Ups and downs of the Nusa islands
October 16, 2016We're standing at the beginning of the Yellow bridge connecting the two islands of Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. It does not look sturdy at all and thinking that we need to cross it is giving me a major headache. The bridge is barely wide enough for a scooter, and yet it's full with people driving them. I just push myself to the side of the bridge, hoping for the scooters not to run me over. As I get to the middle point with a little concrete pillar, I feel more safe again. But I'm only halfway done.
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| Karang Dawa viewpoint |
We rush to the road on early Friday morning and a hint of anxiety overtakes me. We are getting ready for our weekly dose of weekend exploration and this time, we have planned an exciting trip to the Nusa Islands. But we still have to find the taxi pick-up place and we are already several minutes behind. Nobody seems to know how far we need to walk—or if we need to run with our backpacks in flip flops. Why do we have to be late again?
"Oh... It's right here," Danny says, pointing to a little shop opposite our homestay. And the funny part is that we actually end up waiting half an hour for the old, hippie-looking 10-seat van. As we pick up other passengers, they all happen to be girls, and so unsurprisingly, Dutch.
Panic takes over my mind. There are basically two viable options: we can either risk it and be late for school (but would have to look for a taxi driver to take us there last minute); or we would have to leave Nusa on Saturday. I am even thinking that maybe it is best to cancel the whole trip and postpone it to perhaps next weekend.
In the middle of our desperation, Fiona finds another boat company which does offer an early transfer on Monday. We rush to the counter and beg the staff to help us solve the situation. After a phone call between the company and our travel agent (which seems to last ages), we are given a new return ticket - without additional costs. Finally, it all works out well.
*
We've barely stepped foot on Nusa Lembongan and something goes wrong again—Fiona cannot find her phone. She is looking everywhere, together with the guides; they jump into the water and snorkel in the area around the boat. But the phone is gone. I don't know how she does it, but Fiona is surprisingly calm. It is just a phone, she says, and we give up the search in order to meet our taxi driver, who has been waiting for us this whole time.
Nusa taxis are nothing like those in Bali. We are picked up by a truck with a tray on the back, with no doors and only thin rails to hold on to. It is not safe at all and not cheap either, but it turns out to be an amazing experience. The road to our homestay leads through many hills, and we jump up and down constantly, shouting and laughing like we're on a roller-coaster.
As we get to the homestay, the driver gets a call and tells us that they have found Fiona's phone. Unable to believe this, we unpack while waiting for Fiona to come back. She triumphantly holds her phone in her hand as she steps out of the truck half an hour later. It's a little Balinese miracle.
*
We get to do something only at around 3 pm. We spent the whole morning and noon in our infinity pool overlooking the sea and then having lunch, sitting right at the beach. We then decided to rent bicycles and bike around the island. However, it was not the most fortunate idea. The roads were really bad, and we only got to the mangrove point, where the road stopped. Being a little put off by the roads, with a little accident on the way when Maiju fell, we decided to return the bikes and go watch the sunset on the western side of the island.
In the evening we make time to decide what we want to do the next day. I become the sort of head guide, as I have done so much research and saved many places to my maps. We plan to see seven places, and we can eliminate the last one in case we don't have enough time.
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| The view from our beach-front lunch place |
*
Our Saturday starts at 8 am with a snorkeling tour and nobody really knows when it will end. As we are seven girls, quite a big group, we have the whole boat for ourselves. Manda, our realtor nice captain, is taking us to three spots - to see the manta rays, underwater Buddha palace, and a coral reef at Nusa Penida.
The boat starts slowing down and I see our first stop immediately. It's crowded with other tourists snorkeling in the dark blue waters. We rush to the sea, all excited to spot the creatures. After a couple of minutes of no luck, I recognize Danny underwater among all the other people, as she's pointing behind me. The first manta ray I've ever seen.
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| Scary already from far... |
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| ...even scarier up close |
It didn't take long until we spotted another one - and another, and another. There were plenty, and every time I saw a huge manta up close, my heart stopped pounding for a second. With their huge open mouth, they looked a little scary. At some point, a manta was swimming towards me - right towards me - and I immediately engaged all my back and glute muscles to keep my whole body afloat. The manta swam a couple of centimeters below, parallel to my body. Luckily I managed to stay straight and not to kick it in the face.
After mantas, we went to the underwater Buddha's palace. I was very excited about this one but left a little disappointed. The Buddha was covered in fisherman's net and all we could see looked like a big bag of potatoes. Manda guessed that it's probably there to encourage the drivers to pay if they want to see it.
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| Our last stop during the snorkeling trip |
At last, we are approaching a black sand beach at Nusa Penida. There are beautiful corals and fish in the water, shining in each color imaginable. A little later Fiona hands me a piece of bread for the fish, and as I distribute it by pieces around me, all the fishes come closer and I'm in a little underwater rainbow.
*
After we say goodbye to Danny, who needs to catch her flight, Manda drops us off at Penida, where we rent scooters to explore the island. Remembering our bold plan we made yesterday to visit seven places, we drive our scooter to the first one. Already at this point, we're encountering a little (actually, a huge) flaw in the plan. Penida has a rugged coastline—and pretty much also the mainland—and the only way to get from one point on the coast to another one is through the middle of the island. This way, driving to a place only a couple of kilometers away takes an hour.
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| Views that unfold as we cruise Penida |
The Crystal beach is beautiful, with clear water and white sand, but many ships in the water which mar the view a little. The collective decision was not to go swim but to explore the area a little. There are some stone stairs leading to the top of the cliff, and not very eager to hike in this extreme heat, I follow the group with a little resentment. Maiju is not too excited either, as she stops in the middle of the staircase and takes a break. I leave her behind and catch up with Viivi. "Look at this," she points to the little red sign painted on a rock, reading 'beach' with a little arrow to the right. "It must be the secret beach that Anna has read about."
It finally makes sense why Kelly, Fiona, and Anna climbed the stairs so enthusiastically. I rejoice in this little discovery and we continue on the path swiftly. As we get to the other side of the cliff, a beautiful hidden beach with white sand and sky clear water unravels before our eyes.
"&@%#!!! Look at that!!!" You hear me and Viivi shouting from the top of the cliff. I get so excited that I start running down the narrow stairs. Soon I hear Viivi screaming at me to wait for her. We still can't believe what a gem we found.
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| Our own private beach |
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| Just having fun |
*
After an hour of driving, we get to the Karang Dawa viewpoint, from where you have the stunning view of the Kelingking beach from the top of the cliff. It was the place that I wanted to see and naturally had high expectations. I was a little nervous. It all looks beautiful in the pictures, but what if it was not at all that pretty in reality? But as I walk down to the viewing point and see the beach below me, I start jumping and screaming. "You guys, we did it! It is beautiful!" And as the rest of the group joins me, I hear five more just as enthusiastic "wows".
After we've all taken pictures and rejoiced enough, it is time to decide where to go next. It is 4 pm now, and we have seen two out of seven places. We made a deal with Manda that he would pick us up at 5.30 so that we can see the sunset on the boat. But only the way back to the harbor takes a little less than an hour. Realizing that if we go to another place, we would most certainly be a little late, we contemplate. We're here only once though, and the group decides to go to the Angel's Billabong after all - a natural infinity pool inside a little crater over the ocean.
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| Terrible roads of coastal Penida |
The road there is absolutely terrible. Our drivers are getting rather angry and exhausted. Many times at a steep slope we need to hop off the scooters and walk up or down the hill. But we made it, and finally got to the site. It feels a little anti-climactic, though. The Billabong is pretty, but it is not that stunning. It also looks a little different - there's a big crater below us with a hole in the rock, but something is off. Only as we ask a local lady do we realize that this is not the Billabong.
We follow her advice and walk to the right side of the cliff. I see many rocks and some cliffs on the side and it seems pretty much like we found the place. However, there's no water. I'm thinking that we're way too late - we should have come in the morning for the high tide. Now, almost at sunset, the tide is so low that the infinity pool is basically non-existent.
I've given up. It didn't work out, even though we tried. But the other girls refuse to believe that we came here all the way - through those terrible roads - only for this. They keep walking further across the big sharp rocks and discover the hidden beauty behind all this mess - the real Billabong.
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Angel's Billabong
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If you want to go down to the pool, you need to climb down a rather steep cliff, and only half of us decides to go down. Rock-climbing with my camera hanging from my shoulder, I pray not to slip.
We get down safely and start walking towards the end of the crater. A group of tourists over there suggest we take off our shoes because it's slippery. I don't want to damage my feet but as I almost fall, I listen to their advice. In fact, the bottom of the crater is full of soft, squishy seaweed which tickles my feet as I advance. It feels amazing, and the green of the seaweed ensures beautiful pictures. We stop at the end of the crater and look to the deep black sea below us.
*
The rest is getting nervous. It's clear now that we will never make it to the harbor in time, but the drivers are really nervous about driving at night. We still have an hour to drive, and already now you can't see the sun anymore. The drive is, indeed, quite challenging. The fearless Anna is going quite fast while Kelly with her half-functioning scooter gets behind all the time. But we make it to the harbor, even though very late. And in complete darkness.
Naturally, Manda is gone. But now we don't have a boat to bring us back home, and we can't stay here. Even if we found a place to sleep, tomorrow is an ocean conservation day and nobody is allowed to be in the waters. Our trip would be in ruins.
*
As we're not allowed to swim on Sunday because of the ocean day, we rent scooters and are getting ready to drive to Ceningan after our morning spent in our hotel pool. Before leaving, I decided to try driving a scooter with Fiona. She's a natural, but it's a different story with me. Not used to the machine and still very scared, I go to the main road. It goes smoothly at first and I'm gaining confidence, but as I want to stop and turn around, I accelerate at the same time as I pull the break. I lose control of the scooter, which slides down the cliff and almost crashes into the ocean. Looking back, it was not the smartest idea to start learning how to drive on a road right next to the water.
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We're standing at the beginning of the Yellow bridge connecting the two islands of Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. It does not look sturdy at all and thinking that we need to drive through it is giving me a major headache. The bridge is barely wide enough for a scooter, and yet it's full with people driving them. I don't dare to drive there on the back of the scooter, and thus the three of us get off and walk, while the others try to get to the other side with our scooters.
It's pretty traumatic only to walk there. There are scooters coming constantly, leaving me nowhere to go - I just push my whole body to the side of the bridge, hoping for the scooters not to run me over. As I get to the middle point with a little concrete pillar, I feel safer again. But I'm only halfway done.
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| The Yellow Bridge |
The bridge is so narrow that the traffic can go only one way, and when I get to the end of the bridge, the scooters keep coming and coming. I wait for a good five minutes and the stream still does not reverse. I know that no driver in Bali would willingly stop at the edge of the bridge to let the other side pads, and as there is naturally no police to keep reversing the flow, I take the matter into my own hands. I jump to the middle of the bridge, blocking the way for any approaching scooters. Locals are agitated, but I could not care less. The stream starts thinning, and soon I see Maiju, as she is punching her way through the crazy bridge traffic.
*
Ceningan is not that big an island. We first go to a market that they set up for the ceremony and are immediately drunken on various pleasant and unpleasant smells. Locals are shouting, kids are playing, a group of men standing in a circle inside the temple loudly cheering. It's a rooster fight, during which they attach little knives to their feet and under their wings so that they can kill each other. As soon as the match is over, the flock disappears in seconds.
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| Waiting for sunset on a swing |
We sit in a warung in Lembongan again. It's already dark and we are getting ready for our dinner. We only explored Ceningan from the scooter and did not do so much. For the sunset, we decided to go to the Sunset Beach and the Devil's tear, two beautiful places at Lembongan. As we were watching the sun to go down in silence, for the first time this weekend I felt like everything was peaceful, and the whole world stopped. The only sounds you could hear were the waves crashing on the sides on the cliff and my camera beeping every time I took a picture. Little did we know that at the same time, something terrible has happened in another corner of the island.
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| Devil's tear |
*
As we are enjoying our well-deserved food after the whole day, we hear three ambulances rushing past us. We don't think much of it; in Europe, this kind of response would not be extraordinary for a small car crash. But this is Bali, and three ambulance cars are a sign of something gone really bad.
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Back in our homestay, the owner's daughter rushes to welcome us to make sure we are fine. The bridge between the two islands fell under the heavy traffic caused by the ceremony, she explains with unease in her voice. The tragedy has happened in the midst of preparations, when the locals, all dressed up and happy, were getting ready to celebrate this special day. We stare at her in horror, not believing her words. Two people have died, she says.
She is still trembling, as her own mother and sister were passing through their bridge around that time. They didn't answer her call and she was desperate, and I can hear it in her voice that she's close to crying.
The jolly atmosphere changed quickly. While we all feel completely shaken, Kelly cannot sit and wait. As a nurse, she drives to the site in order to help but later tells us that she was three hours late and her help was not needed anymore. She decided to go to the hospital with Fiona, while the rest of us sit at the pool quietly, staring in the darkness, or call our friends and family to tell them what happens. We drove on that bridge half an hour before it collapsed.
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Then next morning is still rather quiet, and we're reading in the news that nine people have died - including two children and a baby. Even though we realize that our sorrow will not bring the deceased back, we are unable to cheer up.
As we all quietly sit in the taxi on the way home, the song I love it by Icona Pop starts playing.
I crashed my car into the bridge. I watched, I let it burn....I crashed my car into the bridge.I don't care.I love it.
How ironic.
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