A Sunrise at Sunset

Well, any today was an extra early morning. We rose at 5:30 and went to catch a boat out to sea. Now... the boat was a bit startling at first. It was like a high, narrow canoe... all the things that lead to capsizing. But they were remarkably stable due tons pair of long bamboo tubes on either side. I did notice at this point/soon out to sea... that were we in the states we'd all have been provided lifejackets... different countries... anyway, as to why we were headed out to sea... we'd headed out to see dolphins at sunrise, an we did. Sadly, the sunrise was unimpressive as a result of clouds. However, dolphins were everywhere and jumping in herds... schools? Anyway, we got a lot of great views. It was funny to watch because there were about 100 other boats like ours. The dolphins would then pop up, we'd chase, and they'd disappear. We joked that the dolphins were basically bearding people...

So we returned to the hotel for the same breakfast again, and then returned to the road around 9:30, again with our driver. (His name is Made... pronounced "ma-day".) Anyway, while yesterday we saw many cultural sites, today seemed a bit more focused on great views.

Our first stop was Banjar, and its local hot springs. It was indeed quite warm and very humid there. What I found most interesting there was that the water was actually green. We also had nice views of general plants and a warm water stream headed down into a valley.

From there we drove to the Munduk Waterfall. From the road it was a short, but very steep hike down to the base of the fall. We crossed some very cool cement irrigation systems, that looked very much like aqueducts. Anyway, we were then able to walk all the way up to the base of the falls which was gorgeous. The falls climbed about 50-100 meters up a cliff that disappeared into the thick plant growth near the top. The falls had cut away the land into a near-perfect semicircle that opened into a large stream/small river, flowing down a few man made and into a long and forested valley. Timing was perfect as the sun came out as we hiked down and the heat made the fall's mist very refreshing.

Following that we traversed some large number of very narrow and windy roads. But, over the next hour or so we had many spectacular views of the countryside. Most notable though was the view we had over the Twin Lakes, Buyan and Tamblingan. Where we looked from, one lake was on either side, with forest in the small strip between. Behind stood a large mountain rising into the low clouds. Much of this view reminded me of the Adirondacks. We had another view of the same lakes a few minutes later... but there we were distracted by the monkeys playing around... they were cute...

We then had another buffet lunch, which was the same meal as always. It was at Ulun Danu, home of the Ulun Danu lake temple. That is, part of the temple is not connected to the mainland at all, and is seemingly floating in the lake. It is also surrounded by a botanical garden, so it was simply beautiful to walk around.

Then, just a bit down the road we visit a huge fruit market. Though, it appeared most stores all had the same selections. There, we were given samples of the Kalas (again), passionfruit, mango, dragonfruit, and like... a dozen other local fruits that I am forgetting the names of. The kalas continues to be my favorite, but the mayo was very tasty. I would say the dragon fruit was the prettiest, being a brilliant pink with intriguing shape. However... I thought it tasted a bit like a juicy beat, and was unimpressed. We then purchased a pair of kalas, a pair of mangos, 2 fruits Margaret liked, and some cashews.

After the fruit market we drove to Jatiluwih, home of HUGE rice terraces. And I mean HUGE...like mountains. A description I had (and felt sad by it... and then sorta happy) was that they were just like the great plains. Only difference being the plains represent a continuous function while there terraces were piecewise. Now... I realize that the plains are way bigger... but these still spanned every hill and plateau in site. It was quite magnificent and the irrigation systems were so simple, yet terribly efficient. I also got a brief walk through on the process of growing grass to making the food, I thought that was quite interesting.

We then headed to our last site, Tanah Lot. It is one of the more renown tourist attractions on the island. At high tide, the main temple becomes an island with huge waves crashing into it. We caught it at low tide (or close to it) and you could nearly walk there. However, even without being able to reach this part of the temple, it was beautiful just for its landscape. Cut into the rocks of the coast were stone staircases leading down to the beeches of soft black sand. The water was so warm! Similarly, the entire mainland here was a plateau with tremendous views of temple pieces of rocky outcrops and higher ground. The waves came in huge swells and crashed against the rocks in terrific splashes. So it was a great last site to have.

We then had dinner at the associated restaurant. It was a type of egg drop soup followed by a variety of fish, including a fish cut open and grilled, a squid kebab, curried clams and two king prawns. Despite the norm... the clams were my favorite. We had hoped to be sitting here for sunset, but clouds seemed to be intervening. However, before the sun vanished I ordered a tequila sunrise, as it seemed just too appropriate for the time. So, I had my sunrise at sunset! As we finished our meal, a local traveling band game and sang a few songs at our table. It was a bit awkward but fun.

We then headed back to a new hotel for the night, and from there the plan is for our guide to take us to the airport early in the morning.

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