Indonesia cut short but COVID19

Bali, first port of call. A lovely 28 degrees on landing and no rain then a 3 hour drive for 60km – so much traffic and so many bikes, definitely would not want to drive myself. 

Balian Beach is a quiet area, primarily used by surfers, and retired expats, like a breath of fresh air from years past.  There are a few small restaurants and many bungalows of which after wandering around for a day I reckon we picked the best one, great view, lovely people and nice long pool for swimming.

Interesting to watch one of the local staff cutting the grass with a Scythe – backbreaking hard work.  Another odd thing that happens in the evening is the thousands of swallows swooping around, I have never seen so many and assume it must be something to do with the large river that comes out to sea here.  Funny watching the surfers amongst so many swooping and diving birds.

Dangers are around though, a coconut fell from a tree as we walked up the lane, missing me by inches. – You never know what is round the corner.
On our last day here we did some exploring and found a lovely nature walk along the bush above the cliff over Secret Bay.  Squirrels, rats and a larger variety of birds were great till I got eaten alive by mozzies and had to make a hasty retreat.  We were going to cover up and go back, but not too be as by the time we got back to the room there was a raging thunder storm and lots of rain.

Some of our time this day was taken up trying to get re-organised with our trip due to Nyepi day.  We had booked into and out of 2 places on 25th March, only to be told now (a month later) that we can not do that as it is silent day (no work, no movement in streets etc).  Trying to sort out all the bookings without losing money was not straight forward and took many hours and many emails.  Hopefully we have it sorted but we will have to see if we get refunded as promised.
Lucky there are fun things around to give you a laugh after all that.  This sign from one of our favourite restaurants.

Our usual driver Made picked us up at 9am for a drive to Bedugul (PS if you want our drivers contact let us know, he is a great driver, honest and reliable) – we are booked to stay near the Botanic Gardens, with a view over the lake – should be lovely.  On the way Made did some small detours to see if we could find some birds – no luck but some amazing scenery made the journey enjoyable.  Nearer our destination Made asked if we wanted to detour to the UNESCO site of Jatiluwah, which we gladly agreed to.  There are 4 walks of various lengths and due to threatening clouds we chose the short 1 hour walk (getting wet in the process).  The rice fields and scenery are just stunning but little birds or wildlife seen – maybe due to the weather.

On to our accommodation – what a shock.  A dingy place with green moss and mould on walls, no lake view and even though breakfast was supposed to be included the owner/manager said they did not do food.  The nearest place to eat or buy anything was about 1.5 hour walk away (if you survived the dodgy fast road).  Made took us to lunch while we weighed up our options.  We looked at other accommodation around but being last minute anything affordable was gone.  The weather had also deteriorated badly so in the end we just carried on to our next port of call in Lovina Beach.  Now a battle to try and get the money back from the accommodation as it is already paid.  Certainly they should as it was definitely false advertising but who knows, will have to wait and see.

Lovina Beach Resort is full, mostly Russian and Dutch but the rest of the town is really quiet.  A couple of days just wandering around the area was relaxing and interesting, lots of swimming.  Found a great restaurant, cheap and amazing food.

Thunderstorms occurred most days but the rains were short, although heavy were easy to work around.  We contacted (the only) bird guide on Bali, who we have used in the past and organised a couple of trips out with him.  The first day was to the West Bali National Park and around that area.  The rangers here are doing such a fantastic job increasing the number of Bali Starlings in the wild.

Due to their breeding program there are now over 250 wild birds, when we were here in 2017 they were down to under 50.  Great day, but very long.

We left our hotel at 6 am and back to 7.30 pm.  We did not realise how far the hotel was from the National Park, would in hindsight have been much better to stay closer.  On the second day they picked us up at 5am for the drive and then ferry over to East Java.  That short bit of sea is incredibly busy, ships everywhere as pretty much all of everything sold or used in Bali and any other islands further east comes across on these ferry’s from Java.  Great though to see the sunrise over the 3 mountains on the East of Java, a very scenic journey.

An hours drive up the mountain into the National Park makes you realise that Bali is not crowded – Java is so much more so.  A bird hide was great for viewing a number of forest birds and very enjoyable.  Then the choice – did we do some roadside birding or walk up the volcano to see the lake.  The guide told us it was not steep and an easy climb so we decided that birds are usually scarce mid day so we would do the hike.  Not sure on his idea of not steep as to us it was very very steep.  It took 2 hours to go up and 1.5 hours to come down.  Amazingly the sulfur miners walk up and down many times a day pushing/pulling trolleys full of Sulfur or other things.  They even have special padded trolleys to use as Taxi’s for people who find it too hard to walk up.

Not sure I would feel comfortable with a tiny, short, skinny little guy pushing me up – would feel very guilty I think (although they need the money so a hard call).

The scenery was incredible on the walk and at the top.  Back down and off for some lunch (at 3pm) and then some roadside birding.  Some more great birds around, but it was by this time very dark in the forest as rain had encased us, so some good sightings but not photos.  Could not believe the tiny size of one bird we saw, the Sunda Warbler was very small and very flighty. I also loved the Blue of the Indigo Warbling Flycatcher.

A great day out and what could have been a great ferry ride back at sunset – but no colour, too cloudy.  Arriving back at our hotel at 8.30pm – a really long day and with the hike we are exhausted.  No diner, just bed. Another lazy day then a trip to a local group of 4 waterfalls, the main one being Aling Aling.  You can apparently slide down one of them, and jump from great heights but we gave that a miss and just enjoyed the scenery.  On the way back up a storm hit and we got pretty wet, better on way out than in.

During our trip we had heard little about the virus, although we had seen some stuff on line when we had occasional reception. But on our last night we got talking to some people in the restaurant (the only other patrons), they were from the UK but live in France.   It became clear that the virus was growing to be a big issue everywhere and that we should find out more and maybe need to change our plans.  Off to Mount Batur and we quizzed Made about the virus in Bali – there did not seem to be too much of a problem currently but things were ramping up in Java.  On the way we stopped at NungNung Waterfall and yet another steep climb with around 450 steps down and back up.  Amazing waterfall, tall and very fast with hardly any people.

Our hotel Villa Danu was new and very lovely with fantastic views, but was also very isolated, no shops or restaurants near by.  The only other guests on the first day were 2 Dutch and the next day 2 more.  They were all currently stuck in Bali trying to get back home.  We found out a lot more about what was going on and decided we had to make plans to leave ourselves before we either got stuck or caught the virus.  (Although that was most probably not that likely due to us always being remote and not near other people).  Our flight agent got us flights for 2 days time, but then that changed to 3.  We hopped it would not change again.  In the meantime we decided our legs were still too sore for yet another volcano hike of 2 hours and opted for the shorter version where you get to the bottom by car, then take a ride on the back of a trail bike to nearer the top and hike the rest.  Somehow though things went wrong from the start, when we booked we were told we would be picked up at 4.30 but the hotel woke us at 3, then at 4.30 we were ready but no car.  They wanted to then take us on the back of a scooter for 30 mins, we were not up for that round the windy roads in the dark and insisted on car.  Of course all this took time and we did not set of till 5am.  Luckily all though we were not quite at the top for sunrise, we were walking high enough up the trail to keep stopping and looking back to enjoy the colours.

It was really worthwhile, but would have been better that half hour earlier.  In this volcano you can see pockets of steam and when you walk past them, it is really hot.

Back for lunch and more discussions with other guests around the virus – that is the only topic now.
We booked into a hotel in Kuta for the last night (still with our fingers crossed that the flight would not change again).  The hotel was not crowded and luckily we chose one with lots of ground.  Everyone was keeping their distance from everyone, and overhearing some conversations many were stuck trying to get flights home (mostly to Europe).

To go into the supermarket or a restaurant they were taking your temperature and ensuring you used their hand sanitizer.  I was impressed with the efforts they were going to.  Everywhere is quiet, many hotels and restaurants have already shut due to lack of trade.

And so to Adelaide, missing out on all the main parts of the journey – Flores and Komodo Islands, Sulawesi & Raja Ampat (a dream for years) and Borneo.

Getting money back has not been possible in most cases. Some like the flights have given us credit notes – that will be fine as long as this is over by Christmas.  Insurance had a clause in about Pandemics so nothing from them either.

Still we are healthy and home so luckier than many.  Currently in 14 day isolation on day 10, we are lucky to be on a friends property so we can get out and walk around.  The police came to check up on us – which is great, hopefully they catch the idiots not complying.

We picked the worst year ever to retire, just hope we can get some jobs before too long.