Central Bali by Scooter

Since I managed to book an „overnight tour“ including a visit to Ijen with pickup at Lovina (on Bali) and drop-off at Banyuwangi (on Java), I gained one more day in Lovina. So, I had time to rent a scooter again. Scoopy (the scooter) 🛵 and I would visit the area and cruise through central Bali that day - for a last time. I felt like I didn’t really got to see some proper rice terraces in Bali so far. That’s probably why I ended up driving all the way to the Jatiluwih rice terraces in central Bali. Since this was 3 hours away from Lovina, I made a stop at the Git-Git waterfall. The water was delightfully refreshing and to my surprise I didn’t have to pay any entrance fee. Also, everyone was there with a guide. Only I somehow managed do go there on my own 😅 But the journey was not without its challenges. The HereWeGo App has send me on a strange path. The last few kilometres I even had to drive through the forest 🌲 and when the slope became too steep, I had to walk the remaining hundreds of metres. Nevertheless, using the HereWeGo app instead of Google Maps 🗺️ was the better alternative. The days before, Rico and I had so many situations when navigating with Google Maps was confusing because of inaccurate maps or issues with our phones compasses 🧭 Therefore, I decided to follow the advice of a friend back home 🏡 and tried out the HereWeGo App (thanks @Dennis 😊)
On my way back from the waterfall I was escorted by not one but two barking dogs 🐕 that definitely wanted to let me know that I should get the f*** out of here 😂 In general, it seemed like the dogs in this area took the task of protecting their territory very seriously.
After a sweat-breaking climb 🧗 back to my scooter, I was on my way to the rice terraces. It was really fun to cruise through the serpentines of the mountains 🏔️ Once in a while, there was a nice place for a photo 📸stop e. g. a really close picture of the monkeys 🙉 sitting on the side of the road or simply a nice view over the „Beratan“ lake.
The Jatiluwih rice terraces 🍚 were huge and held what the photos (I saw in my research on the internet before) have promised. No wonder they are so well known here and although there were quite a few tourists it was not nearly as crowded as at the Tegallalang rice terraces that Paula, Klara, Rico and I tried to visit a week ago. I didn’t want to drive this hilly terrain in the dark. Therefore, I was back at Lovina Beach for the sunset 🌅
In the evening - when I sat in front of my Bungalow and organized the massive amounts of photos and videos of the past few days - an Indonesian guest of the hotel approached me and offered some mangos 🥭 He had bought too much (3kg) for him to take back to Balikpapan - his home town on Borneo - because they have been so much cheaper here. We had a nice conversation about my experiences in Indonesia 🇮🇩 and how he sometimes invites guests in his home via couch surfing. Of course, he invited me to visit him on Borneo as well. I might come back to his offer some day. 😊Read more