Over the Mountains to the North Coast

On the way to the bus station I thought I was in Guatemala, but it was Bali and the garbage ran down to this river below

 This is the ticket booth where I bought the wrong ticket to Surabaya rather than Singajara

These vans are at the bus terminal where on 3 January 2012 I got a van to Singajara.

I get in the van and wait until the van fills up to over capacity which takes maybe one half hour. We take about to hours to traverse the winding mountain road to the north coast passing by some quite spectacular lush, jungle forests. We arrive at Singajara earlier than I thought at a terminal outside of town. My first task is to sit down to a ABC kopi (balinese coffee) and a bun since I didn't eat breakfast as a safety precaution against travel sickness.

I pulled out my netbook and powered up to review my wikitravel article I had previously downloaded to orient myself The first task was to find out where I was exactly. There are three terminals at Singajara: Penarukan Terminal, Banyuasri Terminal and Sukasada Terminal. I confirmed with the three policemen (?) at the kopi stand that I was at Suasada. At first I thought I would go into Singajara to the Tourist office and then to Lovina. The men told me there were two ways to Lovina. One I could go to Banyuarsa Terminal and get a bemo from there. Or, I could hire a bemo from where I was for 50000Rp and go direct. It would be less if there were more passengers but I didn't exactly see lots of people waiting to go to Lavina. So I asked about a motorcycle as an alternative. A driver appeared and for 25000 Rp would take me to Hotel Angsoka.

It turns out the hotel is actually in a place called Kalibukbuk west of Singajara. Lovina it appears is a general name for the coastal area. 

 

I had chosen Angsoka from the Wikitravel budget list because they had 44 rooms and I thought there would be no problem arriving without a reservation.

There was no problem with a room and I took one called ' the barn'. The barn is a single in a loft with the toilet and shower in a separate structure at ground level. All the other rooms are bungalow type. The Angsoka has in addition to bungalows, a pool, restaurant and spa and is about 100 metres from the sea shore. All these amenities come at a cost of course and my room rate is 80000Rp ($9.00 Cdn) and includes breakfast and Wi Fi!

    






Some of the Angsoka grounds and the pool

This area is quiet and pretty laid back. The town is basically one main street, with a few side streets, between the mountains and the Bali Sea. The beach is ho hum and the most popular activity is early morning outrigger boat trips for dolphin watching

Angsoka is about 100 metres from the beach where the Dolphin awaits.