Adventures in Bali: Nusa Lembongan

Nusa Lembongan is a little island about 30 minutes boat ride from Bali's South-East coast. It's less spoilt by tourism compared to Bali and Lombok and its waters are well known for their surfing and diving potential. 

We stayed on Nusa Lembongan for four nights, arriving after the most frightening boat ride I've ever taken. We'd taken the final seats available, facing backwards on the front row of a small boat, about to sail on very rough waters from Gili T. It was never going to be dreamy. Water came in through the 'sealed' door frame overhead and sweat soaked through my camisole. My bum was lifted from the seat, then crashed back into it with force. My hands kept a sweaty grip on the seat in front of me and nervous laughter escaped each time to boat crashed down against the water. M wasn't faring much better than me. When we stepped of that boat onto Nusa Lembongan's sandy beach, the relief matched the exhaustion. We stayed at World Diving in a sunset seaview room, around ten minutes walk along the beach from the harbour. The room was clean and comfy, and only a low wall separated us from the beach. We'd arrived early evening so got everything planned for the next day's diving and then headed down the beachfront, eating at Bunga Bungalo and heading uphill for a drink on Jungut Batu Hill, watching the waves crash into the cliffs and feeling very glad to be off that boat!

All of our dives were early morning at World Diving, setting up around 7.30am. They have a brilliant outrigger dive boat with a toilet, hot and cold drinks, and a sun deck with bean bags to relax on between dives. My diving experience is still fairly limited but the corals around Lembongan were spectacular. They were the most vibrant rainbow of colours I've seen. Lembongan is known for having strong currents and all of our dives were drift dives. You could really feel the current pushing you at times, but we didn't have any issues. At the right time of year, you can see mola molas in these waters. We weren't so lucky - too early, but we did see another turtle, scorpion fish, cuttlefish, a banded sea snake, nudibranch, and lots of other beautiful marine life. World Diving were wonderful and they are by miles and miles the best dive school we've dived with. 

The dive schedule also meant that we had the afternoons to ourselves and we used them to explore this beautiful island. There are no cars on the island so we decided to hire a scooter. Ten year old girls in pigtails whizzed past as we juddered slowly forward, but twenty minutes into it, we were away! We headed north to the mangrove forests and visited Lembongan Village and the seaweed farms in the south of the island. Seaweed farming appeared to be the main industry here. We saw lots of islanders walking the stretch of the beach late at night collecting seaweed. As you move around the island, and particularly on the south east side, you can see men and women working on the farms and drying out their stock in the sun.

One of the central reasons we hired the scooter was so that we could visit Nusa Ceningan, a smaller island which neighbours Lembongan which can only be accessed across a pretty rickety wooden suspension bridge. We'd initially planned to stay on Ceningan at La Pirate, which offers small seahut accommodations on Ceningan. It looked charming and peaceful, but we'd have paid a lot more to dive from this island. We stopped to eat at La Pirate and, as expected, its isolated location created an atmosphere of absolute calm. I'm glad we stopped off for a visit. There wasn't too much else to see, as such, on Ceningan but the scooter allowed us to move through the thick vegetation to access its highest points and take in the views. We headed back over the bridge to Nusa Lembongan and watched the light change over Jungut Batu, with Bali's volcanoes peeping through the clouds in the distance.

Nusa Lembongan definitely felt like a more authentic Balinese experience. It can become fairly busy in the middle of the day as tour providers visit the island from Bali but at night, those tourists disappear. There's no shortage of places to eat. We ate at a lovely little restaurant attached to Tigerlilly's hotel. We also had a good breakfast at Bali Eco Deli, which works hard to promote eco tourism on Lembongan. One evening we took advantage of the free pick up and drop off service at The Beach Club at Sandy Bay. As long as you buy food or drink, they'll come and collect you from anywhere on the island and drop you back off when you're ready. The food was delicious and I'd happily make my way through their cocktail list. The cliffs in this bay are unreal so time your visit so that you can climb up and walk around the coast to Devils Tear for the perfect spot to watch the beautiful sunsets.

I really enjoyed Lembongan. World Diving's social media feed is filled with photographs of mola mola's at the moment and I've been so tempted to book flights to get back to this captivating island. From Nusa Lembongan we headed by boat to our final stop, Sanur.

Adventures in Bali: Gili Trawangan

The three tiny islands which form the Gili's are actually off the coast of Lombok, not Bali. There are horses and bicycles instead of cars, there is lots of sand, there are turtles in their waters, and cocktails are served in coconuts. This all made for a very promising start for our seven night stay on Gili Trawangan, the larger and 'wilder' of the three islands. Actually, not very wild at all.

We watched the sun rise...

And set...

 We ate fish (some good, some not so good...!) 

We scuba dived and snorkelled...

We read books, lazed in hammocks, watched the stars, scoffed amazing pizza at Il Pirata, got sunburned, drank Bintangs and mojitos, cycled around the island, stretched and meditated at Gili Yoga, ate too much ice cream, showered with spiders, watched a movie on the beach (Wolf of Wall Street!), got food poisoning, bought cheap souvenirs, ate sweet treats at the food market. Basically, we got very used to island life.

I loved Gili T. It was a lot calmer than I'd expected. This was probably, in part, because it was Ramadan and also because our accommodation was further up from the main 'strip'. We'd decided to stay on one island and get day boats across to the others. We didn't end up getting to either of them. Gili T's a little island paradise. Just don't eat at an empty restaurant where the 'really fresh' fish may have sat out for a lot longer than it should have (ah, hindsight). Oh, and cats definitely rule this island. Yay for well fed cats!

From Gili T, only the most frightening boat ride of my life stood between us and Nusa Lembongan.

Adventures in Bali: Ubud

We spent three nights in Ubud, Bali's cultural centre (of Eat, Pray, Love fame). It wasn't nearly enough time to fully explore it. We stayed at Alaya, which was stylish and peaceful, though a little bit of a walk into central Ubud. All of the rooms overlooked rice terraces. The view from our room is my go to mental image for moments of calm!

We travelled with a driver from Seminyak, stopping at Tanah Lot and Taman Ayun (and a pretty terrible coffee plantation) on the way. Bali is a very spiritual and predominantly Hindu island. Balinese temples are built from volcanic stone or red brick and feature split-stone gateways and intricate carvings. They're quite different from the ornate gilded temples we'd become used last Summer in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore but every bit as beautiful.

We spent our first night in Ubud wandering nearby side streets, eating too much fried rice and watching a local dance performance in the grounds of a temple. We were awake early the next morning and decided to head straight to Monkey Forest. There's a small entry fee to pay but you could wander around this sacred forest for hours. There are lots of stories about these pesky macaque monkeys stealing food and jewellery, scratching people and getting up to general mischief. We left food at home and kept our bodies to ourselves. We didn't have any problems. Look at that stylish do!

After a scrumptious lunch at Art Kafe (Jalan Monkey Forest), we headed off towards the rice terraces and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through fields. I think we passed fewer than ten people as we walked. It was blissful. It's quite exposed though so wear a hat, take suncream and drink water. We also had a massage at a little spa we found down a side street. If you find yourself in Ubud, I'd definitely recommend wandering away from the main road, which welcomes coachloads of day trippers from Kuta. You're more likely to find traditional Balinese walled communities, unusual handicrafts and local warungs down these little side streets. I wish we'd had more time to do this.

It was should have been early to bed that night (thanks for blocking our card and making us spend hours on the phone, Halifax), ready for a 2am pick up and hike up Mount Batur, one of Bali's breathtaking volcanos. We climbed by flashlight with a local guide and arrived to the summit with time to spare before watching the most spectacular sunrise I think I'll ever see, high above the clouds with a view of Mount Agung. It was one of my favourite moments of our trip. If you get the chance, do it! Be careful on the descent. We saw one tourist being carried on a stretcher after presumably losing her footing around a raggedy rock. "Careful. It dangerous", became a favourite phrase for our guide. 

We were back to central Ubud in time to re-fuel with Alaya's amazing breakfast. We flopped by the hotel's pool for an hour or so to rest. Next, we explored some of Ubud's quiet side streets, drank a coconut or two, and headed out to the Campauhan ridge for another walk through the lush countryside. The walk itself will take around two hours but plan in a stop at Karsa Kafe for a coconut and roasted sweetcorn cob with stunning views out onto the rice terraces. 

We were keen to try Nuri's warung, recommended in countless tourist guides (and in the New York Times, apparently). Their barbecued ribs did not disappoint. It was a bit of an uphill trek from central Ubud (around 45 minutes) but there is a stunning temple and pretty handicraft shops along the way. Walking back down towards our hotel, we saw a temple ceremony procession. That was something! We spent the rest of our last night sipping a few cocktails and admiring carved entrances to the local walled communities. 

The next morning, it was time to leave Ubud and catch a ferry to the Gili islands.

"If we took a holiday": Summer 2014

I am a more than a little bit excited about this year's holiday plans. We've been saving pennies with the hope of travelling for a few weeks this Summer around Bali and the Gilis, exploring, eating and diving. Flights are now booked. It's time to get planning!

The plan:
Bali: We hope to spend some time on Bali's South coast, avoiding the main areas of Kuta, perhaps staying in Seminyak and/or Sanur, travelling to Ubud, heading North to trek Mount Batur and, after some time in the Gili islands, a few days diving from Nusa Lembongan.

Image source

Gili Islands: Until recently, I didn't know that these three islands off the coast of Lombok even existed. Now I dream about them daily. My best friend, who is just about to arrive back in the UK after what sounds like the most fantastic travel adventure, told me about her dive trips in the Gilis over Skype and her stories sold these paradise islands to me almost immediately. No cars; only bicycles and horse drawn carts. Add to that some sun kissed sandy beaches, lush vegetation, beautiful reefs, and perhaps the biggest draw: the almost certainty of meeting this fella, or at least one of his distant relatives.

Mr Turtle, waiting for our arrival. Image source

Gili Trawangan is the largest of the three islands and seems to have a reputation as being the party island of the three. Gili Meno and Gili Air are smaller and quieter. We've not decided yet whether to split our time between the islands, or base ourselves at a quieter spot in Gili T and take a boat across to Gili Meno and Gili Air for a day visit. All three islands look breathtaking and dive reviewers rave about their underwater environment. I'm very excited.

Image. Gili Air

I love a good spreadsheet and I'm starting to build up a list of possible experiences and 'must visits'. Have you visited Bali or the Gili islands? Any recommendations?