Lembongan Island, Indonesia: The Bali Fun Ship

On July 5th we decided to get out of Kuta, Bali, and spend the day out on the water exploring the area of Lembongan Island (a small island in between Bali and Lombok in Indonesia).
We boarded The Bali Fun Ship and spent the day relaxing in the sun, enjoying water sports, and touring the island of Lembongan.

The boat was equipped with a water slide, an underwater observation area and a Jacuzzi. We were also able to use snorkelling equipment and go for rides on a banana boat!
Snorkelling was a lot of fun and we saw some fish and coral:

But we had a better view of the coral and fish when we went down into the underwater observation room:

We also made good use of the water slide: 

The area was beautiful and the water was amazingly blue!

After enjoying the water sports on the boat, we headed onto the island of Lembongan.

Lembongan is a small island (about 8 square kilometers), and has a population of about 5,000. The major business on the island is seaweed farming, and about 90% of the population works in this field, while the other 10% works in the tourist industry.
The seaweed is harvested from the ocean, and then left out to dry for a few days. It is then sold to be used in cosmetic and medicinal products.

While on the island we had access to the pool at one of the resorts, and it had an amazing infinity pool and view of the bay!


This was our last day in Bali, and it was well spent relaxing and enjoying some fun in the sun. The following day we would be flying to Singapore to spend 3 days exploring and doing some sightseeing.
All in all Bali was a very relaxing and much needed break from my intense travel and sightseeing through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam!

Bali, Indonesia: White Water Rafting

On July 4th we woke up nice and early in preparation for our day of white water rafting on the Telaga Waja River in central Bali.
I didn’t know what to expect, I had been white water rafting in Canada a number of times, and for the most part I spent more time in the water than I did in the boat.
We were paired with a really nice couple from Australia, and the 4 of us (plus our guide) shared one boat. 

I found that rafting here was very different than rafting on the Ottawa River. The major difference is that here the water is very shallow, with lots of large rocks, and the river is very strong forming one long continuous rapid. You barely have to paddle because the river will just carry you along the whole route. But along the Ottawa River there are lots of rapids but you have calm waters in between rapids where you need to paddle. Also, the water in the Ottawa River is much deeper and the rapids are much stronger, so we frequently tipped our boat or fell out, but here we didn’t tip and everyone stayed in the boat.
We were swept down about 12 kms of rapids. It was so much fun!

We went around many bends in the river and we frequently bumped into the shrubbery along the shore:

The river also took us through some waterfalls, where we evidently got soaked:

The scenery was breathtaking as we traveled through luscious jungle and rice terraces.

We finished off the rafting experience with a buffet lunch overlooking the beautiful river and scenery:

Rafting was one of my highlights in Bali! We had an amazing time, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone visiting Bali!

Drive from Lovina Beach to Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

On July 3rd we left Lovina Beach, Bali and hired a private driver to take us the 4 hour journey back to Kuta Beach, Bali. During the drive we made a few stops to see a few sights throughout the island.
Our first stop was the Gitgit Waterfall, a beautiful waterfall located in the north part of Bali. It has a height of about 35 meters and it is surrounded by tropical trees.

It was also really nice because we went around 8:30am, before any other tourists arrived, and also before the souvenir shops opened. So it was peaceful, and we could enjoy the beauty of the waterfall without any distractions.
Our next stop was the Monkey Forest. We stopped here on the route from Kuta to Lovina a few days earlier, but we wanted to stop again because the monkeys were so cute! This time we had peanuts to feed them.


It is so adorable to see the mommy monkeys protecting their babies. They really are like humans. When we walked up to them the mothers put their arms around their babies to shield them from danger.

Our next stop was the Pura Bratan, a Hindu temple, built in 1633, that is located on the shores of the Lake Bratan in the mountains in Bali. We visited the temple during a holiday celebration, so it was packed full of Balinese people celebrating. It was very interesting.

There were able to watch a parade of people all in traditional dress leaving the temple:


We also saw a lot of traditional Balinese women carrying their items on their heads. We have seen this all throughout Bali, and  I’ve been amazed at the size of the packages they are able to balance on their heads!


The rest of the drive was very scenic and beautiful. When we drove from Kuta to Lovina a few days earlier it was rainy and very misty, so it was hard to see the view through the mountains. This time the view was clear:

Once we arrived in Kuta we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach!

We decided to stay at the beach to watch the sunset, but it seemed like every single person in Kuta decided to do the same thing! The beach was packed with people! But that didn’t take away from it’s beauty.


It was a lovely evening! We decided to have a quiet and low key night because we wanted to prep ourselves for our day of white water rafting the following day! Bali is amazing!  I really think I could be a permanent traveler!

Lovina Beach, Bali, Indonesia: Buddhist Temple and Hot Springs

We are loving our time in Lovina Beach! We had booked 4 nights (June 29 – July 3) at a resort and spa on the shore of Lovina Beach, and we were using this time to fully relax and rejuvenate ourselves!
During our time here we decided to treat ourselves to a day at the spa. It was the most relaxing time I have spent so far! Since we wanted to have all our treatments together we opted for the “Romantic Couple Package”. Just because we aren’t a couple it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the same luxuries that couples do! We had massages, body scrubs, body wraps, and foot treatments, but the best, and most romantic part, was the jacuzzi bath. They prepared an outdoor private jacuzzi bath for us and the top of the water was completely covered in flower petals! You couldn’t even see the water through all the petals. It was amazing.. and yes, very very romantic!
After our spa treatments we were so relaxed we didn’t feel like doing very much, so we ordered wine and room service and had dinner on our balcony.

Here in Lovina Beach the tide goes down in the evenings and then comes back up in the mornings. When the tide is low you can see rocks peeping out of the water and sand. It was really beautiful seeing the sunset over the beach during low tide:

The following day (June 1st) I was feeling a little under the weather. I caught a bit of a cold and spent most of the day reading and relaxing in the shade. After buying a plethora of different Indonesian cold and flu medicines and throat lozenges I was feeling better by the evening, so we decided to go out to downtown Lovina for dinner. We had a lovely dinner overlooking the beach:

On June 2nd we spent the morning having some more fun in the pool. We are loving my underwater camera and it has provided us with much entertainment as we take photos and watch how funny (and sometimes quite ungraceful) we are underwater!

Later that afternoon we decided to explore the Banjar Buddhist Temple and Monastery, Bali’s largest Buddhist monastery, located very close to Lovina Beach. It is a beautiful and peaceful monastery, and there were almost no tourists there.

From there we went to the Banjar Hot Springs, a natural hot spring that was made into bathing pools by the Japanese when they colonized Indonesia. It is believed that this water can heal diseases. It is very beautiful, therapeutic and relaxing to sit in the warm water of the baths. These baths reminded me of the thermal baths I visited in Japan. The main difference: in Japan you are required to bathe in the nude, while here bathing nude is not permitted.

It is especially nice to sit under the waterfalls:

This was our last day and night in Lovina, so we took a nice stroll along the beach before saying goodbye to this lovely place.

As lovely and relaxing as Lovina beach was, we were getting a bit tired of the slow paced atmosphere and wanted a bit more action in our days. So we decided to head back to Kuta, Bali on July 3rd to spend a few more days in that area before heading off to Singapore on July 6th!