Exotic Bali - Sunset at Lovina Beach (Day 2, 27 Aug 2013)

I've been neglecting this blog for a couple of days because I'm currently still busy searching for a new job and also designing my Korea trip photobook. After around 8 years plus of dealing with the corporate world, I realized one thing - Be loyal to only: YOU, not the company, unless the company is owned by you. As a corporation is purely formed to make a profit and it has no heart and soul, therefore even if you are very loyal to the company, once you are made redundant, you are meaningless to the company too!

Done complaining now, hehe... Let me continue to recall my wonderful time at Lovina Beach, Bali. After we had our buffet lunch at Mount Batur, I recalled it required 2 hours drive to reach this place. On the way we were going down from the peak of Mount Batur, our driver had a stomach problem, luckily I brought along some medicines and so I passed them to him. We had to leave Mount Batur earlier because our driver needed to fetch his mother to do a body check-up at the hospital.

After 2 hours, we finally reached our homestay bungalow - Mandhara Chico bungalows. This accommodation is owned by a friend of our driver's boss. Since the location is very near to Lovina beach and it is quite cheap, therefore I accepted the offer to stay here. During my stay, I saw the owner of this bungalow which is a Caucasian guy which married a local woman. Their daughter is very cute!

After 2 hours drive from Mount Batur, we finally reached Lovina and checked in to this homestay bungalow - Mandhara Chico Bungalows

Mandhara Chico Bungalows - Our deluxe room

Mandhara Chico Bungalows - Our deluxe room interior view

Mandhara Chico Bungalows - Swimming pool

“Lovina” has a philosophical meaning, it is a mixture of the two-syllable words "Love" and "Ina". The word "Love" is from English and "Ina", is a Balinese word meaning "Mother". (Source from Wikipedia) After we settled our luggage in the room, we had plenty of time, so we just walked to the beach from our room (a 1-minute walk) to enjoy the sunset view.

The sunset time at Lovina beach is around 6 pm. This beach has very special beach sand which is in black colour! When the sunlight shines on the beach, it is very beautiful as the sand is shining like stars! We took back a small pack of Lovina beach sand home :P I didn't regret spending so much time travelling here! :)

The next day we took this boat for a sunrise dolphin viewing tour!

We enjoyed walking on this beach while waiting for sunset

Near sunset time

Beautiful shining black beach sand

I like the sunlight of the sky

Romantic sunset at Lovina beach

Some ducks were reared by the homestay bungalow's owners at Lovina beach. They were heading back to their home!

Lovina beach is not as crowded as other famous beaches in Bali

The seawater is actually quite clean and clear

More camwhoring sessions of this beautiful sunset

The sun was sinking down to the sea

We were satisfied to witness the whole process of sunset at Lovina Beach!

After we viewed the spectacular sunset, it was time for dinner! Initially, my plan was to have our dinner at the restaurant outside the homestay bungalow. But, after our driver dropped us off to check in to the homestay bungalow, he left... So we tried to walk outside the bungalow and search for a restaurant. Unfortunately, after we walked about 20 minutes along a dark and busy traffic street, we failed to find any restaurant. So, we gave up and returned to our homestay bungalow to have our dinner.

Luckily the food we ordered from the restaurant of our homestay was quite delicious. I like the banana pancake especially. After dinner, we just sat down and viewed the starry sky from the homestay bungalow. Since there are no nightlife activities around this place and we had to wake up early tomorrow morning to catch the sunrise, therefore we slept very early that night!

Nasi goreng special (Balinese fried rice)

Banana pancake

Starry sky at night (Hard to capture the photo of the stars, as I didn't bring my tripod)