Travel Day 664 – Driving on a Scooter around Bali, INDONESIA
09/09 Ubud via Sanur and Nusa Dua on Bukit Peninsula to Kuta
The day started a bit rainy and so instead of exploring more of touristic Ubud, it was the perfect morning to take things easy…
Empty White Sand Beach by Nusa Dua on Bali, Indonesia
Taking it easy in this case meant enjoying an extended breakfast on the terrace of the guesthouse and reading my Practical Indonesian book. Once the rain stopped, I obviously had to go for one last walk along the main drag, although nothing of Ubud seemed more impressive than it had yesterday. It was still the perfect resort town for tourists and the only positive thing worth mentioning remained the great food at the local warungs. Although, I had to say my newly learned words of Indonesian came in really handy for fighting off the constant hustle by all the local touts…
Eventually it was then back on the scooter with Kuta as the final destination. But it seemed only fair to make a few stops during the drive and so Sanur made the perfect stopover for a late lunch. Sanur itself, situated on the eastern shore, just opposite of Kuta, turned out to be a really low-key beach town. Considering how close it was to all the tourist madness of the Kuta area, it was actually quite amazing how more relaxed it was and after checking out a few places to stay, I simply decided to come back and stay here tomorrow…
Yellow Gravel Beach by Nusa Dua on Bali, Indonesia
But since I still had the scooter today, it seemed to make sense to keep using it for the rest of the afternoon while driving down once more to the Bukit Penisula. This time, instead of going towards Balangan Beach and the Uluwatu Temple, where I had been on the very first day with the scooter, I went to the other side, to Nusa Dua. Unfortunately, the whole area appeared to be a gated community, looking like a secluded tourist Disneyland with palm tree-lined streets, fancy hotels, golf courses, museums, theaters and white sand beaches…
At this point the weather still wasn’t quite the best, but nevertheless it was nice to find an empty cliff in the Nusa Dua area, overlooking a yellow gravel beach and to sit there while watching the waves come in. After that, a cruise up to the not very inspiring Benoa area to see the local beaches and a temple was the last exploration I did on the scooter before re-entering the madness of Kuta. If it would not have been that late when returning the scooter, I probably would have left the area right away, but it seemed ok to cope with it for one more night. At least I had learned over the past 9 days of driving that Bali had a whole lot more to offer in terms of culture, religion and cuisine than touristic Kuta had suggested. Who would have thought that Bali had so much in store, all it took to discover it was leaving the tourist madness…
Find all Ubud – Nusa Dua and Ubud to Nusa Dua photos here.
Seems to be a nice, peaceful place. Looks deserted.
Renuka recently posted…Why Visit Delhi In February
Yes Renuka, the beaches in Nusa Dua were in fact quite deserted when I visited, but I personally liked it that way. The area is so close to the beaches in Kuta and yet it’s a very different side of Bali…