Munduk/Lovina

Day 1 – Mountain Drive

Up fairly early, we packed and then went for breakfast.  We said goodbye to our temple accommodation and we were back in the car again and heading for the mountains.

Now we were out of the big town the driving was getting much easier and I could start to enjoy the fantastic scenery.  We were making good time to get to our next accommodation in Munduk so when I spotted a large sign for some temples we decided to double back and check them out.

We parked up and paid our entrance fee and found ourselves at a beautiful temple complex called, Pura Ulan Danu Bratan, which is a very important Hindu-Buddhist temple dedicated to Dewi Danu, the goddess of the waters and is built on small islands on the lake. Pilgrimages and ceremonies are held here to ensure that there is a supply of water for farmers all over Bali (Thanks, Lonely Planet Guide!).

 

We wandered around for about ½ hour taking photos before heading off again and found ourselves climbing up winding mountains and along a high ridge alongside the lake below, passing monkeys on the roadside as we went.

After another ½ or so we came to the sleepy little mountain town of Munduk and located our hotel.  Once again we were amazed by the standard of accommodation, for around £13 we got a very large en-suite room with a balcony and four poster bed overlooking nice gardens with a view of the mountains.

 

Once unpacked we went down to the gardens and got a couple of beers whilst we decided what we were going to do.  During that time there was a rumble of thunder and the heavens opened so we opted to go back to the room and catch up with a bit of blogging/reading.

In the evening we went back down to the restaurant area in the gardens and ordered some traditional dishes as the food had been recommended here.  The food was fairly nice but what was atmospheric was somewhere below us further down the mountainside there was a band playing/practicing traditional music that travelled up to us and accompanied our meal (along with the rain!).

A couple more drinks and then we retired to our room to watch a movie before going to bed.

Day 2 – Waterfall and Poo Coffee

We got up fairly early as we had to do what we had come to Munduk for, trekking to see waterfalls.  So after a nice breakfast we headed off in search of the trekking paths.

Walking through the small town and after checking with a couple of locals along the way (we only had a rudimental map) we found the start of the trekking path and started to head into the jungle.

Walking for around ½ we found a turning for the first waterfall but as it had been raining heavily we had been advised that path would be very slippery and so with Bambi on Ice in tow we decided to skip this one, instead we viewed it from above through the trees.

 

Trekking on through the dense forest Shell was not a happy bunny as the mosquito’s were out in force and enjoying their breakfast, namely her.  However we soldiered on for another ½ - 1 hour and with some help from passing locals (again no discernible signposts) we stayed on course for the other waterfall we were looking for.

Just before we came to that waterfall we stopped off at a small café/restaurant on the Cliffside, overlooking the valley below, where we thought we would have a drink.  We got the menu and found that they did Luwak Coffee which is considered to be the planets finest coffee, basically what apparently makes it so great is that it is made from coffee beans that have been ingested and excreted by wild civet cats (Yum Yum). 

 

Anyway we were shown the raw product and thought we would give it a whirl, It’s not every day you get to drink poo coffee!! It was about 10 times the price of normal coffee at a princely sum of £ 2.50 a cup, but to be fair it came served with banana/potato fritters and raw palm sugar lumps (which you bite into before taking a slurp of coffee).  How did it taste?  Not bad but I don’t think I will be shelling out to obtain this delicacy when I’m back in blighty!

We finished our coffee’s and continued along to find the waterfall, stopping only when I thought a trickle coming down from the mountainside might be it, only to see that some people were walking a little further.  So we followed the path that we had seen them take and then we got to Red Coral Waterfall and to be fair is was far more impressive than we thought it was going to be, so we watched it and took a few snaps for a while before moving on.

 

There was a choice of two routes back, either a quick route back to the town or a longer route that followed the river, but looking at the brail coming up on shell’s legs we decided on the former.

We returned to our hotel, checked out and were back on the road again.  The roads out of the town were very steep, windy, under construction and at some points I was praying that we would not meet anything large coming the other way.  Apart from that it was a lovely drive and after an hour or so we arrived at our next destination, Lovina, which is famed for its beach and dolphins.

On arriving Shell pointed me in the direction of the hotel which was down a very narrow concrete alley which led to a tiny car park, only to discover that this was not our hotel it was next door.  So after a twenty four point turn and getting stuck in the alleyway, about a centimetre each side where I thought I might be adding some custom go-faster stripes to the car, somehow I eased it out unscathed and found the nice big car park in our actual hotel!.

Checking into our hotel we discovered what a £ 8 room got you and let’s just say it was not what we had got used to in Bali (I won’t write what Shell put in our notes!).   We went downstairs to the reception area and had a beer and some food (Jaffle – which is basically a toastie), whilst one of the staff tried to sell us what seemed like an over-priced dolphin trip for the following morning.

We then went to check out the beach but where we were it was just a load of boats moored up with no real beach so we decided to walk to towards town to see if we could see why Lovina was a popular destination.

After about a mile or so we realised that we had based ourselves in the sticks, but we did come across someone selling dolphin trips and Shell managed to negotiate a good price which was about half the price we had been quoted by the hotel at around £ 5 per person. 

Still not having any sight of town we headed back towards the sea and found the beach, it wasn’t that inspiring and a bit dirty and had black sand.  So we walked along looking for a beach bar and after another mile or so we stopped at a pretty ramshackle place, basically two tables outside a shack and stopped for a couple of beers.

Whilst sitting there the bars owner came over and started chatting to us for a while before bringing out his bag of homemade jewellery and preceded in showing us every piece.  We told him we would not be buying anything, but in the end when I found out it was only £ 1.50 for a necklace I cracked and decided to buy our first non-essential purchase, a necklace that Shell told me once I had it on I looked like a 1970’s porn star!! (It now resides at the bottom of my bag!).

 

Speaking to the owners they told us that the main town was only another ½ mile or so down the beach so we headed in that direction.  When we eventually got there it was more touristy with plenty of restaurants and stalls selling toot, so we wandered about for a while before settling in a bar restaurant to have a few drinks. 

We sat there for a while taking in the bay, the beach football tournament that was going on (Glenn not Shell) and the locals that had waded into the sea to do some fishing, before moving on to find somewhere to eat for the night.

 

After only finding slightly expensive places Shell spoke to some guys outside a bar, who turned out to be ex-pat’s, and they pointed us towards two restaurants that they recommended.  We found them and decided on the busier of the two and were happy to find that the food was both cheap and tasty.

Dinner done we found another bar to have a drink at but it was apparently out of season for them and the bars were all very quiet and the promise of live music did not look like it was going to materialise so we decided to get a taxi back to our hotel.

Once back we did pop into a Reggae bar next door which was the only thing open around our hotel, but once again found ourselves to be only punters in there so only stayed for a short while before going back to the hotel for the night.

We then found out what we got for our £ 8 room, air-conditioning that didn’t work and a ceiling fan that didn’t work and a sweat box of a room.  Shell went downstairs to see if someone could sort this out and shortly after we were presented with a stand-up fan as a solution.  So we plugged this in, set it going and went to bed.