Day 19 & 20 I think I better combine :). Someone I´ve met here on Bali asked me when during my 30 days I will do some vacation if I am constantly visiting temples, waking up early in the mornings to see sunrises and edit my pictures in the co-working space etc…Well guess what :D!
Some days back I´ve been for sunset at the temple Pura Ulun Danu Beratan and met Brian, a US programmer and hobby photographer living abroad. He showed me a picture from a close by temple as well on a lake that is pretty picturesque during sunrise. So why not giving it another try to capture one and the drive was booked. I would love to do this with my scooter but I am not convinced yet about the scooter itself, not just because of the power of the scooter but about the light of it. I rode it today to do grocery and to go to have dinner and the light the lamp is providing is alarmingly low…well literally non-existing.
My driver was a bit late so we left around 4.15 in the morning and drove up into the mountains. Again I have provided the GPS location to where I want to go but my driver again brought me to the wrong location. As I already had some experience on that matter I corrected him, showed him the location and we arrived after another 15 minutes drive on rough and steep roads through a monkey forest. I was expecting a lake somewhere in the middle of nowhere without anyone, so with enough space to move around and to enjoy the quiet space and to enjoy the sunrise. Well…! Just by estimating I´d say I´ve seen around 100 tents and 500 young Balinese that camped up there and some as well to take pictures of the sunrise. Still, I was pretty surprised how loud they were, playing music and dancing. My driver though wasn´t so surprised. School´s out for 1.5 months so the kids are around at these places.
On our way back to Ubud I had another nice conversation with Lovi and he invited me over to his home to meet his family and to enjoy dinner with them. Once I am back on Bali and still am in touch with him I will gladly accept the invitation to get to know the local culture and people even more. The way back brought us through the mountains with a nice view on Mount Agung which is still active and erupting. Lovi and I agreed that there was still some smoke coming from it…So I actually saw an erupting Volcano…from very far away but it´s one thing I can scratch from my bucket list.
Back in the hotel I enjoyed a good breakfast omelet and used the time I´ve to fill out the customer feedback form for the Hotel. I really like the hotel but there are things that could and should be improved. The staff working here is awesome, super friendly and always smiley but there are still points that need improvement. To name just one: The security guy is watching TV till 3am and it´s pretty loud especially that my little house is kind of next to the TV.
I am still discovering different Warungs and had lunch in Warong Pojok, quite close to my hotel. The food was again just delicious and I really can get used to the Balinese vegetarian curries and by the way…Slowly but surely I can drive through the outskirts of Ubud with my phone connecting to different Wifi´s :).
I spent most of the days being on the road, visiting different temples, waterfalls etc…so I decided to stay in the hotel and relax on the pool reading my book. The sky though was a mix of dark and bright clouds with the sun here and there peaking through. The evening I spent relaxing and watching a movie and fell asleep when watching it…That happened to me maybe 1 or 2 times till now. I woke up in the middle of the night with my notebook next to me running the screensaver mode.
This morning on day 20 I was pretty surprised when I saw during breakfast that my feedback had been read and the breakfast adapted. Suddenly other types of marmalade were on the table, the staff parked their scooters not directly in front of my little house to avoid the noise. One of them has a scooter with an adapted exhaust pipe…this thing is just loud. Even now in the evening, the TV is off. Thank you for that!
Today was planned to go to the beach in the morning to really do some vacation stuff ;), relax on the beach and to enjoy the 30 degrees Pacific. As such a tour with a car and driver would be around 30€ I decided against it but to book a hotel directly at the beach at the foot of Mount Agung. 30€ for only 4-5 hours at the beach is too much I think so I rather spend 60-70€ for two days at the beach incl. driver and car.
I wouldn’t call it crazy and myself a maniac spending the night in a 13km proximity of an active volcano but I have to admit that it is not 100% safe. The photo opportunity for a sunrise picture with the island Lombok in the midground or a sunset picture with 2 volcanos in the midground and maybe even a Milkyway picture was too tempting. Furthermore…I can spend some time at the beach to relax. If the volcano blows, I would, in addition, get this picture as well. 🙂 I am always up for a good picture as you might have noticed ;).
As the day was sunny I actually spent it at the pool after having lunch at Warung Wayan and I think I found my favorite one. It´s a bit mosquito infested but with Mosquito spray, it isn´t too bad. The food is delicious and the prices are awesome. The dessert (crepés with banana and palm sugar syrup) was bigger than the soup though but still, both were delicious. A soup, crepés and a drink for 2,60€…you´ve got to love these little Warungs!