Lovina Beach

While most of the rally boats headed to Benoa in the south of Bali, we headed north to Lovina Beach – where the Sail 2 Indonesia rally stopped in previous years.

In contrast to seeking the wild party life to be found down south, particularly in the likes of Kuta, most of the tourists here are looking for wild aquatic life in the form of dolphins coming to feed in the bay at sunrise. Dolphin watching keeps the local boats busy, carting tourists out to sea early in the morning, hoping to catch sight of them.

We, on the other hand, wanted to get a view of the interior. So, who better to ask to show us around other than Lovina’s own James Bond?

A trip with 007

We met James Bond (not his real name – he was given that nickname by one of his customers, and it stuck) at 0800 at the dolphin monument in the centre of town. We discussed what we wanted to see, and away we went.

Our first stop was the Gitgit Waterfall, where I managed to get a couple of photographs before even more tourists arrived and completely obliterated the view.

Baturiti Coffee Tasting Shop

I almost drank a cup of Kopi Luwak 11 years ago when we lived in Singapore, but I couldn’t bring myself to stump up the cash for it. Here, however, you could try it for very little.

For anyone who doesn’t know the process of making Kopi Luwak, here’s the bare bones of it:

1. The beans are harvested and fed to civets, who are very selective about the beans they eat, preferring only those of high quality.
2. Once the beans have passed through the civet’s digestive system, breaking down the bean’s proteins and altering the chemistry on the way, the civet droppings are collected.
3. The beans are plucked from the civet droppings, washed and de-husked, then roasted and ground.

I appreciate the likely response to reading that is going to be somewhere between Ooh, that’s interesting, and I’m going to throw up, but as it is something regarded as a must-try for coffee lovers – I tried it. Frankly, I’m glad it was only IDR 60k (about £3). Some of the other coffee and infused teas we tried were lovely, though, and this place is well worth a visit just for the experience. Apart from the Kopi Luwak, everything else is free.

Jatiluwih Rice terraces

We didn’t see any rice terraces on our last trip to Bali over a decade ago, so this was firmly on our agenda. The terraces here span over 600 hectares and have been a UNESCO heritage site since 2012. They are fully functioning and stunningly beautiful.

Hindu temple – Pura Ulun Danu Beratan

IDR 75k grants you access to Pura Ulun Danu Beratan. Most of the temple dates back to the 17th century, but some of it has a more 1970s look, as you may be able to see in the photographs below.

Buddist Temple – Brahma Vihara Arama

Brahma Vihara Arama is actually from the 1970s, but you wouldn’t know it. It is the largest Buddhist temple on the island and isn’t just a tourist attraction. We saw many people here on a retreat, which cut down the photography options a bit because I didn’t feel it right to point a camera in their direction, and they were almost everywhere.

It costs 45k to enter, which includes the cost of renting a sarong and is well worth a visit even just to soak up the tranquillity.

Back to Lovina

James and his family visited us the next day with his family to see Jamala. I picked them up at the dinghy dock in the morning, and all went well for a while onboard Jamala until the swell arrived and seasickness kicked in. I’m sure the kids were just as pleased to get out of the boat as they were to get in,

They left us with a gift of bananas and some snake fruit named after the texture of its skin, which really feels like a snake. The fruit has the appearance of a garlic bulb, and it tastes similar to apples and pineapples.

Now, we are on our way to Kalimantan to go orangutan spotting.