September I- Running out of time

Being a control-freak has its bad consequences (of course). Why do I say that? Because even before landing in Denpasar I already had 3 nights booked in 3 different towns in Bali ( and not close one to the other) and that shouldn’t be a problem unless you get to the airport and you can’t pick up your bag because the airline forgot it in Jakarta. Then you have to change most of your plans.

My first stop was Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali, a town full of art and creativity. I stayed ina really nice homestay where I had my first hot shower after 2 months (tears included). The next day I make my way to the Monkey Forest temple expecting to get a bus in the afternoon to go to Lovina ( in the north) and while I’m walking through the busy streets of Monkey Forest road I read that the ONLY bus that goes to Lovina leaves at 11 am and it was already 10.30! I buy my ticket and the man who sells them takes me with his bike to the homestay to pick my bags! In less than 30 minutes I’m in a 4 hours journey to Lovina.

When we finally get to Lovina, The bus agency offers us their accommodation (in the bus terminal) and I think “who on earth would sleep in that awful rooms??!!” and I go to the homestay that I had already booked. Once they show me a really nice and big room I check the price again “It is 100,000Rp (around 10E) isn’t it?” and the owner tells me that it is 200,000! And then he took me to the street so the other homestays could offer me their rooms!! I couldn’t believe it! Ten minutes later I ended sharing one of those horrible rooms in the bus terminal with a Dutch guy that I met the night before!

We wake up the next morning at 5 am and we go Dolphin watching! We expect to have a great experience and we end up felling like hunters! Once in our boat we can see 100 dolphins being chased by 50 boats! I would not recommend go dolphin watching in Lovina, there are other places where you can see dolphins in a more respectful way in Bali.

From Lovina I face west to permuteran, where I have one of the best days in Bali after being snorkeling all day in Palau Menjangan. I can’t take the smile out of my face after seeing soooo much marine fauna. I see loads of colorful fishes, one octopus, one black tip shark and 1 MARINE TURTLE!! It is an amazing day! It is already my 4th day in Bali and i steal don’t have my bag! It is then when I realize that you don’t need that much stuff to survive, and it actually feels really good to travel with a small bag and not with my lovely 23kg backpack!

I spend my last day in Nusa Lembongan, a small island in the south east of Bali, where I met 2 lovely Segovian girls and a surfer guy from Madrid! We also go snorkeling there but it is not as good as it was in the north. At night we end up drinking a lot of beer and getting pretty drunk! I have a great time together!
After spending 6 days in Bali i take my plane to a totally new world: Japan!