Bali Day 3 - Dolphins!

So for the second morning in a row after we arrived in Bali, we woke up early. This time it was at 2am instead of 1am, and by 3.30am, we were out of our hotel and on the way to see dolphins! Our driver stayed with us on Day 2 until 7pm when we returned to the hotel. Due to the trek up Mount Bartu the day before, the car was left in a dirty state with soil from our shoes. So imagine he had to clean up the vehicle and take care of his children before coming out on the next morning. He only had an hour and a half time of sleep but it's ok because while we go out looking for dolphins, he'll find a place to rest.

He took a cut over the mountains to reach the coast up north of Bali, where the dolphins are. The roads were pretty winding and thank goodness we reached safety. In general, people are pretty safe drivers in the rural areas of Bali.

This was the jetty where we arrive to, but no we are not going up the jetty and taking a large boat. Instead, we're taking a small one (sanpan, to be exact).

Yup and off we go! Can't see the boat from the we-fie we did but you can see how it looks like in the picture below.

And we caught a glimpse of sun rise as the boats speed out into the seas to where the dolphins are. There are perhaps as many boats as you can see the dolphins out there.

Take a look, just a glimpse of the dolphins we saw at 0:40 in the YouTube video below. Do note dolphins don't jump up high in the air like Free Willy~ hehe..

So after looking at the dolphins, we went to a water fall. Bali is unique in a sense that you get to see mountains, volcanoes, wildlife and other geographical formations in a single place. Reminds me of the geography text I did in secondary school. Pretty unique island.

The falls are small, but it's pretty tall. I'd estimate the fall to be about 600m height. The water is really cold so we didn't go into the water.

Nice to get beaten under the water fall!

After the falls, we took a small detour up a slope to the lakes below. There are a few inland lakes, and in addition to Lake Bartu we saw yesterday, there are twin lakes.

After the lakes, we went to a strawberry farm nearby. Unfortunately the strawberries aren't very sweet. It's probably the soil, I don't know.

At the entrance of the strawberry farm.

Then after the pit stop at the farm, we went temple visiting - the floating temple near where we were.

They have antelopes in the temple. The female one is feeding when we were there.

The temple in the distance in the picture below is the floating temple. There's a moat around the temple but it's dry now. During the wet season (between November to April), water fills up the moat and the temple appears to "float" on the water. But it's not the travel season as the place would be wet. Pretty sticky to move around.

And we had lunch at the restaurant near the temple. After that, we went to visit the rice terraces, which is a UNESCO heritage site.

Honestly, I felt the smaller padi fields we went by on Day 2 looked nicer than these big ones. Perhaps it's also because they're not planting much rice at this moment. It's either harvested or just seeding at the time we were there. They also grow corn, wheat and vegetables, to "rest" the soil and keep it fertile. Different crops take up and deposit different nutrients in the soil.

After the rice terraces, we ended the day with a visit to Tanah Lot, another floating temple. Located on the coast, the temple "floats" when the tide rises, i.e. twice a day, instead of once a year. We didn't stay until the tide rise though, cause it would be midnight by then.

That's it for Day 3! Shiok trip so far~ N.B. I didn't mention it was spotted with my toilet trips due to the lymphatic massage I did on Day 2.