Touristy Crap

We left Ubud to travel in a counter clockwise direction around Bali. Our destination was Lovina in the North, but we decided to take a mini van with a driver who would take us to various touristic destinations on the way. Each attraction had an entry fee, but we were pleased to note that the prices were fantasticly low compared to Cambodia. We went to a temple (lame), a waterfall (super dooper lame), and passed lots of pretty lakes which I believe were formed from volcanos. Our driver was a madman and would make 2 way traffic into 3 ways, but we wouldn't have expected any less. We went to some hot springs (pretty lame) and then stopped for lunch (hella lame). We were taken to a place where lunch was going to cost $4 for a buffet (I know this sounds cheap, but for lunch we spend around 30c-$2). We asked him to take us somewhere cheaper as this was really out of our price range. He had just sat down to eat himself so we told him to finish, but I think he was getting a free meal as kickback for dropping us (the stupid tourist who is easily parted from his money) at the restaurant so he had to leave if we didn't eat. On the way to restaurant #2 we asked him, "how far to Lovina?" and he said, "about an hour" which we thought was wierd because the signs outside shops were saying 'Lovina'. Restaurant #2 was $5 for a buffet so we refused to get out of the car and told him to take us straight to Lovina - we'd rather starve than be screwed over. As it turned out Lovina was 5 mins down the road and it took us another 5 to get rid of our arsehole driver, get a room and head out for some budget style lunch. We found an Aussie restaurant where a Footy game was on and had a feast. After lunch we tried to take a leisurely stroll along the black sand beach, but were come at from every direction by people trying to sell. I felt like I was in a computer game trying to dodge and outwit the enemy. Before we turned back we saw some little chicks that looked sick & were told they had the bird flu. We still don't know if it's true, but in Indonesia we saw lots of sick chickens and their babies.

01 No Entry

02 Temples

03 Temple on Pretty Lake

04 Hot Springs