We stayed in Sanur for one night in the Alley City Hotel, as we couldn’t get a boat until the next day to Nusa Lembonong. It was lucky that we made this decision, as we didn’t get in from our horrendous boat journey back from Gili T until the evening. The hotel was in a great location for the pier and was nice and clean. We went for a quick wander in the evening to find an ATM to get some money out for NL and to grab some dinner, which ended up being KFC as it was the easy option and we were shattered by this point.
In the morning we checked out, grabbed breakfast across the street at Dunkin doughnuts before walking down to the pier. We bought tickets from the kiosk at the end of the street by the beach for the slow public ferry at 10.30, as it was significantly cheaper (100 000) than the fast boats. However whilst waiting with our stuff watching them load the boat we changed out mind. The boat was so full and it looked really sketchy. Just to get into the boat they were having to get through choppy water with waves quite high and had to carry your stuff over your head. After the previous day we couldn’t handle another awful boat journey, especially when it didn’t look that safe for either our stuff or us. So instead we took the hit of the money, deciding it was not worth it and headed along the coast, past the kiosk to the fast boat ticket offices. We ended up getting on a fast speedboat with Rocky Fast Boat at 12pm (550 000 return). We loaded into a big speedboat, inside and within 35 minutes we had zipped across to Nusa Lembongan and arrived into gorgeous turquoise waters again. Included in the price was also a transfer to our hotel, which was Widia Homestay, in Jungut Batu.
At Widia Homestay we had our own room, with a small table and chairs terrace outside that looked over a small swimming pool and loungers. It had a quintessentially Balinese feel about it with its cute courtyard feel. We were based walking distance to the main town as well as a few restaurants/cafes near by and Jungut Batu beach was just a few streets away. We went for a walk into town in order to find one of the only ATMs on the island (after spending a lot of unexpected money on the ferry), and to find a local warung for some babi gulung (30 000). After sorting some stuff out in our room we walked the opposite way to Eco Deli for an ice coffee. This place was very hippie but cosy and regularly busy. It served healthy food and drinks, great coffee and was saving the environment one refilled water bottle at a time. We were going to go for more of an explore around the area however unfortunately I did not feel very well so we hung out at the Eco Deli doing some blogs as it was only a short walk back to our room. In the evening I couldn’t face moving away from the room due to having a bad stomach so Dave went out and found some Nasi Goreng, which he bought back for us and we had a nice simple dinner whilst watching a film.
The following day we had our free breakfast of eggs, bread and juice before going for a nice walk along the beach. We cut into the backstreets in order to find some lunch where we had Fried Rice/Noodles (30 000 each) at Kiehls Bungalows. Unfortunately I began feeling really sick again and we had to stumble back to our accommodation. Despite not being able to explore it allowed me to do some research for the Japan leg of the trip and Dave went to talk to the diving centres. Nusa Lembongan is a great place for diving with it being one of the best places to swim with manta rays. However due to Dave already spending quite a lot on diving on the trip, after lots of anguish and frustration he decided it probably wasn’t sensible to spend all of his money on diving as there we were on a tight budget and had lots of other places left to go. In the afternoon we went back to Eco Bali for fresh fruit juices and freshly baked cookies before strolling along the beach watching the sunset, the people and the dogs playing in the sand. We ended up at Warung Made for dinner where they were very reasonably priced and had a good selection (sweet & sour 30 000 & pasta Bolognese 33000). After treating ourselves to ice creams we headed back to a quiet night to watch Castle in the Sky (Dave had me watching all the Ghibli films before we got to Japan).
The next day we decided to just have as a chill day and enjoy where we were getting to stay as I still wasn’t fully well. We spent time in the pool and reading in the sun loungers before grabbing a quick gado gado lunch at Bu Eko (10 000). I tried to venture out in the afternoon to explore a bit more but we only made it to the Eco Deli for drinks before my body was anxiously saying don’t go too far from your accommodation! Rather than push it we spent the afternoon planning our Japan trip (route, trains, accommodation) as you have to book in advance there to get reasonably cheap rooms and we wanted to go to as many places as possible in our month there which required pre-planning! We headed out for another sunset beach stroll before dinner again at Warung Made.
Feeling better the following day we went for a longer, very hot walk to Mushroom Bay up the hill. This gave us a very panoramic view of Jungat Batu. We were hoping to swim and snorkel in the bay however there were lots of boats and the waves were really high so we gave it a miss and instead sat at the beach café (Mola Mola café) to cool off with vanilla milkshakes (25000 each). After a good walk back we grabbed Gado Gado at Bu Eko again before cooling off in the pool. In the evening we headed to the Theatre restaurant for a meal, drink and movie night- watching Star Wars; Force Awakens for something different to do. (Cheese pasta 40 000, Nasi Goreng 40 000 soft drinks 15 000)
Our last day in NL we decided we should probably go and see a bit of it now I was feeling better so we rented a scooter (60 000 for the day, 25 000 fuel). This is definitely the best way to see the island and if I had felt well we would have probably rented one for the whole time we were there as there are many different areas to explore. We were in full adventure mode that day trying to cram everything in. We drove up to mangrove beach, across the yellow bridge and around Ceningan island. The roads weren’t the best in places and there were some quite steep hills but we persevered on our scooter. We stopped off at Jenny Bungalows on Ceningan island for a drink. There was a lovely view out over the sea and we sat there for a while (looking very scruffy from all the dusty tracks) watching the surfers. We headed to the secret beach before driving back over to Lembongan island along the coast front to see dream beach and devils tear. Devils tear is where the sea crashes against some of the rocks. All around are signs warning how dangerous it is but still loads of people take selfies too close to the edge. Dream beach looked nice but had a lot of people on it and the seas are also known to have hidden rip tides so you have to be really careful swimming there. We stopped off for some Nasi Campur (25000) lunch at Warung Bu Edy and at Kawan’s coffee for milkshakes before heading back to our place to cool off in the pool. We headed back to Kawan’s for dinner (curry 27000, gado gado 30000) and desert.
After a final breakfast we packed up and walked to the pier to catch our return ferry to Sanur. We checked back into the Alley City before going out for a wander. We stopped for coffee and cake at the Kopi Kiosk (coffees 25 000, brownie 15 000). We had a long stroll along the beach track. The beach was gorgeous and the water very swimmable with several resorts along the front but quiet. Not what we had been expecting from Sanur. We had lunch at Warung Wati (Nasi Goreng and Gado Gado 20 000 each). Unfortunately one of Dave’s beloved Sanuk’s flip flips gave up after 6 months of wear and he was stranded with a walk back with one flip-flop. He cheered himself up though with a Palettes watermelon ice lollies from (35 000) In early afternoon we tried to catch up on some admin in the hostel/hotel although it was a struggle to get online. We had more fried rice at a local warung (16000) just down the street before having a cheeky donut.
Our final day in Bali we had a McDonalds breakfast- sometimes you just have to (35 000 sausage mcmuffin, hash brown and drink), before having a Dunkin doughnut and watching a bit of the McGregor vs Mayweather fight on periscope. We checked in online for our flight before going for one last walk along the gorgeous beachfront. We stopped at Kopi Kiosk for more coffees and the local supermarket to grab snacks for the airport/ our flight later that day. Then we got a grab taxi to the airport (70 0000). It was a fairly smooth journey but took about 45 minutes due to traffic. There were not many options at the airport so we had burgers at The Coffee Club (140000) and waited around for a long time for our gate to finally open. Gone 11.30pm and we had to ask about our flight as we were still not showing on the board or check in showing. Luckily we did as this was already open! We were then able to check in and drop off our bags so at least we could walk around the other shops after security. We didn’t end up boarding until closer to 1am. Then we were off to Manila, the Philippines.
Nusa Lembongan was a really interesting island with such a variety of places to stay, visit and explore. I wish I had felt better whilst there to be able to make the most of the island but sometimes you just have to take it easy. It is also one of those places we would definitely go back to explore more. The island was much quieter and more interesting than the Gili islands. Unfortunately due to funds and illness we didn’t choose to go snorkelling or diving there, which is supposed to be amazing and one of the best places to swim with manta rays- definitely one for the future bucket list. Sanur also surprised us, the beach actually looked really nice and a great place to swim.
Alex
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