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!

Lovina Beach, Bali, Indonesia: Monkeys and Dolphins

On June 29 Mads and I left Kuta Beach, Bali, and set off on our journey to Lovina Beach, Bali, on the northern shore of the island. We wanted to spend some time in a quieter area of Bali so we could fully relax.
We had two options for our journey: take a 3 hour public bus that made no rest stops, or hire a private driver and stop wherever and whenever we wanted. We decided to opt for a private driver.
I had always thought that Bali was beautiful primarily for it’s beaches, but never really put much thought into inland Bali. Our drive through inland gave me a totally different perspective of Bali. We drove through beautiful lush fields, tall mountains and many temples. It gave me a far greater appreciation for Bali as a beautiful island on the outside (beaches) and inside (inland).
That day was very misty and it was hard to see very far in the distance. It also rained. We were very lucky because of all our days in Bali so far, the only day with rain was our travel day!

We stopped at a coffee plantation along the route so we could sample some Balinese coffee and tea.


We learned about Luwak Coffee, also known as Kopi Luwak or civet coffee. It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world. It is produced by harvesting coffee berries that have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet. These coffee berries are passed through the digestive tract of the civets, and then washed, dried in the sun, roasted and used to brew coffee. Apparently it yields a delicious coffee with less bitterness. We were given the opportunity to try it, but since I’m not a coffee drinker (and because I find the procedure a little gross) I opted not to try this interesting, expensive, coffee.
These are the civets that are used:

We continued our journey through the mountains of Bali, and came across a group of monkeys on the side of the road! They were very friendly so we stopped to make friends with them:

They were so adorable, they were grooming each other!

We finally arrived at our resort in Lovina Beach after 4 hours of driving! The resort was beautiful! It was right on the water with a nice pool area. It was exactly what we needed for a relaxing few days!

The following morning we woke up at 5:30am to go see the dolphins! It was so early and the sun was just beginning to rise when we got down to the water:

We boarded a small boat and took off into the ocean to watch the dolphins in their natural habitat.

It was amazing! They are such beautiful and graceful animals! It was magical to watch the sunrise as the dolphins were jumping and swimming around our boats.

We spent the remainder of the day relaxing by the pool:

The pool/beach area had free wi-fi, so I spent part of my time on my computer:

Lovina Beach has been wonderful and relaxing so far! It was exactly what we needed! We still have another day left here before heading back down to Kuta Beach, Bali for a few more days, and then Singapore. Bali is amazing and we are loving every moment of it!