We then headed down the steps to explore the beach from close up.  I don’t know how many steps there were but there were a few hundred. At first the steps were easy to go down and then if got a bit more adventurous and we were climbing down a steep slope in the rocks using ropes to help us down. But it was well worth the effort! Forget about having a quiet swim in the ocean… the waves where huge and watching them break on the surrounding cliff and beach was mesmerizing. We laughed as a few tourists ventured closer for some pictures and got wiped out by the force of the sea! ​

 The next day, we set out again with the motor bikes. Our first stop was the Guyangan Waterfall. This is considered a sacred site and so we had to wrap ourselves in sarong before starting on the 1000 step journey down to the temple and sacred water from this waterfall. ​

Eloise and I then got 2 days to relax by the pool while mom and dad went diving. They were really hoping to see Manta rays and even more so, Mola mola’s (Sunfish). The Mantas are here year round but the Mola’s are seen mostly in August and September. So it is the right season but even so, the dive shops only estimate there is a 5% chance to see them… ​

The first day, they saw beautiful Manta’s but no Mola’s and that’s why they tempted fate again the next day. They got lucky!!!! They got to see a giant Mola Mola!!

These fish come up from the depths of the ocean (300 meters deep) to expose themselves to the reef fish for cleaning. The banner fish especially like the parasites that live on these strange, prehistoric fish. Dad says the one they saw was at least 6 feet in diameter, not counting the fins that would make it more like a total size of about 10 or 12 feet!

Finally, it was our turn to check out the Manta’s. We headed out on a snorkeling trip with a private boat early in the morning to beat the crowds. We were the first to arrive at Manta Bay but within minutes another 10 boats joined us and after an hour there were way more so it’s good we got there so early! The first few Manta’s we saw were swimming quite fast so we had to kick hard to keep up. They are really impressive animals. They look as though they are flying effortlessly in the water. They are graceful and look so peaceful. We really got to see them from up close. The last one we saw was barrel feeding. It had it’s mouth wide open to feed on the plankton and it was going around in circles. It was the first time I saw this and it was really neat!!!!

Last stop for us in Indonesia... back to Bali for a few nights before our flight out. We took advantage of a few touristy pit stops. First we visited a chocolat factory where we learned all about how chocolat is produced before sitting in the factory to make your very own chocolate bars!

And a final stop to visit a local coffee production. This place is not like others that we read about. Bali is actually famed for producing the world's most expensive coffee, the  Kopi Luwak coffee.

The production process is a bit particular... and ultimately is made out of poop from this little creature! Umm yes, you read that right!!

This is basically how that works. The animals feed on the coffee cherries in the planation. It is thought that they choose the ripest berries, influencing the flavor of the coffee. The digestion process initiates a germination process that is thought to reduce the bitterness. The partially digested beans are recovered in the animales poop. It is then cleaned thoroughly before being manually roasted and grinded.

​Prochaine destination, les chutes! Mais c’est pas à côté… 5 heures de route nous attendent.
Les chutes se trouvent à proximité d’un autre volcan 🌋, le mont Semerou. C’est aussi un volcan actif. D’ailleurs, mes parents ont senti la terre trembler pendant la nuit, deux fois plutôt qu’une! La dernière éruption de ce volcan était en 2021 et il y a eu beaucoup de morts dans le village sur son flanc. Mais parlons d’abord des chutes. Elles étaient  majestueuses, les plus belles que nous avons vues à vie! Nous les avons vu en premier du haut d’une plateforme.

C’est ainsi que ce termine notre aventure sur l’île de Java. Mais impossible de passer sous silence la gentillesse d’Arthur qui a tout fait pour nous rendre la route et notre temps agréable. Il s’est assuré de nous arrêter dans des petits restaurants locaux, pas chers et vraiment bons. C’est en sa compagnie que nous avons découverts le plus de bons plats locaux et où nous avons le mieux mangé de notre passage en Indonésie! 

Le lendemain, après avoir passé l’avant midi à la plage, nous sommes embarqués sur un petit bateau de pêcheur en direction de l’ile Balicasag histoire de nager avec les tortues. Ce fut une expérience magique. Il y en avait pleins et de différentes grosseurs allant de 40 à 70 Kg selon notre guide. Elles étaient magnifiques et semblaient voler autour de nous dans le grand bleu. L’eau était limpide et le soleil faisait étinceler leurs carapaces. Quelle chance!! ​

 Deuxième arrêt, les chutes Cambugahay où Éloïse, papa et moi avons joué avec une corde à Tarzan du haut de plateformes de 5m et 8m pendant des heures. Nous avons tellement eu de plaisir que nous y sommes retournés le lendemain tout juste après notre séance de snorkeling à Tubod Marine Sanctuary, où nous avons eu la chance de voir notre plus gros serpent de mer à ce jour. 

We headed out to meet Rajesh, the owner of the trekking agency we chose, and he too gave us such a warm welcome. He treated us to drinks and momos. Momos are basically nepalese dumplings and they are really tasty! That evening, he also invited us to the restaurant where we enjoyed our first Dal Bhat. This is a traditional nepalese dish composed of rice, lentil soup, vegetables and curry. It was delicious! We went to see Rajesh many times during our time in Katmandou and it was impossible to enter his office without him treating us to drinks.
 
Over the next few days we did homework, prepared for the upcoming trek and tasted different restaurants. One of them was an Indian restaurant called Western Tandoori. When we were looking at the menu, a man passing by our table looked as though he was used to the place. He told us he had been coming here for more than ten years so, we asked if he had any recommendations on the menu. He sure did! After he was done telling us all about his favorites, he said « so, what do you think? » and dad answered « sounds perfect! ». So the man looked over to the waiter and yelled out what sounded like an order before looking back at us saying that our food would be here soon. We had no idea what we would be eating but a few minutes later, there it was: one roasted chicken in a spicy paste, one chicken masala curry, one lentil curry and lots of naan bread! Yuuumy!!! It was a feast and everything was very tasty!

We spent a lot of time walking around Thamel, a neighborhood in Katmandou, exploring all the small shops that sell anything and everything you might be looking for, from spices to mountain gear to souvenirs or food markets. The shops seem to be piled on top of each other in an unorganised way and the streets are narrow and shared by everyone.

We didn't get out of Thamel much but we did go to the Monkey temple one afternoon. The view over the never ending city was lovely, the monkeys on the way up the countless steps were... intimidating, and the temple at the very top was overlooking the city with it's watchful eyes!

 We saw Murray eels, sea snakes, lion fish, a new kind of clown fish that we had never seen before and also a new type of fish that was quite funny. We nicknamed them the « leaf fish ». They were vertically floating around head down in small groups, only moving to the horizontal position to quickly swim away from us. What a strange type of fish.