The beauty of Mount Agung in Bali
The beauty of Mount Agung in Bali
During your stay in Bali, you can see the highest mountain in Bali from Sidemen, Amed or Lembongan.
The highest mountain of the island stands beautifully on the east coast of Bali: Gunung Agung or Mount Agung, which is located in the district of Karangasem. With its 3531-meter high summit above sea level, Mount Agung influences the climate of the surrounding area. Its western hillsides capture rain clouds making the west side green and fertile, while its eastern hillsides remain dry and barren.
Although Mt. Agung inspires peace and tranquility, nevertheless, after 100 years of sleep, on March 17, 1963, the volcano exploded violently, throwing ash and volcanic material 8 to 10 km high into the air as pyroclastic clouds descended on all sides of the mountain. More than a thousand people lost their lives that day. And the whole area up to the Kintamani was covered for months with deep gray ashes. But surprisingly, the ash brought fertility and large sweet potatoes grew from the volcanic material.
Today, however, the landscape has become green and fertile again, and Mount Agung has become a difficult mountain to climb. Hikers can follow two routes, the steepest and most difficult being the one that passes right next to Pura Besakih.
The second is along its southern summit, from Pura Pasar Agung. Reaching the summit, one has a magnificent view of Bali with to the east the island of Lombok and its own volcanic peak, Mount Rinjani.
The journey on a small paradise island; Nusa Lembongan
During your stay in Bali, it is quite possible that you visit the Nusa Lembongan. It is a small island on the southeast coast of the main island of Bali. This tropical paradise is becoming one of Bali’s most popular attractions, away from the hectic pace and hassle of the south of the island. Neither the traffic ruins the beautiful landscape; it is an ideal place to rest and relax. The main activities are surfing, diving and snorkeling. The water is one of the clearest you can find, and of a very bright aquatic blue.
It is quite easy to go to Nusa Lembongan. Take a taxi to Sanur and book a boat ticket. There is no main dock, and to get on all these boats, you have to walk in the water up to your thighs. According to the ticket you book, it may include pick-up from your accommodation in Bali and drop-off in Lembongan. The staff will also take care of loading and unloading your luggage for you.
Once on the island, it is easy to get around by scooter or bicycle. By scooter, you can easily tour the island, with stops at the main attractions, in a single day. Most roads are in good condition, although traffic in major areas can be heavy.
These are the best things to see during your trip :
Cross the big Yellow Bridge
Connecting Nusa Lembongan to its little sister, Nusa Ceningan, the famous Yellow Bridge (A.K.A the bridge of love) is a must visit of any itinerary on the island. Seen on almost every Insta-feed in the world, the Yellow Bridge is a truly breathtaking sight, with its vibrant colors of sunlight hanging over the turquoise seas below.
Snorkel or dive
Nusa Lembongan has breathtaking crystal clear waters and some of the most diverse corals on the planet (you can spot Manta Rays and Mola-Mola if you are lucky!). Our favorite sites? Visit Mangrove Point, The Wall Bay and Crystal Bay (off the coast of Nusa Penida, the neighboring island) for a multi-stage snorkeling trip. Or if you’re really passionate, just rent a tuba mask and explore the calm waters from the beach.
Visit the Devil’s Tear
One of Nusa Lembongan’s most famous natural wonders, the Devil’s Tear, is a breathtaking scenery that resembles a movie set. A steep cliff meets the wild ocean tides at this point “at the edge of the earth”, where a powerful blowhole spits out giant plumes of water. A visit here is always great, no matter what time of day it is, but come here at sunset for a truly breathtaking scenery of fiery skies reflecting off the surrounding rocky shallows.
Visit the mangrove forest
From the main road to Jungut Batu, it is about two kilometers to the mangrove forest area, an easy walk, bike or scooter ride. The north of Nusa Lembongan has a large mature mangrove forest that can be explored on board a swing boat “Jukung”. At high tide, it is also an ideal place for families, with a lagoon perfect for children to swim in. Several panels offer guided tours, and local fishermen will approach you to offer their services.
Where to stay in Lembongan
Villa La Kabane is a small wooden house of about 75 square meters with all modern comforts, located on the beach of Jungut Batu and enjoys breathtaking views of the sea (strait) of Bali and spectacular views of Mount Agung.
At high tide, you will be treated to the sound of waves and sea spray splashing on the front terrace.
The villa has a freshwater swimming pool, a terrace area with outdoor kitchen and direct access to the white sandy beach.
Located about 1 kilometer from the center of Jungut Batu village and 700 meters from the mangrove swamp, the villa has an air-conditioned room with an outdoor bathroom.
If you are with family or friends, you can easily accommodate 4 adults in the cabin.
A Japanese-style sofa can accommodate 2 additional people, for a maximum of 4 people in total.
Then what are you waiting for? Heaven is waiting for you!!
Find your adventure in Northwest Bali; Pemuteran
Loin des destinations touristiques et festives de sud de Bali, environ 4 heures de routes en voiture, tout au long de la côte nord-ouest de l’île se trouve un petit village côtier tranquille appelé Pemuteran. Located on the border of the West Bali National Park, Pemuteran is the main gateway to the island of Menjangan, probably the best place in all Bali for diving and snorkeling. Pemuteran est un endroit tranquille, reposant, préservé, et authentique entre mer et montagne. Why visit Pemuteran? If you like the underwater world, go for it! Do you enjoy exploring national parks? Go ahead! Do you want to spend a peaceful vacation with your family? You will love this small village.
Things to do in Pemuteran
Pemuteran is small and it is quiet, relaxing and countryside. There is only one coastal road with a beach of pure volcanic black sand on one side and lush green mountains on the other. Pemuteran is even quieter than Lovina and Candidasa, an ideal place to find peace of mind and reconnect with nature, with yourself and with those closest to you.
- Menjangan Island
#1 thing to do in Pemuteran is to take the boat to Menjangan Island, which is part of the West Bali National Park. Whether you want to snorkel or dive, this place is incredible! Menjangan is only a small island, but it is surrounded by beautiful coral gardens and a wide variety of marine life. Between underwater admiration and drifting with the gentle current of the sea, you can take a break and relax on one of the beautiful white sandy beaches and maybe even see deer taking a bath.
- Visit Pura Pabean, Pura Melanting and Pura Pulaki
Discover some culture and visit three beautiful temples in Pemuteran: Pura Pabean, Pura Melanting and Pura Pulaki. These temples are sacred places to visit. They are crafted with beautiful hand carved statues, traditional payung umbrellas, monkeys and magical ocean views. Pura Pabean is a very special place of worship because it is a sacred place for Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims. From this temple, you can enjoy a walk in the forest to the Melanting Temple with its remarkable dragon staircase. Pura Pulaki is right in front of Pura Pabean and is one of the many marine temples that protect the island from evil spirits.
- Trekking le Table Stone Hill
Wake up early and hike to Table Stone Hill (Bukit Batu Kursi) to see the sunrise. It takes about 30 minutes to get up there and the views of Pemuteran and the ocean are breathtakingly beautiful, especially in the morning sunlight. Get back up there before sunset, if you can, you’ll never get tired of the view. Along the way, you will be able to take great pictures! There are swings and a large rock in the shape of a chair where you can feel the king or queens of the Temple Stone Hill.
- Trekking in the jungle
In West Bali National Park, you can spend your morning hiking in the forests and crossing rivers. You will be able to observe monkeys and birds along the way and enjoy the view of the park.
- Trekking the Kawah Ijen in East Java
An extraordinary trip from Bali to the active volcano of Kawah Ijen in East Java with departure from Pemuteran where we will climb at night to the rim of the 2370 meter volcano, before descending to the crater floor. This is the only place in the world where you can see the ethereal blue sulphur flames and watch the Javanese workers harvesting the sulphur. At dawn and when the light changes, your spectacular panorama will be revealed from your position on the edge of the world’s largest acidic lake. Return in the afternoon to Pemuteran. Join us for this unique and memorable experience in the heart of Kawah Ijen.
(We will write more about Kawah Ijen in a separate article)
Where to stay in Pemuteran
You won’t believe what you earn with your budget at Pemuteran. This villa is beautiful!!
Villa Santai is a four bedroom villa with a nice garden and a private swimming pool. It is located 200 meters from the beach of Pemuteran, in the property of the 4* Taman Sari Resort. Enjoy your own home with private pool and outdoor kitchen while having all the resort’s services at your doorstep: spa, room service, housekeeping, seaside restaurant, mask and snorkel rental, dive shop….
Let’s enjoy the natural places. Don’t limit yourself to vacations, have adventures!
Discovering Lombok, the paradise that awaits you
While vacations in Indonesia, why not discover Lombok and the Gili Islands easily accessible from Bali.
It is possible to get there by plane 30 mn flight or by speed boat.
Lombok offers many untouched and often secluded dream beaches, friendly and charming people, delicious food and fantastic nature. Lombok and the Gili Islands have become our favorites – at least so far, after Bali.
The trip begins in Kuta Lombok, which you can easily reach by flight from Denpasar, Bali.
The south coast of Lombok is lined with beaches, all of white sand and unique in their kind. You can stay in the town of Kuta (not to be confused with Kuta, Bali), and the beach is located east and west of the south coast of Lombok.
The best beaches to visit in South Lombok are Mawun Beach, Tampah Beach and Selong Belanak Beach on East Kuta and Seger Beach and Tanjung Aan Beach on West Kuta.
If you want to learn how to surf in Lombok, Selong Belanak beach is an ideal place. Selong Belanak beach is located about 30 minutes drive west of Kuta. The beach itself is composed of sandy white powder sand and although the water is not the clearest, it does not matter to the people who visit it. Indeed, the majority of visitors to Selong Belanak Beach go west to take surfing lessons for beginners.
There are many deckchairs and bamboo chairs spread out along the beach so that visitors can relax and have lunch in a small warung before returning to the waves.
North of Lombok, you will discover many waterfalls and hills, as well as the famous ascent of Mount Rinjani.
One of the most famous viewpoints is the rice fields of Bukit Selong. The view of Bukit Selong rice fields is a mosaic of rice fields seen from different mountain peaks. If you arrive before sunrise, you can find a specially designated viewpoint without a big climb. There are other spectacular places, but this is the most accessible and simplest way to get a breathtaking view of the rice fields.
A variety of cultures of different colors creates a multicolored mosaic, covering the entire valley. There is a flat viewpoint, which gives you a magnificent view of the whole valley, but there is also a higher viewpoint.
After having admired this superb view, you can visit the most famous waterfalls of Lombok; the Sendang Gile and Tiu Kelep waterfalls (in the north) and Benang Stokel and Benang Kelambu (in the center).
Tiu Kelep is a waterfall that has always been put online in social networks. The water flows down, as if it were flowing through a wall, but is then overshadowed by a powerful current of water flowing diagonally across the falls. The vines took over the rocky walls and we felt like explorers of the deep jungle, although it was only a 30 minute walk to get to the Tiu Kelep waterfall. You can swim in the pool under the waterfall and it’s a great place to use the GoPro. L’eau du bassin est claire comme du cristal et a une teinte bleue. Be extremely careful when swimming as many tourists have had problems being sucked in and held under the powerful force of the waterfall current. The mists are even crazier in Tiu Kelep.
Benang Stokel & Benang Kelambu are about an hour and a half drive north of Kuta. Benang Stokel et Benang Kelambu sont situés dans le même parc, donc si vous suivez la carte de Benang Stokel, vous arriverez au bon Geo Park.
The furthest from the entrance, but certainly the most magical, the waterfall of Benang Kelambu looks like something that belongs to the South American rainforest. With the water coming out of the bushes and waterfall levels in four different places, it was beautiful.
Some paths are paved on the way down, but others are not, so when there are steep slopes, it can be very slippery and dangerous, especially during the rainy season, (October to April).
There are two medium-sized pools at the bottom of the waterfalls, which have been set up for swimming and relaxing in the well of the natural spring.
If you like trekking, you can’t miss the ascent of Mount Rinjani. The great mountain of Rinjaniis a huge volcano that culminates on the island of Lombok. Climbing the summit is one of the most extraordinary experiences one can experience in Indonesia. At 3,726 meters high, Mount Rinjani is the second highest mountain in Indonesia. The climb to the summit may not be easy, but it is well worth it and is widely regarded as one of the best views in the country.
You can leave from the entrance of Sembalun or the entrance of Senaru. It takes 3 days 2 nights or 4 days 3 nights for beginners. From the top, you will see the whole island of Lombok, Bali, Sumbawa and Segara Anak Lake.
After coming back down to Senaru to finish the trekking, you can relax for one or two days in the Senggigi area, then head to the island ofGilis (either Gili Trawangan, Gili Air or Gili Meno) in order to finish your vacation in Indonesia at the seaside.
There are still a lot of hidden places in Lombok, we will absolutely inform you in our next blog. We hope this article will give you inspiration for some of the interesting things to do in Lombok You can also read our program for Lombok by clicking on this link.
Happy vacations…
The Festival of Galungan in Bali in 2020
We wish during your trip to Bali, in the near future to attend the Galungan festival. It is one of the great sacred days of Bali which is celebrated by all Balinese on the island of Bali. Rituals are centralized in all temples: family temples, territorial temples, functional temples and public temples. It usually takes a day to complete the religious process in these temples.
Galungan occurs twice a year in the 210-day cycle of the Balinese calendar and marks the time of year when the spirits of the ancestors are believed to visit the earth. The Balinese perform rituals designed to welcome and entertain these returning spirits.
The houses that represent the center of Balinese society come alive thanks to the devotions offered by the families who live there. Families offer generous sacrifices of food and flowers to ancestral spirits, expressing their gratitude and hope for protection. These sacrifices are also offered in the local temples, which are filled with the faithful.
All over the island stand high bamboo poles, or Penjor, which are usually decorated with coconut leaves and flowers and installed to the right of each residence entrance. At each entrance you will also find small bamboo altars, set up especially for the festival, each bearing palm leaf offerings for the spirits.
This year, the fate of Galungan takes place on Wednesday, September 16, 2020. The Balinese visit the temples from morning until late at night, while bringing offerings to serve their God “Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa”.
The objective of the Galungan celebration is in fact to REMOVE the bad characteristics of the human being such as anger, greed, rudeness, drunkenness, disrespect, meanness, arrogance, to replace them with positive characteristics such as peace, politeness, respect, kindness, patience and so on, which lead to a serene life that Bali calls “Shanti”.
On the day of Galungan, the Balinese dressed in traditional costumes visit the temples and pray to their gods to show their respect and say thank you for the life given to them and the prosperity they have gained so far. Of course, they bring offerings that they symbolically present to the God during their ceremony and then take home to share them with their families to celebrate the Galungan – Victory Day.
Family temples and territorial temples (Pura Desa, Pura Puseh and Pura Dalem) will be the most frequented places where Balinese will pray on Galungan Day; although some Hindus will also visit some public temples such as Besakih Temple, Goa Lawah Temple, Jagat Natha Temple, Tirtha Empul Temple, and so on.
After prayers, Balinese people visit their relatives and neighbors to say “Galungan Jewels” and some will also use this great day to ask for “forgiveness” for the mistakes of the previous days. Some families also have the tradition of inviting their friends and/or colleagues to celebrate Galungan Day by preparing for the guests very special Galungan meals such as Babi Guling, Lawar; a kind of spicy salad and traditional skewers and cakes.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bali government is limiting major events this year. Prayers in the village temples (Pura Desa, Pura Puseh, and Pura Dalem) are limited only to the chief of ceremony and the temple committee. People can only pray in the family temple and are forbidden to go to each other
The government insists that people always follow health protocol; wear masks, wash their hands, maintain physical distance and avoid crowds.
Selamat Rahina Galungan on behalf of Balipassion to you, your family and all your friends.