When it comes to tavel blogs and separating each entry into a daily event, it all comes apart when one of those days is necessarily weighty because of a whole day photography trip, as opposed to the previous day that was spent doing almost nothing!
Callum and I agreed on booking a day trip and rather than doing something he'd already done on his dozen previous visits, so popped onto Trip Advisor two days prior and agreed on the 'Day Trip to Northern Bali'.
An hour late to pick us up, as seemed to be the theme with pickups on our Bali Trip, we were collected by our tour carriage. I genuinely expect maybe half a dozen people to share the journey with, I didn't expect it to be me driver, tour guide, Callum and I.
We had a quick briefing, ie 'we can do whatever you want', but ultimately we were expecting to a set tour and didn't really expect any deviation. As is mandatory with any tour I've ever been on, especially in Asia (most of the experience comes from holidays with the family, but it still applies), our first stop was to a woodworking shop. We almost went to an art gallery too, but Callum and I made our feelings very clear. We arrived at Mammoth carving and started looking around.....for the sales pitch.
We got it, saw some very impressive carvings, some of which made me a little nostalgic to some statues that my mum used to have. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed looking at the work, they were definitely skilled pieces, but I'm fully aware that most tour guides are affiliated with local vendors and have their preferences they like to push on customers.
A short drive later we arrived at impromptu stop, Agro Dukuh Sari, our guide took us for a short walk through a photogenic rice field setting, with a restaurant perched on the hill side. Their speciality however was tea! I'm not a tea fan, but I tried every single flavour they had and enjoyed it.
Our next stop was a buddhist temple, or more specifically the Sleeping Buddha statue Pupuan Tabanan. It was really at this stage that I realised that even with the best intentions, the langauge barrier was strong between us and our guide. Even stronger with our driver, on account of him speaking no english at all. Still, we had a look around, tried to learn what we could and took some photos and had some photos taken of us.
We kept driving to a non-descript valley lookout. It isn't on the map so I can't name it. All I remember is, great views and Callum bought a trinket.
Lunch was in North Bali, at the shore at a resort called Aditya Beach Resort. Callum and I sat down to a all you can eat buffet lunch, which was bloody good! Plus it was quiet while we were picking our foods. By the time we sat down two bus loads of Germans arrived and the place was jammed full of people. Callum ventured onto the 5m wide black sand beach and was immediately mobbed by t-shirt and scarf vendors, before retreating back to the safety of resort land.
Air Panas Banjar Hot Spring was next. Not an airline. A short drive away from the resort, created from the natural heating effect of volcanoes nearby and stuff. Callum enjoyed the swim whilst I skulked around and took some photos. Not much to say really!
We started heading back south but along the easterly roads. After many winding and gradually thinner roads we stopped at Air Terjun Munduk waterfall. Our guide came with us, saying that he had never been to this one. He later admitted it was his second time this week. The betrayal. We ventured the steep hike down to the base of the waterfall and waited about 10mins for the instagrammers and selfie obsessed tourists to take their photos. It's not the photo taking that bothers me, it's more the photo taking on a phone using the front facing camera that enrages me.
We walked back up the hill, and it was much tougher than the way down lol. Back into the car and the treacherous roads. Kudos to our driver who, without taking unnecessary risks was bloody good at driving.
The last stop before driving back to Kuta was at the Bali Twin Lake Viewpoint. There are three lakes but you can only see two at once.
So we paid AUD218 for the two of us, the guide, the driver, the car (a rental), entry fees and lunch. According to the guide, his costs were IDR400k for the car, IDR250k each for the driver and guide, and the rest going to lunch entry fees and viator/booking agents etc. If I did it again, I think a driver and car would suffice. Our guide was friendly enough and his English was alright, but he didn't really have much to say other than answering our questions.
It was a bloody good day.
Towards the evening we hit some bars, met up with an old friend, had an emergency poo, hit a nightclub and then went to bed...at 4am. The next day, we checked out, smoothie, lunch, watermelon drink, foyer snooze, airport and flight home. What a bloody good holiday. :)
