Bali – Lovina
Our  journey up to Lovina took us directly north through the countryside of Bali.25/4/16 – 27/4/16What we hadn’t counted on was the spectacular scenery Inner Bali has to offer. We drove though beautiful rainforest, passed 2x lakes and up and over the mountain ranges. It was awesome. Our driver even stopped at certain spots along the way so we could have plenty of photo shoots. At one spot high in the mountains overlooking the rich paddy fields, banana and coconut plantations, we spotted a bird. On closer inspection it was a beautiful brown owl. Next to this was a lizard, a parrot, 2 snakes, and a bat. Talking to the lady stood next to them, she said she had rescued them all from toad accidents, and was taking care of them. All had been badly hurt and appeared to be happy enough to be with her. She asked if I wanted a photo with them, so opted to pose with the biggest bat ever seen. His story was that he had flown down to the road at night and got struck by a car, which had broken his wing – poor fella. Each animal had its story. I gave a small donation before we went on our way. We also stopped at a lake, which itself was stunning, and as we were so far up ( mountain, we were practically in the clouds. Again this was refreshing as the air was slightly cooler, with no humidity and a slight drizzle of rain. Our driver took us further passed the mountains, through more lush greenery and down the other side of the mountain. At this side there were monkeys everywhere, cheeky little blighters. Our guide asked if wanted to stop, but we had noticed a large gathering of monkeys further along the road, who were upto all sorts of mischief, so we declined. This was a terrific journey and a MUST DO by all. We eventually arrived at our hotel, the Shri Ganash hotel, in the most quaint little village, about 2pm. It only has 8 bungalows, but they are as authentic and luxurious as can be. Beautiful and ornate, the sky is blue, and there’s a very slight breeze in the air. Our bungalow complete with 4 poster king size bed. A swim in the pool then a stroll on the dark coloured sand and we were ready to eat. We found a lovely little restaurant with only 4 tables and was owned by a Balinese family. A beautiful restaurant with an impressive menu.
The following day we went for a walk after a lazy breakfast and came across a small spa. 2 hours later after a full Balinese massage, a full chocolate body scrub, a milk bath and a head massage we emerged looking and feeling 20 years younger. All we could do was fall fast asleep when we arrived back. That night as we had a great dinner the night before we returned to the same small restaurant. Very nice indeed. We felt so lazy so admitted we needed a walk in the moonlight streets nearby. We only got a few hundred meters up this dark and dingy shingle path before coming across the Chocolate Hotel and Spa. Within minutes we were sat at a table having puddings. I opted for the Balinese hot chocolate, although this turned out to be the smoothest, darkest, thickest drink I’ve ever had. Not to mention that it tasted of pure cocoa beans. Accompanying this I ordered the triple choc cake. What was brought to the table was three layers of the softest brownie, separated by cream, ice cream, fudge sauce and dark choc sauce all topped with cherries. Utterly luxurious. Tina opted for the crepe suzettes. What she got on her plate were 2 chocolate flavoùred crepes, smothered in choc sauce and vanilla ice cream. She couldn’t finish hers so I obliged as we exchanged my empty plate for hers. What I tasted was a soft, yet fluffy crepes deep on chocolate flavours which had been flambayed in grand Marnier and they had zesty orange bits running through them. Utter bliss. We were so over indulged it took us 30 minutes walk back instead of maybe the normal 10 minutes.
The following day we were picked up and transported to Pemuteron, (North Eastern corner of Bali).