Super crazy busy Seminyak

As the last stop on our amazing trip through Bali and Lombok, we decided to spend a few days in Seminyak, Bali, mostly to see what the fuss is all about. 

This is the #1 destination in Bali on TripAdvisor (ok, Seminyak prob earned this title because so many people come here - hence, it get loads of votes) and we felt like we kind of had to see south of Bali too.

But the journey here was way longer than I expected. We left our hotel in Senggigi in the morning, got dropped of at the harbour and got on the fast ferry.

The annoying part of this trip is that the boat stops at Gili Air and Gili Trawangan on the way, to drop off and pick up more people. Because of this the whole boat ride is, of course, longer. I dont know if it's because of the fact that it's low season now, but we couldn't even find a fast boat that went to Sanur (the much more closer harbour choice if you're heading to Seminyak) so instead we got to Padang Bai. Here a shuttle bus waited and with horrible traffic it took ages for us to get to Seminyak. 

But 8 hours after we left our hotel in Senggigi, we were finally there and what's the first thing I see when I get of the bus? A magazine with a vegan resto ad!

We quickly checked in to our hotel, dropped of our bags and went straight to one of the places we saw in the magazine - Happy Falafel.

I don't know if it was because I was starving after not been eating anything all day, or if it really was one of the best falafel (and hummus) places I've been to.

Here they'll give you a pita bread with falafel and you get to fill it yourself with whatever veggies and sauces you prefer from their amazing salad bar.

Giving a hungry vegan free access to hummus, means that it won't be much less for anyone else..

Three layers of hummus and loads of different veggies later I didn't even see the falafels in the bread anymore. It was more like a veggie overly stuffed pita with loads of hummus and falafel in the bottom - but oh my falafel it was gooooood!

Other than the falafel and the vegan friendly food I must admit, though, that Seminyak isn't really my cup of tea - something I really noticed when we walked down the busy road with crazy traffic, to find the even more crazy packed Double 6 beach. Trash and tourists as far as the eye could see and everything is way more pricey here than other places we've been in Bali.

But okay, I'm not gona complain, we did kind of expect this and chose to come here. And even though this doesn't even feel like Bali it has it's sweet spots. Plus, the sunset was beautiful and Double 6 beach is MASSIVE. From here you can see Kuta (which is even more crazy busy than Seminyak) and easily walk there along the beach.

But does it deserve to be #1 on TripAdvisor? Nah, not so much. This is way too westernized and busy to earn that ranking. But we're gonna have a great time here anyway :)

The adventure in Senaru Waterfalls, Lombok

So in the norhern part of Lombok, there are two big waterfalls that is supposed to be the coolest waterfalls of the island and of course we didn't want to miss out on seeing them!

Instead of doing like a day tour with a guide in a group of other tourists, we decided to try to do our own thing - going from Senggigi to Senaru, on our moped.

During the first bit of the journey there were stunning views over the three Gili Islands, nice roads and not much other traffic.

When we came to Bengsal after about 30 minutes, we asked this local man for directions to Senaru and he thought we were crazy for trying to drive all that way on a moped "it's 2 hours from here! 80 km! You need jackets, it's cold and rainy!"

We didn't let that scare us, but thanked him for the helped and continued on a much busier road. I held on for dear life on that moped and was scared half to death when dogs were running out on the road from nowhere and when crazy people drove by. But after a while the roads were less bumpy and less crowded again - thank gosh!

After following a tour bus that was going to the exact same spot as us, we finally made it to the entrance of the national park where the waterfalls are located.

We think that the main entrance might be a bit further up the road, and we were just lucky to find a short cut where there was only one guide trying to make us believe that he needed to lead us through the djungle park to the waterfalls - otherwise we might get lost. But thanks to Guy's research skills we knew about guides like him and we also knew that it's easy to go in without a guide. And so we did. The only thing we paid was the 10 000 rupiah entreance fee.

They said that the walk to the first waterfall would take 30 minutes and then another hour to the next one. But after walking on a path with a stunning view over rice fields and Mount Rinjani, we saw the 50 metre high waterfall just after about 10 minutes.

We continued the walk, through steep stairs and scary paths and at the end of way to the second waterfall we had to go through the river to get through. 

It was so slippery that I just saw myself falling, head first down the water, but we made it and when we got to the waterfall it was so worth the moped ride and the trekking there!

It was one of those times I really wish I had a Go pro, as we could swim in this waterfall. It was absolutely amazing! The water was so fresh and perfectly cooling after the sweaty journey we had. After that swim, I felt as if I boosted my energy levels and could walk all the way back without a problem. This is honestly one of the coolest experiences in my life, it just felt so unreal to stand right next to a waterfall, with hardly anyone around us and just the sound of birds and, of course the water crashing down in the water.

Trekking like that really takes it out of you, so when we got out of the national park we were starving and stopped at the closest restaurant and we had a lunch with such a beautiful view.

Once again, what I love about Indonesia is how easy it is to be a vegan. Anywhere you go (where they serve local food) tempeh and tofu will be at the menu. So at this place I tried Urap Urap (cooked vegetables with spiced grated coconut) with tempeh and tofu for the first time and it was delicious. Don't know what I enjoyed more - the view or the food..

Anywho, this day was just incredible (mostly because the way back went quick and smoothly and we made it back on the moped without a scratch) and you are defiantly missing out if you don't go for a swim in the waterfalls of Senaru if you're in Lombok!

Coco Beach, Senggigi Lombok

As soon as we arrived to Senggigi in Lombok, we rented a moped at our hotel. This seems to be a must in this town as it's not much to do (or see) in the town center and honestly, there are more people on mopeds than in cars.

We went out of the town center and found the cutest little outdoor restaurant, among a field of palm trees, right next to the beach: Coco Beach.

This place is great! Not only is it vegan friendly, but they also use the herbs, veggies and plants that they grow in their own garden just in the backyard of the kitchen.

The food is delicious, at least what I had; eggplant in a spicy tomato sauce and fried tofu. If I'd come back I'd want to try the tofu cake and many other options on the menu!

Mosquitos, rain and coconuts on the beach

Woke up today with the most scary face ever. Somehow the Mosquitos here seems to like the blood in my face.. 

After not being allowed to sleep in because of the rooster outside our room, we went out despite the depressing heavy rain, ditched the hotel breakfast (where the only options are dairy or hen period eg. pancakes and egg on toast) and went to Warung Nana's. This could be like every other little local restaurant around Kuta from the look of it. You would never guess that this is ranked as #4 of top restaurants in Kuta.

The food is so cheap and absolutely delicious. The avocado juice is yummie and the menu is full of traditional Indonesian food with plenty of veggie options. I had a dish with fried tofu and tempeh that came with rice and loads of veggies and peanut butter sauce.

Food choma for sure! 

 

After making a promise to Anthony, a cute little man that sells coconuts on the beach, we went back to Tajung Aan Beach when the rain stopped and bought a coconut and chilled at the beautiful beach for a while. 

Now I've gotta run as we have to check out from our hotel here in Kuta in like 2 minutes, and after that we're heading for Senggigi on the east side of Lombok. So see you there folks!

Kuta Lombok med omnejd - på moppe

Galet hur mycket mer en hinner med på en dag med en moped! Också så kul att åka moppe igen! Känns som att jag är 15 igen och har ständigt låten "det är kul att åka moppe i 80 knop, det är kul att åka SKITFORT utan hjälm!" (Bara mina barndomsvänner känner nog till den..)

Vi hyrde iallafall vår blåa pärla från vårt hotell på morgonen och drog först iväg till Mawun Beach där det vattnet var vågit och stranden var fin. 

Men där blev vi också snabbt rastlösa och gav oss ut på sightseeingäventyr istället. Kollade bland annat in fladdermusgrottan vi hört om, men det kändes inte så lockande att gå in när stanken inifrån kändes på flera meters håll. Där ska det också finnas en fortune teller, men han var tyvärr inte där just då.

Och från den ena vackra utsikten till den andra blev det när vi stannade till för en isté-paus (märks att jag är med en engelsman) på restaurangen Summit. Ett inte alls lika poppis ställe som dess granne Ashtari, ni vet yogacentret som säger sig vara en vegetarisk restaurang men som inte vet vad de snackar om. 

Vi hoppade på moppen igen och åkte till Seger Beach, men spenderade inte någon tid på stranden i sig utan gick upp för en brant backe till toppen på kullen bredvid. 

Den här utsikten var garanterat värd klättringen upp!

Vätskepåfyllning no. 2 stannade vi till på supermegamysiga Drop In Cafe för. Det här fick mig att drömma om att ha precis ett sådant hus i en sådan trädgård någon dag framöver. 

Beställningen här går till som så att vi fick en lapp där vi fyllde i våra namn och vad vi ville beställa att äta eller dricka. Så gulligt! Och så bra eftersom språkbarriärer ibland kan göra så att beställningar missförstås etc.

Allt är bara så gulligt här och med en bananjuice från himmelen ville jag typ aldrig gå härifrån. Till och med toaletten var ball, här skulle jag typ kunna bo!

Efter lite vila i drömträdgården hamnade vi på drömstranden: Tajung Aan Beach - en av de finaste stränderna jag varit på. 

Nackdelen med att det inte var så många andra turister som hängde här var att gänget av försäljare på stranden var omkring oss som flugor. Och sådana situationer är alltid jobbiga, när de är beroende av att hitta någon att sälja till och vi inte har i vår budget (eller plats i väskorna) för materiella saker. Generellt känner jag det som att de som arbetar med turism och försäljning här, är mycket mer på och pushy än på Bali. Du får liksom aldrig vara ifred här.

På kvällen lämnade vi hursomhelst vår lilla pärla hemma och gick till Drifters - gourmet burger, eftersom de är no 3 på TripAdvisor över restauranger i Kuta, men mest för att de har både falafelburgare, falafelwrap och, förstås, avokado!

Förhoppningarna var höga när jag läste att någon tyckte att detta var världens bästa falafel. Tyvärr kunde jag inte hålla med om det. Guys falafelburgare hade bara en tunn skiva falafel, typ som en knaprig CD-skiva och jag fick en klump falafel i min wrap (som iofs var ganska nice), men eftersom de inte hade hummus eller någon annan vegansås var det rätt torrt. 

Falafel behöver hummus precis som pasta behöver sojafärs, så det så. Och med det säger jag hejdå för den här gången, nu taggar Guy för att se Tottenham spela mot WestHam på Barrels Bar tillsammans med några locals. Puss och kärlek!