Bali I’m in love: Day 1
My second time to Bali.
I woke up at 3:30 AM on Wednesday and crawled out of bed with ease. I make sure all stuffs and photo gears were packed ready to go. I ordered driver online and called ‘El’ my girlfriend to wake her up. So at 4:15 AM i was heading to her home and continue to an airport in a rush, at the same time our friends were also rushing to airport to catch our flight.
We arrived at airport and went to “Batik Air” check-in counter before the queue were getting longer because it was long weekend holiday (in Indonesia we call “Harpitnas”). In 30 minutes we finished our luggage checkin and waited 20 minutes before boarding the plane.
So at 6:10 AM we said our goodbye to Jakarta and we took a rest around 1 hour. We woke up when stewardess served us snacks and drinks.
After 1,5 hours flight, the plane landed super smooth. We can feel the sun was sunny and the timezone in Bali is “+1 hour” from Jakarta.
After we grab our lugage, we contact our driver in Bali, he was El’s driver since years ago. I can recommended to you who are looking for a driver in Bali.
One of the things that really excited me about our trip was that we will go in many places around Bali island even crossing to another island near Bali next day. We did take the time to map out the places we wanted to visit and we use Bali map from this.
Welcome to Bali
So at 10.00 AM we were heading to north area (Bedugul, Lovina) and because it will take 2 hours driving, we skipped brunch at Canggu and decided to have lunch around Bedugul.
We arrived at “Eat Drink Love Cafe Bedugul”, the place is inside traditional market. We planed for lunch but unfortunately they only served drinks at that day. The place is very small, oldies and the ambience is quite unique so we snapshot it.
So we go directly to “Pura Ulun Danu Bratan” alias “Floating Temple” which is a second important temple in Bali . People have to pay entrance fee 20k IDR for local people. The place is so huge with kids were playing on the playground and visitor can rent a canoe beside Bratan lake.
We had lunch at restaurant inside the area. We had chicken grill and fried duck. We don’t recommend lunch here. We gave score for chicken 5/10 but the duck was terrible 3/10, the meat was so little only a bone and the taste is super plain. Even though we feel hungry we didn’t enjoy the meal.
First meal in Bali was terrible but we are still believe we can find a great food in Bali, this just was unlucky.
Second Destination
After we spend 2 hours in this place we continue our journey to “Buyan lake and Timblingan Lake” alias “twin lake”, so we hit the road to upper north, we drive along twin lake side and bump into a super great spot for Instagram able with spent only 10k IDR.
Third Destination
Next destination is waterfall and time already show 3:00 PM, so we decided only go to “Sekumpul Waterfall”, we drove until hinterland to reach this beautiful waterfall.
Around 4:00 PM we arrived the entrance gate. I went out from the car and ask how to get to sekumpul waterfall and we just know the object attractions are managed by their local people. They explained for the full package fee (body sliding, rice terrace, sekumpul waterfall, tour guide, etc) and we surprised the price is super expensive (400k). We negotiated the price, we only want to see the waterfall, finally the price was 150k for each person. After a few time consideration, we decided to keep going. We parked our car in local people house and continue our walk accompanied by 3 local guides.
Along the way, a guide told the good news we will go to 2 waterfalls but the bad news we have to walk down a very steep one. Without further thinking, we just said “YES, Let’s go...!!”
The first stop is rice terrace and we got pure original coconut fruit as a welcome drink and we didn’t forget to take a picture while we are swinging.
Time flies so fast, it’s already 6.00 PM and we have to go back to the car and we have to climb up a thousands steps and without lamps. Our leg, waist, and hip were like burning alias “encok”.
After 1 hour climb up, a local guide drop us to car park by motor bike. It took 15 minutes, then we cleaned up, changed our wet cloth and say goodbye with 30k tips (not necessary) to local guides.
Check-in to Villa
We continue our trip to the north, along the way all of us are fell a slept only a driver who still keep up. An hour after we had a sleep, we arrived in Lovina, we choose a random restaurant “Warung bu Wina” near our villa. We sat down on the floor alias “lesehan” and quick ordered the recommended by the owner.
After around 15 minutes the food came and we were surprised the food was really delicious, not because all of us were hungry, but really it was the best food in our 1st day. We recommend you guys to try it. Don’t judge the food by the presentation, but taste it.
We stayed in an Air BnB with a private pool, we were surprised that the villa was comfortable and homey.
In those last few moments before sleep took me, I realized that I didn’t want the trip to be just the way I had envisioned it. It’s fun to be surprised by the unexpected, so just let it happen and try to enjoy it, especially if you’re lucky enough to share the experience with someone special.
Lessons learn: Keep your body fit. Enjoy the travel with a peaceful mind. Come earlier to waterfall area because you won’t realize time flies so fast.
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This is my first blogging experience and I want to thank you for reading. Stay tuned for Day 2 trip.
