My usual mode of transport is my 110cc Honda Supra.
This weekend I had a Suzuki car and it was a good change to feel like I had some protection around me, less flexibility, more stability. After leaving Vincent and Akari’s place I wanted to give Andrea a good look at the terrain and also a personal feel for the island. One route that gets great responses is the coast road from Ujung round to Amed. The narrow road twists and turns and is lined sporadically with small villages on the slopes of the hills and fishing villages in the bays. Adults and kids seem to get excited when a foreigner passes and we got plenty of ‘hello’s', waves and hand slaps as we drove past. “Its a special place.” said Andrea.
Our lunch was at a place I’ve frequented before called Komang John’s located at Selang Beach in Amed. Sean, Chris and I had drink here and it has great view overlooking the ocean. Its part of Blue Moon Villas and has its own pool.
Their tagline is ‘small but heavenly & interesting.’
Andrea enjoyed a fish curry and I had the grilled tuna. Our meals were around 25,000rp a piece and we sat at a low Japanese style table. I played myself at pool on the very ancient table and Andrea napped while the food was coming. Our waitress Made smiled over at us and told me she was 4 months pregnant, her first.
Not wanting to backtrack I decided to continue up the coast through Culik past Tulamben, the site of the famous wreck and up to Bondalem on the north coast. The driving in this part of the coast was great with the 2 lane road curving slowly and allowing me to get up to 60kph.
Andrea commented that the vegetation was quite different out here. The wet season means that everything is green, but its not as thick as down in Tirtagangga and has patches of low scrub and grass in between the taller trees.
The little Suzuki was humming and I noticed my gas was getting low. I pulled over close to Bondalem and we has a refreshing Bali coffee and took the chance to get a jug of petrol.
Turning inland and heading up towards Kintamani in the highlands I realized the one jug wasn’t going to be enough. I am so used to getting 2 liters for my bike I somehow thought it would do for the car. Several miles later I stopped again and bought 5 liters for 20,000rp. By now the weather had changed considerably. I had told Andrea that it would be cooler in the mountains but I didn’t expect fog and lashing rain. Andrea put her long sleeve t-shirt on and started giving me the impression she’d like my window shut. No way baby, I’ve got to see where we’re going and I can’t do that if the windscreen fogs up. I hope Andrea will forgive on that one.
“Oh this place is so different from the south,” said Andrea. “I don’t think I could live up here.” As we were driving past Gunung Batur what should of been a great view was just a sea of mist and I described what should of been there. At this time other motorists had their headlights on. Driving with your lights on during the day here in Bali is illegal, but I said ‘to hell with it’ and put my side lights on.
The route I had chosen took us past Kintamani and through Penelokan which my guide book describes as ‘literally meaning ‘Place To Look’ the views are excellent, a panorama of unexpected scale and majesty.’ Oh well, another time maybe.
The route then brought us through Bangli ( home of the Pura Kehen temple which is one of the jewels of the temples in east Bali) and just to west of Gianyar where I had planned to get on the fast coastal road again. Total distance from Bondalem on the north coast is only 50km but took us a couple of hours.
The latter part of this trip felt to me like being back in London on a rainy sunday afternoon, plenty of traffic on the Bypass, grey skies, pelting rain and puddles.
I’m really glad I didn’t try to do this trip on a motorbike as I’ve already soaked Andrea twice on it.
When we arrived in Seminyak some of the streets were partially flooded and I stopped at the Circle K for a reviving ‘dunkels beer’- Guinness stout, Andrea going for the ‘hell’- Bintang.
Andrea went to bed a short while later. I had a date with an internet cafe and on my return had a run in with a giant gecko which I’ll tell you about soon.
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{ 2 comments }
You said it Nick Sounds like you had a good time RIDING through the mountains You have a way with word mate !
I remember the people in the Amed area of Bali being very friendly when we drove through there in December.
Seems like the rain has been on and off for a good few months now, hope your vehicle had wipers that work unlike the Kijang we had.
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