I wasn’t high while filming Chichak ballet but found it facinating nevertheless. Chichak is what they call the “house lizard” here, different than Geckos, which get much larger.
And the reveal of the Golden Valley coffee shop. It’s interesting how the color settings were so off I appear to be in black and white. But I sort of like the effect.
And some more stills from the Art Zoo, which is much closer to Singaraja but part of the same trip, and huge Banyan tree.
I actually took another long weekend last month and went over to the Gilis. But that trip essentially entailed getting so baked I didn’t know if I could snorkel. I.e. “What if I see a shark?”…well he most likely won’t mess with you, it’s just another animal on the reef. “What if I have a heart attack?”…you’re in much better shape than you have been with the working out. “What if the shark has a heart attack?”…how high can you get? Though I did see turtles, lion fish and an eel who was larger than I’d like it to have been, but thankfully stayed in his hidey hole. I’m going back to Lombok the week after Christmas so maybe I’ll say more about the area then.
But this past extended weekend, I drove back to Amed. My usual place was full so I tried a cheaper spot. It was fine, not right by the great snorkeling, but I drove on to Tulamben after dropping my stuff at the room to snorkel around the wreck of the USAT Liberty. It was the first time I was envious of the divers and wanted to be “down there” closer.
The next day I rode on around the NE coast, stopping twice. Once at kookie Symon’s Art Zoo, though he was away in Ubud. And again near Singaraja to find the actual Pura Dalem with the naughty carvings I though I had seen before. Confusing as there is another Pura Dalem nearby, also with some carvings, but I think this is faulty linguistics on my part…again. The carvings aren’t in very good shape, but now I know for sure.
At a traffic light in Singaraja, a guy pulled next to me and urged me to see his place in nearby Lovina. I followed him, and declined to stay, stomached his lies (“Why go to the mountains? Only raining! You should stay here…”), though it was about lunch time so I ate there. A while down the road I turned left into the mountains and had soon climbed to Munduk, a town some other travelers told me about.
I am essentially more of a mountain person than a beach one and the cooler climate definitely agrees with me. I got a room at Guru Ratna and the guy dropped the price without my asking. I was worried about the budget for the trip, resigned I’d come home early when the money ran out, saving the majority for the after Xmas trip, but cheap rooms were there for me all three nights. I went to check out a waterfall. Then to try my first Kopi Luwak and have a lengthy conversation with Budi who runs the co-op. He’s a really swell guy. Unfortunately I thought you’d be able to order Civet coffee from the site but I’m not sure that’s the case…
The next morning, a guy at the hotel drew me a map and I went to check out the ancient Banyan tree, rice fields and another waterfall near Budi’s coffee plantation. The map was good, but at first I passed the tree and went way up into the hills, eventually realizing my mistake and returning. Even though you can see it from a distance, it’s easy to pass on the road.
The thing is thought to be 1,000 years old, the oldest on the island. Back when locals were fighting the Dutch, the story is 300 warriors once hid inside. I went in myself…sorry about the mouth breathing.
I’ll post some more pics and vids later. The only rain was very light Sunday morning as I headed back down to Denpasar, through familar Bedugal. Another great getaway! Had I a job up there, I’d be much more tempted to stay and do another year on Bali.
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