The Lovina loop

I'm supposed to go to Kuta but I hear it's full of noisy drunk Aussies.  And I need to pick my wallet up from Lovina.  And the twisty roads through the central mountains are spectacular.  Hmm...

Those who understand my predilection for two wheels will be completely unsurprised to find I'm heading for the main street of Ubud actually seeking out the irritating locals who keep on asking if I want a "Taksi" - for they are also the purveyors of fine motorcycles for rent.  I have fond memories of my time in Phuket where I rented a 1000cc Honda Fireblade for the day to see the island, and wanted to do the same in Bali.  Sadly the best I could do was a Yamaha scooter with an automatic clutch, but "150cc - go very fast" he says.

You've gotta be kidding!  As I start ascending I'm wringing the thing out, and it's doing all of 50kph.  But to give it credit, it gets me to the top and down the other side ok.  Certainly a bit of a change from the Raptor, and not just weight and power - the most disconcerting thing is there's no tank to grip with your knees.  But it's very responsive to counter-steering, and once a bit of momentum is achieved it whips round the corners ok.

I'm doing an anticlockwise loop and hang a left when I hit the north coast.  Lovina comes into view with 100km under my belt and the fuel level hovering on empty.  After collecting my wallet with copious thank yous (terima carsee) I top up body with ice cream, bike with gas, and follow the signs to Denpasar.

There are some nice lakes in the mountains, but it's bloody hard to stop and take a photo.

That's my little Yamaha front right.

And a better shot in front of  - can you guess?

So while the main road leads to Denpasar, Ubud requires a left turn well before, then requires following a maze of twisty passages, all narrow.  In the absence of a handlebar mounted GPS with digital maps and spoken instructions I have three tools at my disposal - a paper map (pretty useless on a bike at speed), street signs (pretty useless in Bali most of the time) and my little mini-GPS that I've cunningly "homed" at Ubud on departure.  As I head south I wait until the arrow points due east and take the next side road.  Following the arrow I home in on Ubud with unerring accuracy and feel pleased I bothered to bring it.

No trip to Ubud would be complete without a visit to the Monkey Forest at the bottom of my road.  Yes, surprisingly there are monkeys there.

In fact the little buggers are prone to leaping on you and running off with hats, sunnies, phones, cameras, wallets etc.  Feeling somewhat paranoid, I stay well zippered.

This guy was more to my liking. 

I too see no evil - Bali's a great place.