NE Bali: A quiet and dry part of the island

Looking at a map of Bali the coastal road that runs around the island one might assume its possible to drive from Candi Dasa up to Singaraja to Lovina in about 2 hours.

This is not the case at all. From Ujung in the SE corner the road gets hilly and super windy and getting from Ujung to Amed will take maybe 2 hours. Chris and I decided to take another route, we went through Amlapura toward Celik and Tulamben, site of the USS Liberty wreck, then on towards Lovina. Hitting coast it is amazing how quiet and dry it is. That side of the island gets very little rain and there are no major rivers flowing through, so the landscape is scrub and orange brown soil. The 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung sprayed boulders all over the area and the fact that they are still there indicates that the land is not of great value for farming, corn and cattle are about all you will see.