Lovina, Bali

Lovina is on the opposite side of Bali to Kuta and even Kalibukbuk, the main tourist area is a much much quieter town. Its beaches are a mixture of black and white sand so they look a dirty grey colour and the water is clouded by seaweed but it is still a nice place.

The top attraction here is dolphin watching, so 6am one morning i found myself heading out to sea on a small boat to go find some, and there were loads it was fantastic. Quite a lot of people do the dolphin runs each day so there are lots of boats on the sea. Once a dolphin is spotted the boats jump to life and they are off chasing it down so the passengers can get a better look, horrid as it sounds this does not seem to faze the dolphins as the do leaps by the side of the boats. Once they have finished feeding they all seem en mass to head back out to deeper waters and this is when you realise just how many there were in the water here.

As side from the dolphins seeing the sun rise over Lovina was beautiful and i was quite taken with the glowing blue plankton in the water, it was really pretty.

Going to the Hot Springs up in the hills involves using the public transport (Bemo) for the first time. As i am only going about 8k down a straight road this should be fairly simple, and it does seem to work fine except i was charged double what it would normally cost.

Everyone in Bali is out to relieve you of as much of your money as they can. It is really poor here but even so it does start to grate on you when you are constantly asked to pay more than you would even at home. Everyone has a trick or a scam, even in the 7eleven they will try to skim money- which means telling you the goods come to an amount more than the till reads.

Anyway back to the hot springs. Once dropped at the side of the road it is a motorbike taxi up to the springs them selves. Its pretty here and nicely laid out. The water falls down two tiers through water spouts into pools for swimming. The water is slightly green in colour and smells slightly sulphurous but is not overpowering. There is a third pool where the water falls so heavily that it is like getting a massage.

On the top of the hills not far from the springs in Bali's only Buddhist monastery. The views from here are lovely, the hills on one side and the sea in the distance on the other. This is a strange Buddhist temple as it has many of the same carved guardians as would be found round the Hindu temples.