December 15, 2005
Let me start off by saying if anyone read my last blogs and thought I was a moron then you are probably correct in your thinking. Yes I know it is “coral” and not “corral” but it was late at night and when I am tired my dyslexia really becomes a problem. Writing is not something I have ever been good at and my blog is really the first time I have ever put anything I have written “out there” for others to see. So please be patient!
Today, Jodi and I are in Candikuning, a lovely place that is in the bottom of a volcano crater surrounded by three lakes. Our hotel room over looks lake Danau Bratan. There is a temple on its western shore and we watched people paddle across the lake to make an offering. They sang and chanted during the journey making the place feel a little spiritual.
Our arrival here was a difficult one since both of us were given a case of Bali belly from a tofu burrito that had a little too much Mexico included. We had planned on riding our bikes, but during the night our room smelled entirely wrong making it clear that we were not going to ride up any hills the next day. Instead we decided to leave Lovina via shuttle but were disappointed to learn what that was going to cost. One gentleman suggested we go to the Singaraja bus terminal and seek transportation there. Jodi was reluctant to go but I was all for it since I had visited Singaraja the day before and knew exactly where the bus terminal was located. We loaded our bikes and rode the 10km and were immediately offered transportation by an independent driver to the place we wanted for 25% of the cost that the Lovina drivers wanted. He was really surprised when I accepted his offer without any negotiations and loaded our gear into his van before we could change our minds.
The ride up was very pretty and I wish so much that I could have ridden it. Unlike most rides in the past days it wasn’t along flat coastline, which makes my ass feel like a baboons’ looks. This was a climb and anyone who knows me knows that I love to climb mountains. The view from the cab was nice, with green vegetation everywhere, grand views of the valleys below and the occasional waterfall spilling off some cliff above. To earn the top would have been something really special.
The driver pulled off the road at a rest stop at the top of the crater and sitting along the edge of the road were my new nemesis, monkeys. Ever since my incident in the monkey forest I am really afraid of them and when I see one I try to stay far away. Fortunately these were not as aggressive and when we unloaded our gear they ran off as if they were afraid of us like good monkeys should be. We loaded our bikes and headed down into the crater. Occasionally we would encounter one sitting on the side of the road and Jodi later told me that one crouched down as if to jump on her as she passed by. I thought dogs were bad to bike riders but monkeys have some scary potential.
At the bottom we immediately began looking for accommodations but could only find resorts that like the others we had seen were empty. We gave several of them a try but they still wanted USD so we passed. Further down the road we found a café that specialized in strawberries and we stopped for a strawberry pancake and strawberry and banana smoothie. Both were excellent! We moved on and eventually found a place before it began to rain and we both settled in for a nap and then a happy hour of Bintang and peanuts.
I think we will layover here tomorrow instead of going on to Ubud. The weather is cool and it feels more like the summer air in the mountains of Colorado. Tomorrow we plan to check out the Botanical Gardens, the strawberry farm and the Geothermal Project then we will start moving onto Kuta for our flight to Singapore.
Today, Jodi and I are in Candikuning, a lovely place that is in the bottom of a volcano crater surrounded by three lakes. Our hotel room over looks lake Danau Bratan. There is a temple on its western shore and we watched people paddle across the lake to make an offering. They sang and chanted during the journey making the place feel a little spiritual.
Our arrival here was a difficult one since both of us were given a case of Bali belly from a tofu burrito that had a little too much Mexico included. We had planned on riding our bikes, but during the night our room smelled entirely wrong making it clear that we were not going to ride up any hills the next day. Instead we decided to leave Lovina via shuttle but were disappointed to learn what that was going to cost. One gentleman suggested we go to the Singaraja bus terminal and seek transportation there. Jodi was reluctant to go but I was all for it since I had visited Singaraja the day before and knew exactly where the bus terminal was located. We loaded our bikes and rode the 10km and were immediately offered transportation by an independent driver to the place we wanted for 25% of the cost that the Lovina drivers wanted. He was really surprised when I accepted his offer without any negotiations and loaded our gear into his van before we could change our minds.
The ride up was very pretty and I wish so much that I could have ridden it. Unlike most rides in the past days it wasn’t along flat coastline, which makes my ass feel like a baboons’ looks. This was a climb and anyone who knows me knows that I love to climb mountains. The view from the cab was nice, with green vegetation everywhere, grand views of the valleys below and the occasional waterfall spilling off some cliff above. To earn the top would have been something really special.
The driver pulled off the road at a rest stop at the top of the crater and sitting along the edge of the road were my new nemesis, monkeys. Ever since my incident in the monkey forest I am really afraid of them and when I see one I try to stay far away. Fortunately these were not as aggressive and when we unloaded our gear they ran off as if they were afraid of us like good monkeys should be. We loaded our bikes and headed down into the crater. Occasionally we would encounter one sitting on the side of the road and Jodi later told me that one crouched down as if to jump on her as she passed by. I thought dogs were bad to bike riders but monkeys have some scary potential.
At the bottom we immediately began looking for accommodations but could only find resorts that like the others we had seen were empty. We gave several of them a try but they still wanted USD so we passed. Further down the road we found a café that specialized in strawberries and we stopped for a strawberry pancake and strawberry and banana smoothie. Both were excellent! We moved on and eventually found a place before it began to rain and we both settled in for a nap and then a happy hour of Bintang and peanuts.
I think we will layover here tomorrow instead of going on to Ubud. The weather is cool and it feels more like the summer air in the mountains of Colorado. Tomorrow we plan to check out the Botanical Gardens, the strawberry farm and the Geothermal Project then we will start moving onto Kuta for our flight to Singapore.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 11:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home