Go the upgrade!

We crossed seas to a little island off the southeast coast of Bali, Nusa Lembongan. The fast boat gets you there in 30mins which is all good (the swells can be a tad nail biting!).

The main beach on Lembongan has to have one of the more stunning vistas in Bali, especially when Mount Agung can be seen in the distance.


A lot of the locals are seaweed farmers (the weed is exported and used for beauty products among other things). It seems like the work never stops and there is a constant stream of baskets being balanced on heads to and from the ocean. Some carry two baskets, balanced precariously on long bamboo poles. Once dried, it's sold for about US$2-3 per kg.

We were lucky to score an upgrade on our room, moving from a standard to a villa. Yee ha! The 100 or so stairs it took to get there didn't deter me, as the view from our room was well worth the effort!


The living area is shared by two identical rooms.

Our room and view from bed.

We took two dives on Saturday, the second was nicer than the first with loads of schooling fish, massive vase shaped hard corals and lots of colourful soft coral. Just like swimming in a over sized tropical fish tank!

Phew...

I must say, I am stoked to be alive after a hair raising rally car drive down the east coast! I'll spare you the details.

In fact, we were both pretty stoked to be in Tulumben which is famous for its wreck dive, The Liberty. However, it wasn't long before we figured out that Tulumben is not the kind of place you'd want to kick off your jandles and pull up a phew, if you know what I mean. In fact, it's far from it! We stayed one night and did one dive.

Here are some of the highlights:

• A plate of fried peanuts served with charred fly and bits of gravel
• The worst meal we've eaten in Bali so far, a half cooked piece of chicken (serves me right for ordering western food), some old tofu (which Bighead let me discover for myself), and a watermelon juice so pumped with sugar it was undrinkable
• Bruised shins due to my far from glamorous shore exit. I did have full scuba gear on and there was a decent swell and the beach was covered in wobbly round stones!

I couldn't help but burst out laughing when moments after lights out (where I had both fingers and toes crossed for a healthy tummy in the morning) two mangy cats began to howl (not meow) at each other just outside our room. You can't win em all I suppose!

I am pleased to announce that I don't appear to have contracted salmonella poisoning and all that said, I just love Asia! Bighead and I have spent quite some time laughing about particular goings on. Of course, I could never convey these with words. You just have to be here!

We're both rather pleased to be back in the south of Bali and are busy pondering where to from here... ahh the freedom!

Out and about in Bali

For the last few days, we’ve been staying in a tiny town in northern Bali called Permuteran. The main reason people come here is to snorkel and dive. I think there’s only about seven resort/spas and three warung! We arrived late in the afternoon and hadn’t managed to get through on the phone to book accommodation, so pickings were slim. Samesame has worked out that if we do this more often, she gets to stay in places like this!


Unfortunately, it was NZ$100 a night (which is a little over our budget!) so we moved on the next day.



This gorgeous homestay, Tirta Sari, is half the price and three times as friendly! It’s located between Reef Seen Dive Centre and the main road. The family that run it are so lovely and the garden is beautiful. They are currently in the process of building more rooms, a warung and a spa.

On Saturday we had our first dive of the season! We went to a site called Close Encounters which is part of the local reef. Bighead loved his first dive with new eyes! It was surprisingly pretty with loads of different fish, and gorgeous hard and soft coral. We even saw a large ball of tuna which was really exciting.

We’ve also had a day trip to Pulau Menjangan, where we took another two dives – turtles, large barracuda, frog fish, an eel, and loads and loads of different species. It’s so peaceful down there, a whole different world. The only sound you can hear is the blub, blub, blub, of your bubbles and the quiet munching of coral.

This part of Bali is stunning. Permuteran has black sand beaches and is surrounded by the rugged mountains of the Taman Nasional Bali Barat (West Bali National Park). Gorgeous.

However, at NZ$70 a dive, we won't be staying long!

Masakan Padang

Another tasty type of food here is masakan padang. The warung serving up this delectable style of food, are easy to spot. Check out the unique way the food is displayed in the front window.

You can select any number of these tasty tid bits. There’s usually lots of different types of meat, veg, tempeh and tofu dishes on offer.

This particular warung seemed to be more expensive than others we've been to. My meal cost about NZ$4.

On my plate you can see a whole fried egg, a corn fritter, dried beef,

beef rendang, and a potato ball. Yes, it is mostly fried, so not the sort of meal you'd eat too much of, but oh so tasty!

My personal favourites are the potato balls (why don’t they make em like this at home?) and the beef rendang.

Doberweiler?

Here it is...

I know I’ve mentioned this already but I think it deserves a post of its own… and I have pics!

Babi Guling – my all time favourite Balinese dish (to date). Served all over Bali but definitely a must do in Ubud at Ibu Oka’s on Jl Suweta.

Tourists flock to this local warung everyday from 11 til 4 for one thing. Tender strips of spit roasted goodness, small super crispy crackling pieces, a tasty sausage (blood I think, sounds gross but tastes good!), spicy bean salad, crackling, chilli and rice. All for a mere 25,000Rp (NZ$3.50)

An early morning stroll

Just up the road from our bungalow, you can take a stroll through the rice paddies. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of rice paddies, they're breathtaking. You can often see rice farmers wearing straw hats, meticulously grooming their fields. Small ram-shackled shelters are scattered here and there as respite from midday sun. Ducks, chickens, roosters, dogs and their babes roam the paddies.

It’s much greener than the last time we were here and the temperature (a cool 24 degrees) is so sweet that Bighead and I have even hit the road on mountain bikes (twice!). The overwhelming sense of calm here is all encompassing and it hasn’t taken very long at all for us to just about grind to a halt completely!