Travel article: Nusa Penida

Without any transition we go from Uzbekistan to Indonesia. Well without transition, it took us 4 days to reach the island paradise of Nusa Penida. Last Mantis in Khiva, last Pizza in Tashkent, a little Pad Thai in Bangkok and finally fish skewers with Satay sauce 4 days later welcome us to Indonesia!

Big island located off Bali, we ride it all for 6 days and 250 kilometers (complicated) by scooter. This island still well preserved (for how long, however?), offers an incredible amount of magical and fascinating places.

Let's start with the Goa Giri Putri temple. We put on a Sarong for the first time (kind of long skirt) to enter the temple which is in a cave. The smell of incense is strong and will follow us during our 2 weeks in Bali, the pilgrims are going towards the bottom of the cave and a small Hindu variant Balinese ceremony begins. We make ourselves discreet and follow the music, the gestures, the rituals, the prayers. Then it ends with offerings to gods (or demons), small cupolas with flowers, snacks and even sometimes cigarettes and money.

 We learn that Bali has a version derived from Indian Hinduism but nothing simplified, more than 330 million gods exist ...There is a reason we nicknamed Bali "the island of the gods" , there is a god for everything here and the religious fervor is impressive. We quickly understand why we find offerings everywhere, on the scooter, in the breakfast, on the houses, in the linen. A real daily ritual for the Balinese, pretty flowers and interesting aesthetics for us. Moreover, every Balinese Hindu must make a pilgrimage once in his life to Nusa Penida to appease evil spirits.

We then follow the pilgrims for the discovery of a new temple that is reached after 750 steps on the cliff, the waves hit the coast and many ceremonies take place. Dressed in multicolored sarongs and white shirts, the pilgrims gather and spray themselves with sacred water from the Peguyangan Waterfall. Mystical and magical atmosphere.

After discovering the religious side of Nusa Penida, we fall even more under the spell of the wild island with the natural sites of the island. The roads are chaotic between sand, potholes and Cédric handles perfectly the scooter- or almost. We fell over and this will leave some bruises and scratches (we have not been protected by the god of the scooter apparently!).

At the extreme east of the island is the most beautiful beach of the island and easily in our top 10 worldwide: Diamond Beach. A creek, steep cliffs, palm trees and white sand. Magnificent ! The descent by 35 degrees and rocks dug into the rock is complicated but the view from below is equally magical.

Her neighbor Atuh Beach is also nice with its arch and the power of waves that threatens its structure.

Tourists are concentrated in the west of the island and for one reason: the sequence of beautiful beaches and especially at Kelingking Beach and Broken Beach.

From the top of the cliff we enjoy the view of "T-Rex" (it's by sorting my photos that I understood why we called this rock T-Rex, judge for yourself!) and the show of waves until we saw a couple in great difficulty in the water ... Helpless from the top of our cliff, we witness their rescue in extremis and decided at this time that we will not seek manta rays on this island, the swell is way too dangerous ...

We start the descent and we must imagine earth dug out 200 m vertical, rocks as catches and a wooden barrier intertwined with ropes to grab. Not very safe all that but we still go down and discover this beautiful beach and the power of waves always. It's really hot.

Finally on the island we discover the legendary smile of the Balinese, never short of jokes and kindness, we are really in love. And what about the cuisine? Curry, tofu, fish kebab sauce Satay, it's fine, we enjoy!

The only negative point: the plastic EVERYWHERE... It is really everywhere and the only solution for waste: burn them ... Worse than Latin America on that side and apparently we have not seen the worst yet...

 Our first days in Indonesia delighted us, we then get to the main island of Bali to discover a new aspect of Indonesia, the rice field!

Some recommendations:

# There are boats regularly to reach Nusa Penida from Sanur. To be negotiated. We had the ticket at 150,000 rupees against 250,000 originally announced. 45 minutes.

# from Ubud or Sidemen, prefer the port of Kusamba, 100,000 rupees.

# We stayed at Al Dewi Sri Villas for 17 euros a night. Very nice air-conditioned rooms and nice swimming pool.

# On-site scooter rental at 70,000 a day. Attention, it is really complicated to circulate on the island and do not underestimate the distance / time.

# A minimum of 4 days is necessary in regards of the number of things to discover and complicated routes.

# pay attention to the swell and do not leave with any fisherman to snorkel it out. We could not do it because of the height of the waves but we recommend Penida Manta Dive for their explanations and recommendations.

# restaurants: we loved it! Special mention to:

- Ogix Warung for fish kebabs with Satay sauce and Tofu Curry.

- Warung Jungle for BBQ shrimp

- Babar Pizzas

------