Off the tourist track: lakes and mountains in Bali

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We arrived at our guesthouse in Candi Kuning and had lunch there. The area was very quiet and green and there were lots of cages with beautiful birds hanging around the guesthouse. We had lunch in this beautiful room which looked like a wooden tree cabin, with a spectacular view of Bratan lake and the mountains.
I wasn't feeling too good - the altitude upset my ears - so I went for a lay down while Shaun went for a drive on a scooter we had rented. Later, we went for a drive together and had dinner in a local restaurant - at a much better price than in Ubud. We didn't see many tourists around, so it felt like we saw some of the real Bali!
On the next day, after a lovely breakfast at the guesthouse, we went to the Botanical gardens - which felt a bit like a big park where someone put signs with the names of the trees in front of each of them! It was nice nonetheless, and there was a conservatory with some ponds and plants including Nepenthes (carnivorous!).
We drove around and had lunch by one of the lakes, with locals. We then sat on a wooden pier on the lake, with locals fishing around us. It was a very quiet place, with a beautiful view of the Twin lakes and the mountains behind.
We went back to our guesthouse before the rain started to fall - it is rain season here, after all. In the afternoon, we drove around for a bit in spite of the rain and saw a lovely view of both lakes. As the weather wasn't improving and I really didn't enjoy the ride (this contraption called scooter is really missing at least one wheel for me to feel comfortable, as well as a cover to protect us from the rain!). We went back to the same place we had dinner the day before, where we had really enjoyed the pork satay. It didn't taste as nice that time and we were a bit disappointed!!
On the next morning, we planned to go to great lengths to save money on our trip back to the south, and wanted to take a bus to Ubud and then a taxi to our final destination, Canggu. Shaun drove me and my big rucksack to where the bus stop was supposed to be (we weren't too sure where that was), drove back to the guesthouse and then got a lift for him and his backpack from the guesthouse's owner. It turned out there was no local bus to Ubud and that the tourist bus had left half an hour ago - and there was only one a day. Luckily, the man at the "tourist office" arranged a taxi for us directly to Canggu for a good price.

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