Given the success we had with our first tour in Bali, we decided to book a second one last Thursday. We chose an ambitious full day program starting in Ubud and winding our way to Lovina on the north coast. Unfortunately our driver’s command of English was less confident, so we got very little commentary along the way—which made the tour feel like a series of disjointed stops punctuated by long silent drives, rather than a coherent and enriching cultural experience. Oh well. Here were the highlights.

After being dropped off in Lovina for a high-priced resort buffet lunch (90,000 rupiah per person or about $9!), we continued on to the Air Panas Banjar hot springs, which was by far the highlight of the trip. It was sunny and humid, not exactly prime hot springs weather, but we still had a lot of fun giving ourselves impromptu deep tissue massages under the 3 meter high waterspouts.

Wishing everyone a peaceful New Year!