The usual routine of getting ready, packing and checking out before getting our breakfast included in the stay – pineapple in everything ????

We have organised a trip with a driver today who has promptly arrived; we test our luck making him wait a little longer as we grab a coffee and croissant deal from Shrida Ubud Restaurant

Finally, we’re ready to go!

We are first driven to the Bedugul region of Bali which takes about two hours and is home to our first stop: Bali Botanical Gardens

Entry is pretty cheap and the gardens are quite extensive – we grab a snack of a burger and hotdog to share to fuel our wanderings

We eat and walk to make it to the Orchid Gardens – it hosts 287 species and a total of 3,155 specimen

… in addition to some Frogs too, one of which let us stroke him ????

Opposite here is the Cactus Glass House – this has a combination of eight Cacti and succulent families that equates to 98 species and 1,044 specimens as a whole

Just behind this is the Aquatic Park – this is more like a couple of ponds but still quite pretty; we enjoyed walking past and disrupting the Frogs to make them jump

Next, we trek up the hill and reach the Giant Ficus Tree – it is certainly a large tree

The path continues round until we make it to the furthest NE corner of the park; we find another little water feature where Frogs are – there seems to be a theme of animal today!

The road leads you to a view of the nearby Lake Beratan

From here, we get collected by our driver and make our way onto the next stop

Ulun Danu Beratan Temple is on the edge of Lake Beratan

We go around the grounds getting various views of the temple landmarks as well as watersports occurring on the lake

The furthest corner of this even has an area where different types of animals, including Rabbits, Owls, Snakes and even a Civet Cat, are for people to feed and pet – bizarre!

We make our way to the exit which has a cactus garden within a Triceratops statue and a Koi Fish pond at the back

In the car, we make our way to the next stop which included going past Bali Handara Gate

Unfortunately, there’s been an accident with a bus and an electricity pole which has made the roads completely blocked; we wait in traffic for about two hours before giving up and trying an alternative option for some of our trip

We really wanted to see Buyan Lake, Banyu Wana Amertha Waterfall and a specific coffee plantation but it’ll have to be saved for another visit to Bali

Our driver knows a coffee plantation he’s taken other tourists to before, so we head down South

Pure Luwak Coffee Bali is a farm with a great variety of crops and products

We’re guided by a lady who works here and she shows us the plant form of the two varieties of coffee they produce: Robusta, which is a smaller and from a smaller tree but has a more flavourful taste, and Arabica, which is bigger and comes from a larger tree but has a more mild taste

They have the entire process happening from this location and we’re shown the several steps for processing Luwak coffee:

• Luwak is Indonesian for Asian Palm Civet Cat
• These Mongoose-style Cats pick the best beans to eat as it’s a true source of food for them; their tummies remove the outer layer of the bean’s skin as well as ferment the bean
• This is then collected and the processing begins: first, the beans are dried which makes it create a new hard outer layer which can be peeled and this will have had no contact with the poop from whence it came
• This step happens one or two times more and then the place and is roasted; following this, the roasted beans are either packaged as this or crushed into a pestle and mortar and sieved to make coffee grounds for this variation of the product

Here, they also have a vast selection of crops that they combine with coffee as well as create different types of tea with

We get the opportunity to try more than a handful of all of these, as well as purchasing a cup each of the Luwak tea variety

Next, to try and make something of the trip still, we are driven a little down the road to Leke Leke Waterfall

Sadly, this is a ticketed landmark and we’ve arrived just before it closes so we are only able to walk to it, have a few pictures and then make our way back up – it’s very beautiful though so we make the most of it!

Back up to our driver, we start our journey back down South; tonight, we’re staying in a new place on Bali, called Canggu

We arrive at our hotel, Koa D Surfer Hotel, where we speedily check in, drop our bags and head out to a place Dave discovered online – we need a treat ????

Black Sand Brewery serves us a brisket burger, a half roasted chicken – both with roasted potatoes – and some draft beers ????

We enjoy the chill vibes, this place comes with, as well as some people with dogs for a few drinks and then make our way back to bed