Nov 27th - 28th
We drafted up our plans to continue on our bike trip, then we jumped back on the scooters and braced ourselves for more sore bums, heading west first to Tanah Lot then to Seminyak which wasn't far away but Bali roads are congested with traffic and junctions aren't operated correctly, so you need to be careful and therefore drive below the speed limit, it wouldn't feel safe driving at the speed limit.
We left the serenity of Ubud and its slow paced traffic and travelled through villages, all decorated the same throughout Bali, as they are mainly Hindu the houses have little temples outside, and there are always little offerings to the gods lay on the ground, the offerings can range from money and flowers to cigarettes.
After a couple of hours we reached our first stop- Tanah Lot, a temple carved out of rock which lies off the coast in the sea, and at low tide you can walk out to the temple.
Continuing down the coast we stopped off at 'Potato Heads Beach' in Seminyak which our friends Craig and Aimee from Kinging it had recommended. It was all a bit too cool for us however, the drinks were over priced and there was loud music pumping with the cool kids lounging around. A dip in the pool then we were on our way again...
From Seminyak we continued riding through the crazy traffic of Kuta and out to the much quieter roads of the south of Bali at Uluwatu, so quiet in fact that we couldn't locate our hotel for the night, the buildings were spread out and we even stopped to ask locals but they couldn't help. Turns out that the map wasn't correct on expedia which was a bummer.
Upon finding 'Uluwatu Ashana Hotel' (£26pn) we were relived, but didn't get a chance to settle down as the sun was setting and we wanted to rush to see it as it's meant to be quite famous there, indeed it was, the rock was a hive of restaurants and bars, shacks and upmarket music blaring places, all crammed together in a tight maze, and not a table to be found either, after watching the days sun set over the sea then headed back to a restaurant next to our hotel for local food and plenty of Bintang.
The next morning we were on our way already, first stop the near by Pedang Pedang beach. We climbed down the side of a cliff to an idyllic beach, quiet and gorgeous, but that wasn't how we had read Pedang Pedang to be- we were one cove too far round, so we jumped back on the bikes and headed to the tourist Pedang Pedang, we had seen the real one though. We climbed down a staircase which had been carved out of the rocks and onto a bustling beach, we found a table in a beach bar and enjoyed a coconut drink until we felt something brush against our legs, panicked we looked down- a lizard had caught an alive mouse, the mouse was wriggling to get away but the lizard had a good hold of it, it was disgusting but we just couldn't take our eyes off the spectacle. (Scroll down fast for a bit if you don't want to see the pic).
Next up, Uluwatu Temple, a Balinese Sea Temple, built high up on the cliff edge. The temple is built at the edge (ulu) of a 70 meter high cliff or rock (watu) projecting into the sea. It was another scorcher of a day and up on the cliff edge there was no breeze, we wandered around and spotted yet more monkeys.
And then we just had the last stint back to Kuta, oh that traffic though, the roads were bedlam, no road rules, traffic merging on roundabouts and in a 2 lane road maybe 5 motor cycles and cars all wedges in.
But we made it back to the Kana safely, with any incidents or accidents! Thank goodness!!
My first ever time riding a motorcycle! (In the safety of the hotel car park may I add).
