A big dream and a big world: Nusa Lembongan, Kuta, and Balangan

Hello guys! :)

This will be my last post about Indonesia, as we will be traveling to our next destination, Singapore, on Monday .

So after our trip to Lombok, we went to the island called Nusa Lembongan.The ride on the boat took about 3 hours and was pretty exciting because the waves were really big. We were glad when we arrived at our destination without getting seasick...

We hadn't booked an accommodation for our time there yet, so Samu and Taddi went on to find something suitable, while Sofie and I stayed with our luggage. We decided to go with a small hotel at the beach with an infinity pool. It was called "A One House" and literally consisted of only one small building with four rooms.
On the next day, we didn't do much. Just relaxed at the pool and enjoyed the amazing weather. (It didn't rain the whole day!) In the evening, we went out to eat at a rstaurant calleed "Green Garden Warung". It was amazing because it had so many vegetarian and vegan options! I had a tempeh burger that was absolutely delicious and a nice change from the standars here, fried rice or fried noodles.

On our second day at Nusa Lembongan, we had booked a snorkeling trip. We were picked up at 8am and went onto small boat with a couple other tourists. We received fins, mask, and a snorkel, and drove around the island to the first snorkeling spot: Mangrove Point. We had about 40min to snorkel aroound the area. It was absolutely awesome! The corals and all the differnet kinds of fish had a broad variety of colours and shapes, and I was totally amazed. What really bothered me though, was the fact that there were tons of plastic bags, bottles, and other trash in the water... Additionally, you could see the coral degradation.. Many pieces of coral broke off, lost all of their beautiful colours, and lay on the ground. I knew that that was a huge problem, but seeing it in person made me even angrier... Angrier at us humans for destroying this fantastic underwater world with our reckless consumption...
After we explored the first stop,we got back on the boat and drove to the second spot. That one was even more beautiful than the first one! A lot more different colours and shapes! And a lot less trash! :) Our third stop was in a little bay called Crystal Bay. It was a bit more difficult to snorkel there because the waves were really big, but it was worh it! At the end of the tour, we were supposed to visit Manta Bay. We were promised that we would be able to see lots of Manta rays there, I was really excited! Unfortunately, the waves there were even bigger, making it too dangerous to snorkel... :( But even without seeing the Mantas, the snorkel trip was just great! :D Even though it also made me really sad because of the pollution of the water...
After we returned to our hotel, we went out for lunch and relaxed for the reminder of the day.

The next morning, we decided to rent scooters and explore some more of the small island. First, we drove to Sunset Point. (We didn't find it,but instead we went to a cliff and watched the waves break which was really nice as well.) After that, we went on to the socalled "Dream Beach". That is a small beach surrounded by the cliffs, which is supposed to be exceptionally beautiful. I had expected a lot, but it was actually not that "dreamy". Sure it was beautiful, but not more beautiful than other beaches we have seen so far...What was really cool about it though, was that you could walk along the cliffs and get to a point called "Devil's Tear". At that spot, the waves have created like a round carving into the rocks and every time a new wave crashes onto the rocks there, it looks like the carving releases a big breath, very cool! :) Samu and Sofie decided to go back to the hotel afterwards, and Taddi and I drove to the other side of the island, to the Mangrove forest. That was my fvourite spot on the whole island! It was so quiet and the Mangrove trees were so pretty. (It also reminded me of Florida <3) We went to a small, very cute Café called "Nano Nano Warung". After eating the most delicious nasi goreng (fried rice) there, we stayed on a cozy couch for some more time, read and relaxed.
What I really liked about the whole island of Nusa Lembongan, was the calm atmosphere and the diversity of the nature, even though the island is so small. If you ever find yourself on Bali, it is definetly worth spending a few days there!! :)

After having spent four nights on Nusa Lembongan, we took a fast boat back to Bali. There we stayed ne night in Kuta. Kuta is known as the party and surf center of Bali (also called the "Mallorca for Australians" XD). As we are neither party people or surfers, I was afraid that we wouldn't like it there, but apart from being really touristy, it had a cool atmosphere and lots of stores and street shops where we could shop. That's what we did on our first day there. We went into several surf shops and explored the narrow streets with all of the local shops. It is crazy how different they are: the big and clean surf shops with their fixed and expensive (comparable to Europe) prices next to the tiny street shops with their colorful shirts, sarongs, and all the other random souvenirs where you have to bargain about the price with the locals. I ended up buying a short jumpsuit and a new pair of flip flops in the street shops. :)
In the afternoon, we decided to go to the beach. Apart from all the other tourists and the annoying vendors, the beach was gorgeous! Samu rented a surf board and tried his luck again, while Sofie, Taddi and I sat on the beach and watched him. Afterwards wewent to a tradiotional Indonesian place for dinner. It was amazing because it had a ccounter with many different fried vegetable cakes, tempeh, tofu, spring rolls, meat, fish, vegetables, etc. and you could pick which ones you wanted. And my god it was absolutely delicious! the best Indonesian food we've had so far in my opinion. :)

On our second day in Kuta, we hung out with Greta and Fanny, our friends from Sweden whom we had met previously in Seminyak. We went to a mall next to the beach that easily could have been in any western country. Shops like H&M, Zara, Adidas, etc. and a food court that was relatively expensive, it seemed like a whole different world in there. After strolling through the shops, we decided to take our Swedish friends to the amazing warung from the previous night. We enjoyed a delicious and traditional Indonesian lunch and then went for some more shopping in the local street shops. At around 2pm we went back to our hostel to get our backpacks and organize a transport to Balangan where we had booked a hotel for the last four nights on Bali.

When we arrived at the Lajoya Biubiu Hotel, we were greeted with a welcome drink and coupons for a 15min welcome massage, what a service! The campus of the hotel was absolutely amazing!! It was right on the edge of a cliff and consisted of multiple bungalows, a restaurant overlooking the ocean, two infinity pools (one even had three levels), access to a private beach, and a Jacuzzi (which unfortunately, you had to pay for…). Our room had two stories, a big bathroom, and two kingsized beds. It was like a dream!! :D After having explored everything, we went into the pools and relaxed for the whole afternoon. As the prices for food were pretty high in the hotel restaurant, we walked down the street and found “Pedro’s Warung”. A really cute little restaurant with amazing and really cheap food, perfect for us! J

After sleeping like babies in our very comfortable beds, wwe got up and had breakfast (which luckily was included). A platter of fresh tropical fruit, homemade toast, croissants, and pain au chocolats, fresh pressed juice, and Balinese coffee. We were in food heaven!! XD Unfortunately, the weather on that day wasn’t as nice. For the first time during our stay in Indonesia, it rained for a couple hours straight. We used the day to stay in our room and watch movies, read, and listen to music. In the afternoon, it stopped raining and we decided to walk to a vegan restaurant that Taddi had found online. The food was really good and the restaurant was super cute!

On our second full day here, we stayed in our hotel and enjoyed the pools. J In the evening we went to good old Pedro’s for dinner. Nothing much to talk about. ;)

On Sunday, we rented two scooters for the day and drove to Dreamland beach. Like the Dream beach on Nusa Lembongan, it was actually not as dreamy as we had expected… In general, we liked the beaches on the Gili islands and Lombok a lot more than the ones here on Bali.

Our next stop was Uluwatu temple, however we decided not to go inside because there were so many tourists. After that we originally planned to visit another beach, but couldn’t find it, so we drove back to our hotel and spent some time at the pool. We went to a restaurant called “Café La Pasion” which offered live music, excellent food, and a really cool atmosphere. It was our last night in Bali, so we decided to treat ourselves with huge pieces of chocolate cake, yummy!

On Monday, our last day here in Indonesia, we got up and enjoyed the heavenly breakfast for one last time.

Now we are in the process of packing our backpacks which we will store at the reception while we enjoy the last day here at the pool and leave for the airport at 7:30pm.

My résumé for our time in Indonesia is that it is a truly amazing country to travel through with lots of variety, friendly people, and many awesome things to do!! We really enjoyed our time here, but are now excited to go on and visit some other countries! :)

I will report from Singapore soon!

Love,

Anne <3