was intrigued and attracted to his funny ways and faces. Amed itself was very quiet and besides snorkelling and diving in the beautiful and clear waters there was not much to do. After two days we wanted to move on and went to Padang Bai on the Southeast coast. This place used to be nothing but a harbour for ferries heading towards Lombok but nowadays it’s also a beach resort. Tiny and with a very relaxed atmosphere. In Padang Bai we would also meet Sarah again who met up with her boyfriend in Malaysia to travel to Bali together. Timmo was from Finland and had been travelling through Asia for over nine months on a daily budget less than what we would normally spend on lunch. Seemed difficult to us to travel like that, if you have to worry about every cent you spend and can’t afford to enjoy a treat every now and then. He couldn’t help but to feel a bit ‘budget-horrified’ when during our last night in Padang we discovered Hatten Balinese rose. A local wine far less expensive than other wines from the more established wine countries. Just like for Sarah, it was the first wine for us in months and our small reunion was a good excuse to open a bottle. Everyone was in a good mood and it seemed to increase when Sarah and Brigitte preferred another bottle of wine over something to eat. Our little Sara amused herself with all the toys available in the bar. When all of a sudden the gamelan music sounded a bit too groovy we found out that it was actually Sara who was playing. She took over the sticks from the old man, who loved every second of her musical intermezzo. After a package of kretek cigarettes and four bottles of wine the conversations were less and less serious and bad jokes and giggles were taking over. Timmo had long gone to bed already and Sarah and Brigitte were reading children’s fairytales to each other in French. Time to go. Just like at Koh Phangan it was great seeing each other again, although we missed Vanessa of course. We agreed to try and meet each other in Melbourne, where Sarah would go next to visit her sister.
We had to bring back our rental vehicle and after one more night in Ubud we decided to go to Sanur for two more nights before flying to Australia. For our last night in Bali we decided to treat ourselves to something special and booked a luxurious suite at the Puri Griya Santrian hotel. Absolute pampering in paradise.
Leaving Bali was as hectic as arriving and Bali wouldn’t be Bali if you didn’t have to pay (again) for leaving the country. The winner of all money schemes were the ‘duty free’ shops at the airport who would ask ridiculous prices for things that you could buy all over Bali for a quarter of the price. We wanted to buy some kretek cigarettes but the seller had erased the official price (which would could dream by that time) and tripled it without even blinking his eyes. With regards to that we were happy to leave Asia and especially Bali. We looked forward to Australia for some ‘priceless’ friendliness. Despite that, our trip through Bali was absolutely fantastic and one of our highlights so far. Beautiful weather, amazing scenery and great for self-exploring. Absolutely recommendable.
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