Back in Bali
Trip Start
Mar 04, 2008
1
16
20
Trip End
Jun 04, 2008
Tulamben,
Bali,
Indonesia
Monday, May 19, 2008
From there we took the Parama bus, good service and fair price, till Ubud, the cultural center of Bali, lots of carvers, painters, yoga teachers etc., to me personally felt exactly like Kuta but on Tofu, everybody look pale, and of course vegetarian....
The town is very picturesque with rice terraces and nice forest all over, but I am sorry, people were trying too hard, you still have the same, transport? room? information? Look Boss cheap cheap!!!!!, but of course with a yuppie flare.
At 8 pm it becomes a ghost town, somebody told me that there is some kind of noise ordinance after 10 pm but who knows o cares? this dead town was not for us.
Next day we hired a Taxi and for about 350000 rupiahs he took us to see some temples, elephant cave, spring water a great view of the volcano and lake and the most important temple in Bali, in reality a collection of about 20 beautiful temples almost on top of the mountain.
By 6 pm we were in Tulamben, half sleep since it was a long journey not as much for the distance but it is all mountain terrain with narrow curves left and right which makes the trip take quite some time.
Once at the guesthouse which was very clean and quiet, for only 50000 rupiahs breakfast included we found out that the whole town is quiet, absolutely nothing happens in here, only a little movement during 9 am to 3 pm when people from other towns come to dive and then that is the end of it.
The wreck of the U.S.S. Liberty is beautiful, full of fish and corals all over,visibility was about 60 feet in the morning going down to about 40 in the afternoon because of the morning divers, the water temperature was around 82 but it felt colder, this was a sign of things to come.We dove it twice and have to let go other dive sites because there is not an ATM in town, closest one is 45 minutes away, and the dive shop did not take credit cards as yet.Diving in here was very cheap, 15 U$S a tank , from the beach, including divemaster whom was very good.
A best option would have been to go to Candidasa a nice little town not too far away and go to Tulamben just to dive, neither of the towns has a real beach, one is rolling stone and on Candidasa I don't think there is a real beach.
The next day we took a taxi again this time to Sanur to catch the next day ferry to Nusa Lembongan, the ride took about 5 hours stoping at a couple of locations including the bat caves which is full of ..... you are right bats.
Sanur also another dead place, perhaps because it is not the season yet, with lots of restaurants , but empty. Some how you feel that people in Bali gets paid just to move around, wherever you go there are lots of motor bikes and cars and people coming and going, but restaurants, bars and shops in general are completely empty, of course Kuta is the exception.
As far as the natural beauty of Bali,( even that does not have a nice beach, at least when you compare to the Caribbean) I have to say that probably is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, with mountains, lakes,volcanoes,palm trees and jungles and rice terraces it really makes for an impressive post card view constantly.
After walking all over Sanur to find an ATM that took my card (another sign of things to come) we took rooms at
Water hole guest house, nice clean place not too expensive but very convenient to the ferry. Next entry Lembongan
see you there
