Amed

I think I’ve avoided writing about the last weekend in October because it makes me sad thinking about it, even though it was over a month ago. I still reminisce about every moment and find myself flicking through the photos I took during those three days over and over.

OKAY SORRY FOR BEING OVERLY SAPPY BUT THAT’S JUST HOW I FEEL, FOLKS.

That weekend was Tobin’s last weekend in Bali, before he had to return to Canada and prove to his boss that he was still alive (and more importantly, check on the freshly forming layer of snow up in Whistler). Very important, non-tropical business.

We originally made an ambitious plan to motorbike around the entire northeastern part of the island, making a large counter-clockwise loop and cutting back south through the island’s centre. Part of this route was blocked by the exclusion zone around Mt. Agung*, however, so we scaled back our plans and decided to just go to Amed and back.

*For context, back in September, seismic activity increased significantly around Mt Agung so thousands of people were evacuated from the surrounding area and a 12km exclusion zone was enforced. It was still safe(ish) to be near(ish) the volcano when we were there in October. Obviously the situation is slightly different now.

Tobin checking out the projected lava / lahar flow map - these maps were released back in September when the first evacuations occurred. A 12km exclusion zone was set around the mountain.

My coworkers recommended a ton of different places to stop along the way to Amed, so what might have been a two- or three-hour drive ended up being an eight-hour sightseeing adventure. We left Sanur mid-morning (after fueling up at our favourite smoothie place) and headed north. Within about five minutes we were stopped by the police, who nab foreigners that motorbike without a license (this was the second time I’d been checked) but luckily we’ve both got licenses. I don’t think I told the story about actually getting my motorbike license from the police station here in Bali, but I will just say that it was not an entirely by-the-books process.

The hustle and bustle of south Bali quickly melted away as we drove further north along the coast. Lush green hills started to appear, and sections of the road were framed by arched trees – it felt like we were in a fairy tale!

First stop: Pura Goa Lawah
We pulled off the main road at our first stop, Pura Goa Lawah, a Hindu Temple. As we paid the $1 entry fee to get into the temple, we were asked where we were from, and for the first time there was a follow-up question: “English or French part of Canada?” This became a common question throughout the weekend actually; it turns out Amed is a popular destination for French tourists.

The temple itself was quite beautiful, and the highlight for us was the cave teeming with nectar bats. There were plenty of devoted Balinese people worshipping at the temple, and we didn’t stick around very long because we felt a bit intrusive.

Tobin inspecting the exterior temple.

Bats!!

Second stop: a corner store
Okay so this was not a glamorous stop but it is a reminder that travel is not all cool places, it’s being sweaty and dehydrated and covered in dirt from the road, it’s stuffing your face with corn chips and drinking Pocari Sweat (Asian Gatorade equivalent) and savouring an overly priced mini kitkat bar.

Third stop: Bukit Asah

Views of green hills and beautiful coastline from Bukit Asah

This was actually one of my favourite stops of the day, oddly enough, considering there wasn’t much to it. Maybe it was the bumpy single-track dirt path that we took to get down to the rugged coastline, or the fact that there is an adorable terraced campsite, or maybe it was the trees that were dripping with sap that Tobin and I got nerdily excited about. Whatever the reason, I really enjoyed it.

Getting up close with the sappy trees!

We followed the road down from Bukit Asah to a beautiful white sandy beach for a swim.

On the way out we took our motorbikes up another tiny dirt track through the jungle. I wish I’d taken a photo but I was having too much fun on the motorbike (and also I was trying hard to stay focused and not to lose control).

Fourth stop: Tirta Gangga
Tirta Gangga is a former royal palace with beautiful gardens, fountains, fishponds, and pools. I was pretty tired by the time we got there, but still really enjoyed it. We didn’t stay long (we were carrying all of our stuff in our packs as we walked around), but I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The last few kilometres to Amed are quite hilly, with beautiful vistas extending from both sides of the winding road. I wanted to stop every couple hundred metres to take photographs, but we only took a few.

Eventually the road slopes back toward sea level, and Agung looms in the background.

We finally made it to Amed just as the light was starting to fade. The town has been hit hard by Mt Agung’s rumblings, and despite being well outside of the exclusion zone, has seen a huge drop in tourism. It was to our benefit, however, as we got a great deal on a place to stay and were able to dine at normally very busy restaurants.

Dinner at Galanga, which serves European-Indonesian cuisine and homemade ice cream. We enjoyed our own personal thatched dining space!

Tobin on the patio of our guesthouse.

Phew okay – that was just day one.

Day two began with DIVING. Amed has amazing diving options and once again we benefitted from the lack of tourists and were able to have some of the dive spots all to ourselves. Check out this great video made by our dive guides, Abyss, to get a better idea of what Amed looks like and see our dives! (See if you can spot when I bonk Tobin in the face with my fin!).

One of our dives took us past these concrete pyramids which were installed in the 1990s to provide artificial reef habitats. They've really flourished!

After enjoying a delicious lunch at Warung Enak, we motorbiked up to Pura Luhur Lempuyang, a stunning temple complex with Mt Agung as a backdrop. After exploring the temple for a while, we returned to Amed to catch sunset from a beautiful vantage point.

Fresh Mahi Mahi for lunch! Yum!

Views of Mt Agung from Lempuyang. 

We caught the last of the day’s light from Sunset Point, gazing out at Mt. Agung.

We ate our dinner that night at another empty restaurant (it was starting to get a bit eery). This one was in a beautiful resort that was devoid of guests. The owner told us all about the effects of the volcano on the local economy, and then urged us to take an expensive sailing lesson in the morning. We politely declined.

Instead, we woke up early, eager to make the most of Tobin’s final day in Bali. We spent a couple of hours snorkelling; the highlight being a Japanese shipwreck teeming with life.

Another fresh fish lunch by the sea! Not complete without smoothies, of course.

We zipped back down the road to Sanur in a fraction of the time we’d taken to go the opposite way two days earlier, stopping only briefly for a coffee break and to refuel our bikes. At the gas pump, the attendant asked us if we'd like to fuel up our bikes on the same bill, and we said yes.

"You want to know how to say 'together' in Indonesian?" He asked. "Berdua. Together - berdua."

Tobin looked at me, then asked, "Berdua... how do you say forever?"

**Heart explodes**

I have subsequently learned that "berdua" is slang, and it miiight only apply to filling up your motorbikes consecutively and / or sharing food, but whatever, I'LL TAKE IT.

All too soon we were back at my bungalow. I helped Tobin pack up his things, and once he was ready to go, I shoved a baseball hat on my head and put on my biggest sunglasses. I knew I wasn’t going to want anyone to be able to see my face when I returned from the airport.

Our goodbye was really painful. When I’d left Vancouver for Bali, I knew I’d be seeing Tobin in a matter of weeks, but this time it was going to be three months at least. I know that’s not a ton of time, but when you’re used to spending nearly every day with someone, it sucks being apart. A lot.

Luckily, one of those months has already gone by (yay!) and I’ve made lots of memories during that time (that I will blog about eventually, I promise!).

Nusa Penida

To the southeast of Bali are three islands: Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida. The islands are fantastic destinations for diving, along with being a mellow respite from the hustle and bustle of southern Bali. Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan are the most developed, with plenty of resorts, hotels, and restaurants. The tourism industry was slower to reach rugged Nusa Penida, but it is blossoming as we speak. With extremely Instagrammable scenery like breathtaking cliffs and natural infinity pools, the island is growing ever more popular (*note – I am guilty of posting these vistas on Instagram).

So back in October, we set our sites on exploring Penida and managed to gather a small crew to head over there. Richard and Tara flew in from Jakarta, and Tobin’s good friend Jamie joined us as well (he was in Bali for a week scoping out schools and houses - he’ll be moving to Bali with his wife and kids for a year starting in August).

We left early on Saturday morning - the “fast boats” to Penida leave from the beach in Sanur, less than a ten minute drive from my place. It was quite a mob scene when we arrived - hundreds of tourists waiting for boats heading mostly to Lembongan. We bought tickets for a 9am boat and waited around for a sweaty half an hour. The boats anchor close(ish) to shore on the sandy bottom, and everyone has to wade out to them. First step, remove your shoes and toss them in the shoe bucket, second step: hike up your shorts, wade out to the boat, and hope you don’t step on anything sharp. 

Once onboard, the ride was fairly smooth, and we gazed out at the ominous Mt Agung sitting directly to the north. It took about 45 minutes to get across to Penida. At the dock, we were reunited with our shoes, and we trudged off to find our accommodation. Like I said, tourist infrastructure is fairly new on the island, and our guesthouse was less than a five minute walk from the dock.

Tobin's getting really good at relaxing. 

Richard and Tara joined us a few hours later, having travelled from Jakarta that morning. With the team officially assembled, we headed off for the day’s activity: diving! 

We’d booked an afternoon dive and were taken to a site called SD, on the north side of Penida. It was an incredible dive; a gentle current pulled us along and for about 40 minutes we glided past endless corals and swarms of fish. There was no break in the coral coverage - I’d never seen anything like it. Tobin and Richard spotted two deadly sea snakes, but I somehow missed them - maybe it was the zillions of other creatures that distracted me.

Fish for dayyyys!

Hawksbill turtle munching away

Our crew!

That evening, we enjoyed tropical cocktails (like dragon fruit daiquiris and penida coladas) at an adorable café on the beach.

YUM

Panorama of the lovely beach!

On Saturday morning we rented motorbikes and set off to explore the wonders of Nusa Penida. Our first stop was Kelingkling beach, a steep and rugged cliff that stretches out into the ocean in the shape of a T-rex (sort of). It was absolutely gorgeous to see in real life, but the real adventure was following the path down from the top of the cliff to the secluded beach below. It was SO STEEP. Like SO STEEP. Like 90-degrees-at-times steep. Like you-might-pee-yourself-a-bit steep. Like we-had-to-coach-the-girl-in-front-of-us-down-it steep. Like you-really-really-really-hope-the-rickety-bamboo-fence-holds steep. STEEP. 

But so worth it. 

This is not the steep part. The steep part was too steep for pulling out cameras. Did I mention that it was steep?

The beach below was stunning, and the water was perfect. I had the best swim of my entire time in Indonesia so far. I also got completely smashed by the waves as I tried to get out of the water (reminiscent of Hope Town), and was left covered in sand. I spent more than a week picking it off of my scalp and it was an oddly nice reminder of the beach. 

Eventually we forced ourselves to leave the beach – there were more adventures to be had! Luckily going up the steep path was much, much easier than going down had been. 

We continued our motorbike journey along Nusa Penida’s bumpy roads and visited a few other highlights including Angel’s billabong, a natural infinity pool that is a perfect setting for girls who want to pose in their bikinis; and broken beach, a massive natural arch. My favourite moment, though, was when Jamie spotted manta rays in the water below as we stood on a cliff near broken beach. I was giddy with excitement even just watching them from afar!

This is a fairly poor photo of the arch, but it will have to do. 

That evening, we said goodbye to Richard, Tara and Jamie who were heading back to Bali (and onward to Jakarta and Canada, respectively). I took the Monday off of work so that Tobin and I could spend an extra day on Penida in order to do some more diving.

The highlight of our day of diving by far was a place called Manta Point, which is absolutely deserving of its name. From the moment we descended we were graced with the presence of these massive gliding creatures; we probably saw 15-20 of them throughout the dive. I’ve seen so many photos and videos of mantas but it didn’t prepare me for how big and beautiful they really are in real life. It was certainly one of the best dives I’ve ever done. 

After finishing diving, we went back to the same café we’d been to on Saturday and enjoyed some delicious smoothies and the beautiful views. All too soon it was time to pack up and head back to Bali. 

A brief update that is probably not satisfactory

Oof, sorry for the radio silence there folks.

Where was I?

Right - mid-October, just returning from Maluku. I was completely exhausted, with a cold to boot, so I spent most of the day sleeping (much to Tobin’s dismay, since he’d waited a week for me to return to Bali). We did manage to squeeze in a Sunday evening yoga session at our favourite local studio, though. It is a beautiful space and has quickly become one of my favourite places here in Bali.

The Power of Now studio - I definitely stole this photo from the internet.

I called in sick and slept most of the next day, too. In the late afternoon we zipped up to Ubud to check out Tirta Empul (meaning Holy Spring), a Hindu Balinese water temple. It is famous for its holy spring water, and both Hindus and non-religious folk visit for ritual purification. It was pretty crowded and we didn’t get in the water (especially since we didn’t have a guide to help us understand the correct process). It was still incredible to see, though – it was built in 962 AD.

Lineups of foreigners are part of the ritual, right? 

We tried a yoga class at another studio, Radiantly Alive, though it didn’t quite stack up to our beloved studio in Sanur. We finished off the day with dinner at the Clear Cafe, a restaurant a friend of mine had recommended (and that we’d both been to separately and loved). It is an incredibly beautiful space with absolutely delicious food!! And food makes me happy.

Such vigorous activities had left me pooped and I was grateful to get back to our bungalow in Sanur. The next day it was back to the office and our regular routine.

Details of our weekend adventures to come soon!