Tag 105 - cloudy

08/13/19

After the excellent breakfast (two pancakes with chocolate sauce and lots of fruit!), we rent a scooter from a store down the street. We have decided to drive further up the mountain. There are 'only' three large lakes to admire there, but as the saying goes, the journey is the destination.

It goes very, very steep uphill and we are very grateful for our sweaters, which we cleverly packed. We drive almost into the clouds and it gets so cold that we should have worn long pants.

After ten minutes drive on a kind of mountain ridge, we stop at a small rest area from where we can have an incredible view of two of the three large mountain lakes.

We continue our journey and enter a large valley where it becomes noticeably warmer within a few minutes. After a little refreshment at a supermarket, we turn into a large parking lot and realize that we have accidentally arrived at a tourist attraction - a temple whose buildings are located on/in one of the mountain lakes. 'Since we're already here,' we think and get tickets. We enter the large, green, well-maintained grounds and stroll around a bit. There's really nothing spectacular here (the temple in the water does look nice), but it's a nice atmosphere.

After some time, we have seen everything there is to see and walked everywhere we were allowed to, so we get back on the motor scooter and head back. When we arrive in our 'home village,' we only stop briefly at our accommodation for a pee break and continue directly to our next destination, the rice terraces. We turn off the main road and drive downhill for a long time, only to drive uphill for a long time afterwards. We take a slightly more expensive coffee break at a luxury resort that rents out several houses with unbelievable views of the valley and the sea (by the way, €350 per night, we were curious). We continue our journey.

It becomes hazy; partly because the weather is getting a little worse and partly because we are now driving through clouds. This is the first time we experience rain in Bali/Indonesia, which gives us a whole new impression - you couldn't feel more like being in a rainforest.

We drive (extremely carefully!) back to our accommodation and decide to return the scooter after dinner. After resting in our room, we go to the restaurant where we were also yesterday. Thank goodness the 8 (!) member family is there, and we get our food accordingly earlier. We pay, go to the scooter rental and return our vehicle. To say goodbye, I hit my helmet against the many bird cages hanging from the ceiling TWICE - unpleasant!

Then it's off to bed.

- Alex