Jati Luwih Ricefields and Tanah Lot

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Hello All
We are settling into the laid back lifestyle here in Bali. Our Villa is wonderful, and the locals we have met couldn’t be more welcoming…. We wanted to see more of the real Bali, away from the tourists and the bikes, so we arranged a trip out with our mates from the UK. We had a late Breakfast at our local internet café which is a daily event. We plant ourselves there most mornings for a few hours. And check our mails and watch the world go by…
We headed off about 12.00 in 2 cars as we couldn’t all fit in the 1.… we have an old “Jimmy”, which is incredibly bumpy and none of the seatbelts work…. But we kept up with Dippa in his mpv… We headed up to the mountains to see the rice fields at JatiLuwih. The weather held out and we stopped for a walk along a river, surrounded by rice terraces. A few of the workers stopped and said Hi and waved It really was a beautiful spot, They had recently harvested and replanted the crops so it wasn’t as green as it can be but I thought it was still stunning…. There were few bikes/scooters, and some of the houses and temples looked amazing. We stopped for drinks in JatiLuwih itself. Dippa went off to use their toilet and came back saying in all his years he had never seen or experienced a toilet like that (Never done Glastonbury then??!!??) so of course we all had to have a look…. It was fine for us girlies but I can see it would have been interesting for the guys ( it was set up off the ground by a few steps and then in the eaves of the very low roof)…. But that’s all part of the fun…
On the way back we decided to stop at Tanah Lot which is one of the most important Temples here in Bali… It is set out on a rock just off shore , the whole coast there is amazing with loads of natural bridges and arches. Unfortunately the whole place is crawling with hawkers and tourists, there are cafes and restaurants lined up at all the viewing points, so if you want a good view from the cliffs you have to fight your way through the plastic chairs. It is worth a visit but don’t expect anything spiritual. Russ and Ellie sat on the cliff and watched the surfers. As we left we fed a beautiful fruit bat ( who appeared surprisingly well kept) but we stayed away from all the snakes that were on offer for photos…. Apparently the time to be there is sunset, as the sun sets behind the temple. I would have liked to have stayed and seen it, but so did a few hundred other tourists….. So we moved on.
We did get to see the sun set over the sea as Dippa took us to a great Restaurant on the way back, called Echo Beach, it is right on the beach, it has great food and a stunning view, they even had a BBQ buffet type deal going so we ate ribs and watched the sun… A good day was had by all!!!!
We leave Bali tomorrow and move onto Singapore and then Cambodia next week…. I think we are all looking forward to it. I know I am hoping it will be as laid back as Bali, but we shall have to see. The girls love it here as it is so different to what they know, and they make wicked milkshakes…….. Thanks to Dippa for sorting us out with our beautiful villa and making our stay so enjoyable!!!! :-)

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Comments

[sarah]

Looks wonderful. All of it. Glad you are having a great time. Sarah and wolf