Danau Bratan and Munduk

Terraced fields

View  of Danau Bratan from our guesthouse porch- the red trees are poinsettia.

Pura Ulun Danau Bratan- Bali's most important Hindu-Buddhist temple. There is a picture of it on the 50,000 rupiah note.

View from our guesthouse porch in Munduk. Sunset with a view of the sea in the distance.

Same view the next morning but we could also see Java's volcanoes in the distance.

 

We rented a motorbike and took a trip up into northern Bali for a few days. We left my bag at our guesthouse in Ubud and packed a few things in Mike's smaller bag which he tucked between his feet.

By heading north we left the flat rice fields and headed into the hills. The road was pretty decent and as we got away from the south the traffic lightened. As you head up you notice lots of terraced fields and greenhouses and the temperature gets a lot cooler. The climate is good for growing coffee, strawberries year round. The views are amazing! Terraced fields, rice paddies, volcanoes and crater lakes.

We stopped for the first night in Candikuning and stayed at a strange resort that was possibly the saddest place we've stayed at (that's saying a lot.) On the plus side someone took very good care of the grounds (not so much in the rooms...) and there was a beautiful view of the lake from the verandah- also it was super cheap. The main attraction on the lake is the temple which is very pretty and dates back to the 1600's. After Mike sneezed all night (mold/mildew allergy) we left as soon as the sun came up and skipped the free breakfast- not sure I would have trusted the food.

We then headed up to Munduk. More beautiful scenery. We found a guesthouse with super cute Balinese style bungalows and the prettiest gardens. It was all run single handedly by a friendly guy named Gede. Super clean with a great breakfast all for 25,000 rupiah  more (2 bucks) than the sad place of the night before. We were able to hike to a great waterfall from the guesthouse. From the verandah we could see the ocean which was about 10km away and in the distance some volcanoes that are on the island of Java.

We thought about heading to the beaches in the north but decided we would finish out our time in Bali on the south coast.

The next morning we headed back to Ubud. All in all we put in about 200km (120miles) over three days. That is a lot of miles on a 100cc motorbike. My butt was pretty sore! Mike loves riding a motorbike but if we were going to do much more of it I would need a much more comfortable seat.