Saturday 6 October 2012

Day Five: Travel to Munduk

We were very pleased to successfully negotiate for the driver who had picked us up at the airport on arrival.  Having Dewa with us meant that we could pay him well and enjoy his happy laughter, pretty good English skills and great driving.  I felt a bit bad about dismissing the first driver we were offerred, but all of us knew that Dewa was our first choice. Enough said!

We set out early on our departure from Ubud, not clear on where to go, but trusting our driver to guide us to a few of the highlights along our way to Munduk.  He did this very well, and so much more!  Dewa made sure that we saw all that we had inquired about, even though much of it was in the opposite direction to where we needed to end up. As photos will show, we enjoyed Elephant Cave and Temples, jungle temples, a coffee plantation where we tasted the famed Kopi Luwat, Mount Batur, the volcanoe and twin lakes, and even a couple of spontaneous stops for shopping opps. By day's end we had zigged and zagged through the island, eaten well seen it all and still made it to our hotel in the mountainous jungle, along narrow roads that rimmed volcanic craters and down a 5 km hill of about a million hairpin turns. He was so good that we never felt a bit unsafe or got car sick.  I was happy with that! Upon arrival in Munduk, we discovered our hotel room to be considerably nicer than we had expected.  With canopied beds and two rooms, a great ensuite and good linens, we were satisfied.   But there was more!  We had the most amazing view over a whole valley of terraced rice paddies and forests of clove trees.  We are above most trees and at night you can hardly tell where the sparkling lights on the mountains stop and the stars begin. The rooftop restaurant has spectacular views all around, great food and prices right out of the sixties...fresh watermelon juice for $1 and all meals under $4.
Have I mentioned how much we are enjoying Bali?

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