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The weather wasn’t much better the following day when we made our way up to Munduk. Sick of getting a soaking and rapidly running out of dry clothes, we decided instead to hire a car and driver. The small town we were heading for was constructed by the early Dutch settlers and rumour has it that the famous, Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyck tagged along and attempted to settle here but got fed up with the constant hails of horse and carriage, horse and carriage, the filthy beaches, the grotty weather and the last straw came when he got ripped off and was forced to shell out an extra 50 guilders for his favourite Zware shag where upon he subsequently buggered off back to Antwerp. Another rumour persists. His famous portrait 'Samson and Delilah' does not actually depict the biblical pair themselves but is actually a self portrait of Van Dyck and his wife being accosted by tour guides and touts and after arriving by tall ship at the ancient Balinese port of Singaraja!

Munduk is situated high up in the hills where one can seek refuge from the oppressive heat and humidity of the lower altitudes. That said, I wasn't really sure if this town really existed or not as we couldn't really see any of it and Quynh was adamant that our driver had driven past the same place at least three times, probably in an attempt to actually make us feel like we were going somewhere. There is a nice waterfall here, although it is a 500m long, slippery and winding walk to the bottom. Again, I found myself becoming all hot under the collar, overwhelmed by the tropical rarities that greet you on the way down, although my excess heat was soon dissipated after receiving a damn good soaking by the waterfall and the heavens that coincidentally just decided to open up at the same time. Up here in the mountains the climate is generally sub tropical, very damp and very humid and the flora and fauna tends to differ immensely from that which is found at the more tropical, lower levels......oh here I go again, banging on about plants.....1000 apologies.

After all the trudging up and down hills and scrambling through ravines we felt a tad peckish and came across what is no doubt Bali’s and possibly the world’s most expensive restaurant. We were forced to shell out over $15 for a small beef salad and a bowl of soup!!! The wife was seriously peeved as she was still hungry and started going into one about instant noodles and fish head soup. Trust me, nobody wants to make a Vietnamese woman angry even if you are married to her (you need to keep in mind that these people have seen off almost every superpower on the planet) so we had to stop off for noodles and some other weird nutritional arrangement that we found being sold by the roadside.

We headed back quite early being as Munduk was shrouded in cloud and the magnificent views that this hill top town is so well known for were of course, going to elude us, so there was no point hanging around. I think I'm going to appeal to the appropriate literary authorities and have the term 'Murphy's Law' changed to Nick's Law. Everywhere I go, these damn, blasted grey overcasts and torrential downfalls follow me like a magnet. On the way back we drove through Candi Kuning and stopped at the traditional Balinese market, then drove on to the Ulun Danu Temple which is quite beautiful, especially being as it is situated against the backdrop of hills and a big lake.

I then got dragged into a small coffee plantation where the missus wanted to buy some Bali coffee to take home with us. We were given a tour and then had small, steaming hot cups of brown liquid shoved under our noses which smelt a tad dodgy to the ol’ Cockle nasal sensors. Indonesia is well known for its Civit Poo Coffee but I was buggered if I was going to consume anything that had been ejected out of something else's colon. Quynh being the proverbial trooper dived in and took a mouthful and informed me that it actually tasted quite good. “Hmm, I’ll take your word for that love” were the only words I could conjure up at the time!

So, with the wife placated, we headed down towards Tanah Lot. This place is supposed to be amazing at sunset and being as I was fortunate enough to catch a wonderful conclusion to the day in Candi Dasa I was hoping for another chance at getting some more great snaps. But our friend in the sky failed to put in an appearance yet again and feeling somewhat miffed we headed off towards Jimbaran, our final destination, where I hoped to find a nice clean beach that would hopefully do something towards restoring some of my faith in this God forsaken place.

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