“Am I happy?”
That was the question I asked myself in one morning with messy house and non-stop baby crying. Not that I was being ungrateful with the life I have, but that day I knew I wasn’t. Something was missing; the stress has been pilling on. I looked around and envying people on their adventure, I lived by the words “I’ve been there. I used to too.”
Yet then, it stroke me just like a lighting thunder of realization. I paused and asked myself, why should I spend my present times trapped by envying my glorious traveling past? Why didn’t I make it come true once more? Need some adjustment and put some considerations, with greater will this time, yet it’s still possible to be happened all over again.
So there I was. Just seconds after I had that in mind, I packed our stuffs, bought some possible precautions, and jumped all the way to the car. Together with the little one, a far spontaneous journey to east of Bali was begun.
Yeah, East Bali. It was well-known for its beautiful infamous beaches that rarely visited by domestic tourist. The characteristic of its beach is pretty much different from any on other sides of Bali: some places have a rocky beach instead of sands with deep blue colored water. Plenty of snorkel/ diving sites for sure with exceptional scenery along the way. I’ve been keeping some destinations in mind, yet never really found some time to drive all the way there. Before yesterday. Before the adventurer in me revealed herself all over again.
The sky was definitely blue that day and my first destination was Padang Bai. Approximately around 55km from Kuta area, crossing the By Pass Ngurah Rai and Ida Bagus Mantra ring road to the east. This site is well-known as a harbor for fast boats trail to Lombok, Gili, Nusa Lembongan, and so on. Nevertheless, there are many small traditional boat, known as jukung boat that ready to send us to diving sites nearby. Just what I did to begin the journey.
Bargained with the local, whom surprised much seeing me going alone, I rented the jukung boat for me and Bumi for Rp 150.000,-/ trip. It took me to another secluded beach I’ve been setting my eyes on: Blue Lagoon Beach and Tanjung Jepun. Just too bad the wave wasn’t on our side, it was pretty harsh nearby the beach so the jukung couldn’t get us to the shore. Didn’t really matter though, the view was still breathtakingly stunning.
Therefore, we stopped in the middle of the sea next to the beaches. The water was greenish blue, covered with peacefully beautiful view. In tranquil soothing drift, we jumped out and enjoying the calmness of the sea. Me with my rented snorkeling equipment and the little Bumi with his own yellow floating vest, which I brought along with us throughout.
Surely, this was his first trial of swimming in the middle of the sea, far away from the land nearby. He looked shocked at first by seeing he was surrounded by water everywhere, but just in minutes he smiled widely and laughed happily. Excited, he was. There were so many little fishes swam close by the coral reef down below, as he mesmerized by looking those kind of scenery. And as for me, being under the blue is always relaxing. This spontaneous trip has begun itself perfectly!
Done with the water, we took the shower and ready for our next destination on the list. Around 15km away from Padang Bai, we were heading on to Tenganan Pengringsingan village in Manggis district. Again, it was a journey to a nowhere by crossing some kinda like forest and small road, making the time on the road exciting as well.
Tenganan is one of several ancient villages in Bali, which usually called “Bali Aga”, and still holding their native tradition and lifestyle strongly. The buildings are still in their ancient construction style, some are made from old brick without adhesive cement. As in their communal life, they have been maintaining their circle close by forbidding the locals to marry people from outside the village itself. As we walked around the area, there were many woman still making and producing the hand made traditional woven products. That was surely an interesting place worth to visit, seeing Bali in different perspective glasses beyond its beautiful beaches and amazing scenery. Will definitely be back on July 15th, as they would held a big celebration of “Mekare-Kare“, the ritual of men fighting with Pandan leaves on their hand. Cannot wait!
It was already at 4pm and we still planned to reach our next destination point first before dark, Taman Ujung Soeka Sada, which was still another 20km away. I tried to drive as fast as possible, but the road in East bali is pretty small and hilly. On our way there, we passed by the Candidasa Beach. That was the most far I’d been in East Bali before, and I was challenged myself to see how far I could go further this time.
Candidasa isn’t a beach where we could swim on, but the scenery it has is exceptionally beautiful. A widely open space of dark blueish water with some bunch of rocky island in the horizon, where the waves rushing unto the beach covered by small black rocky coral. We stopped by for a while to snap some picture before kept heading on forward and promised ourselves to find another time visiting this place again. Renting the jukung, boating to the sea, and doing nothing but enjoying the scenery; it sounds like a very interesting idea.
Relying much on the google maps during this road trip, sometimes deceived me. It took me to a wrong direction and got me off in Amlapura City. Wandering around for a while then made a turn over, yet it was taking us lost even further to Seraya Beach.
That was the point where the journey got pretty hard: I was pretty much exhausted and so did the little Bumi. In the attempt to look for place to rest, we ended up stopping by on some beautiful villa in Seraya. Their rates was way beyond my budget, but the helper there was kind enough to let us rest by the pool for some while. Beautiful place, I should say, and I lost myself between thoughts.
There, while looking at the very serene scenery, I realized that further I go, I’m longing for a home for me to come back more. Wishfully wishing, perhaps there would be time where its door would open itself for me.
An hour of rest, finally I decided to head back to Candidasa and looked for a decent cheaper place to stay overnight. Found a good one in Temple Cafe and Seaside Cottages with sunrise view and an access to seaside with only Rp 170.000,-/night. Immediately grabbed it and took a good shower together, before we collapsed on the bed. Tired from the long journey we had, while gathered energy to continue the trip tomorrow morning. We slept soundly holding each other, waiting the darkness of the night was conquered with a bright ray of sun.
The first day of our first spontaneous road trip had reached its end. Tiring but worthwhile, yet there was another exciting things and places waited for us on the next day.
Our adventure wasn’t ended yet.
And The Sun Shines... 