Three weeks ago, when I arrived from Sumatra sick and exhausted, Bali seemed like paradise - and it still does! Especially, since I am living a lifestyle that one can only dream of back home - eating out every day, and really delicious food at that, getting massages, facials, pedicures at least once a week, staying in a villa with garden and pool only 500 m from the beach, and spending less money than I would in Berlin! No wonder the place is full of expats.
Before "settling down" I wanted to see the island, and the best way to travel around is by motorbike. So I spent 8 days doing this round:
On day one I had some difficulties to get started: a police hold-up and my failure to present an "international driving licence" resulted in lengthy debate and a fine - this procedure is a favorite occupation of the local police in order to make some extra money, and they are not even discreet about it, as this Dutch guy's secretly filmed video shows - and immediately after that I had a flat tyre. So instead of making it all the way up to the north coast as planned, I only made it as far as Perasi with its secluded White Sand Beach - quite a treat since most beaches on the island are volcanic black sand.
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The beach was so nice that I did not want to drive all the way back into town to look for a guesthouse, so I decided to sleep there on a beach bed at a little restaurant. The owners did not mind, they left me some candles and there I was - alone with a pack of beach dogs, who would not stop fighting amongst each other all night.
So after a rather sleepless night I drove up to the north coast the next day. On the way I stopped for a refreshing swim at Tirta Gangga (a water temple and public swimming pool) and Pura Lempuyan, a mountain temple with great views to Bali's highest volcano, Mount Agung.
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In the following days I zigzagged between mountains and the sea, alternated between snorkeling shipwrecks and coral reefs, visiting temples, hot springs and waterfalls and driving through pretty rice fields.
I did not see many tourists - the north of Bali is pretty quiet anyhow and now it is deepest off-season. In small mountain villages my passing seemed to be quite an event, people would stop whatever they were doing to stare and/or smile at me, kids always enthusiastically waved, shouted hello or laughed their heads off, and everybody was really friendly.
My last stop was Permuteran on the very northwest of the island, where I went snorkeling at the nearby Menjangan island surrounded by an amazing 30 m coral wall. On my boat there was a Spanish/French couple who planned a trip to the Ijen volcano on Java for the next day. It sounded quite exciting so I decided to join them.
We left at 11 pm to set over to Java by ferry, drove another hour to the start of the trail and hiked up the steep path to the crater with our headlights on. You do this at night so you can see the blue fire coming out between the rocks of the sulfur mine. The air was thick with smoke and stank of sulfur, we needed masks to be able to breathe and our eyes were burning. It got worse and worse as we approached the bottom of the crater where the workers were cutting the sulfur, it was really sickening. The working conditions of the miners are unbelievable - they have no proper equipment or protection from the toxic smoke, and they carry up to 90 (!) kg of sulfur up the crater and down the mountain, up to 3 times a day.
Per load they earn less than 10 $. One guy showed us his shoulder: the bone had deformed from carrying the weight. This photo essay describes it better than I could, it was truly horrifying.
We returned from our volcano excursion the next day around lunchtime, it had been a long but memorable night. The next day I drove back down south, stopping only once to see the famous sea temple Tannah Lot.
With no time to rest I had to organize my visa run to Singapore and find a place to live. I went to look at a few rooms but the second place, the Villa Vintage, was unbeatable. So now I share a villa with an Australian couple, who teach at Canggu international school, and a German guy, who is working on a PhD project on recycled shopping bags, which is why there are tons of blue shopping bags all over the place, and with a sweet 4-month-old puppy named Pina. All, except the dog, surfers.
It's hard to think about work in this life of tropical luxury but eventually I will have to start. Even my laptop refuses its services, tomorrow I have to take it to the Acer service shop in Denpasar to see if it can be saved. If not - what a tragedy - I might not even be able to work!
Before "settling down" I wanted to see the island, and the best way to travel around is by motorbike. So I spent 8 days doing this round:
On day one I had some difficulties to get started: a police hold-up and my failure to present an "international driving licence" resulted in lengthy debate and a fine - this procedure is a favorite occupation of the local police in order to make some extra money, and they are not even discreet about it, as this Dutch guy's secretly filmed video shows - and immediately after that I had a flat tyre. So instead of making it all the way up to the north coast as planned, I only made it as far as Perasi with its secluded White Sand Beach - quite a treat since most beaches on the island are volcanic black sand.
The beach was so nice that I did not want to drive all the way back into town to look for a guesthouse, so I decided to sleep there on a beach bed at a little restaurant. The owners did not mind, they left me some candles and there I was - alone with a pack of beach dogs, who would not stop fighting amongst each other all night.
So after a rather sleepless night I drove up to the north coast the next day. On the way I stopped for a refreshing swim at Tirta Gangga (a water temple and public swimming pool) and Pura Lempuyan, a mountain temple with great views to Bali's highest volcano, Mount Agung.
In the following days I zigzagged between mountains and the sea, alternated between snorkeling shipwrecks and coral reefs, visiting temples, hot springs and waterfalls and driving through pretty rice fields. I did not see many tourists - the north of Bali is pretty quiet anyhow and now it is deepest off-season. In small mountain villages my passing seemed to be quite an event, people would stop whatever they were doing to stare and/or smile at me, kids always enthusiastically waved, shouted hello or laughed their heads off, and everybody was really friendly.
My last stop was Permuteran on the very northwest of the island, where I went snorkeling at the nearby Menjangan island surrounded by an amazing 30 m coral wall. On my boat there was a Spanish/French couple who planned a trip to the Ijen volcano on Java for the next day. It sounded quite exciting so I decided to join them.
We left at 11 pm to set over to Java by ferry, drove another hour to the start of the trail and hiked up the steep path to the crater with our headlights on. You do this at night so you can see the blue fire coming out between the rocks of the sulfur mine. The air was thick with smoke and stank of sulfur, we needed masks to be able to breathe and our eyes were burning. It got worse and worse as we approached the bottom of the crater where the workers were cutting the sulfur, it was really sickening. The working conditions of the miners are unbelievable - they have no proper equipment or protection from the toxic smoke, and they carry up to 90 (!) kg of sulfur up the crater and down the mountain, up to 3 times a day.
Per load they earn less than 10 $. One guy showed us his shoulder: the bone had deformed from carrying the weight. This photo essay describes it better than I could, it was truly horrifying.
We returned from our volcano excursion the next day around lunchtime, it had been a long but memorable night. The next day I drove back down south, stopping only once to see the famous sea temple Tannah Lot.
With no time to rest I had to organize my visa run to Singapore and find a place to live. I went to look at a few rooms but the second place, the Villa Vintage, was unbeatable. So now I share a villa with an Australian couple, who teach at Canggu international school, and a German guy, who is working on a PhD project on recycled shopping bags, which is why there are tons of blue shopping bags all over the place, and with a sweet 4-month-old puppy named Pina. All, except the dog, surfers.
It's hard to think about work in this life of tropical luxury but eventually I will have to start. Even my laptop refuses its services, tomorrow I have to take it to the Acer service shop in Denpasar to see if it can be saved. If not - what a tragedy - I might not even be able to work!
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