At first we thought about hiring a car with a driver, but since everything is more fun on your own, we got ready for a 2–3 hour scooter tour and set off at the crack of dawn to make it all the way up to the AlingAling waterfall in the north of Bali. We're in Canggu at the moment, so we had to cross the island from south to north. In the past week the rainy season had started early and you had to be prepared for a thunderstorm at any time. (A few times we'd already arrived home dripping wet after various walks because we'd forgotten to pack our rain gear.) In principle we're perfectly equipped with our great hiking ponchos, rain jackets and dry bags. So everything plus camera equipment and food went into my daypack, drinks into the scooter's storage compartment, and off we went straight through the interior to almost the other side of Bali.
The ride there was a dream. By chance we found a great route on quiet side roads. In the central highlands we had to put on our long sleeves and jackets, as we were dressed more for the coast and hadn't expected it to get really cold that high up. Apart from us there were hardly any tourists on scooters. We came to an area whose climate seemed particularly suited to market gardening, which gave us a great backdrop of vegetable fields and orchid and flower nurseries. Again and again we stopped to give our sore bottoms a rest and to have the bananas and mini sandwiches we'd brought for breakfast.
At one point on the tour, signs warned of monkeys (my best friends). And there they were already, left and right of the road, wild monkeys of all ages, everywhere. I was so glad we didn't stop – but of course I enjoyed being able to watch the wild animals up close as we drove past.
Finally we reached the AlingAling waterfall and nibbled the remaining snacks from the journey in the car park. It was still morning and we had the whole day ahead of us.
AlingAling is a place with a blessed spring and several waterfalls you're allowed to jump into, if you dare. The largest waterfall, called AlingAling, is sacred and at the same time dangerous for swimmers, as the current would pull you down, so you could only admire it from a distance.
At the entrance to the area we were assigned a local guide for an extra fee, who led us to the smaller falls, told us exactly where we were allowed to jump in, and explained to us – or rather to Chris – how high each jump was and how deep the water below. There were 3 jumps of 5 m, 10 m and 15 m(!) to choose from, plus a natural waterfall slide. The water and the place looked so beautiful that, without thinking for long, I found the courage to try the 5 m jump straight away.
The jump-off points there are perfectly prepared with concrete, and the courage to jump is rewarded with a wonderfully refreshing water temperature and a romantic setting, through which you swim back out if you want to jump again. In fact, you climb up right next to a mini temple to get back up or to carry on.
You're given a time frame of 2 hours, which is totally enough to see or try everything and take loads of photos and videos.
Right after the 5 m jumps we went on to the 10 m jump. It seemed to me as if the beauty of the waterfalls and the natural scenery also increased with the height of the jumps. The next jump had an entire wall of waterfall as a backdrop, and our guide explained exactly how far forward Chris had to jump for everything to work out. With a normal straight jump, my 1.90 m tall husband could already gently feel the sand on the bottom; with the backflip before, he didn't touch the bottom at all because of the rotation. So it's proven: backflips are much less risky than straight jumps. Always keep rotating.
The third station was then the crazy 15 metres. The landing was in a huge basin forming a mini lake. To film the jump I had to hike down a steep path for a good 2 minutes. And short-sighted as I am, I really struggled to spot my husband up at the jump-off point. Pure adrenaline for all of us. It was a first for Chris to jump from that height.
You also simply had to trust the guide that the landing spot really was deep enough. After all, it wasn't a purpose-built sports pool – and luckily Chris also had the stage fright before the jump that's normal for humans, which I'm otherwise not used to from him.
I loved that we found so many great opportunities to jump into water here on Bali, and that a little dream came true for Chris, because he simply loves jumping from heights.
Having arrived safely at the bottom, we splashed around a bit in the natural pool and then headed to the natural water slide. Our guide was already waiting for us at the top of the waterfall with life jackets, which you had to put on before sliding down the rock on your bottom while the flow of water gave you the necessary speed.
One sore bottom later for Chris, and a self-inflicted punch to the chin for me, we had successfully survived this action slide too. I preferred to finish with a few more jumps from the 5 m to enjoy the water.
Finally we hiked to the AlingAling fall mentioned above. It felt like a scene from the blockbuster "Jurassic Park": a beautiful, tall waterfall in a rock cylinder, its walls overgrown with a whole collection of rainforest plants thanks to the humidity, lit up by the midday sun. It had been an amazing morning that we won't forget any time soon.
Afterwards we looked up a nearby warung on Google Maps for lunch. Here too we struck lucky. We ended up in a café built from thick bamboo in the middle of bright green rice fields, with a natural pool and a modern ambience you wouldn't expect here. We were the only guests and had the best table, looking straight out over the hill down to the fields below. The staff put on some lounge house music when we arrived. I went barefoot onto the lower lawn terrace to dance a little, and Chris followed to capture the view with the camera.
Since he was looking into the distance, he only noticed the snake lying in front of him when it hissed at him in warning. Apparently it had the same plan as we did: finding its lunch at this wonderful café with a view. Everyone involved backed off a little – we onto the terrace and the beautiful long silver snake down into the rice grass. So our snake luck hadn't deserted us yet, and we got a few more great animal photos.
On the way home we stopped at the water temple "Pura Ulun Danu Bratan" to give our bottoms another break.
The complex is a large park on a lake with smaller temples set on the water. Mainly domestic tourists were there, who also took the opportunity to paddle around the lake in funny pedal boats or to enjoy themselves as passengers on a speedboat.
There were lots of pupils and students in groups, from which individual people kept breaking away to ask us for a photo with them. As soon as we agreed, a queue immediately formed of people who now also lined up for a picture with us. At some point it got so out of hand that we avoided any eye contact so we could take photos of the temple ourselves.
I'll remember this day as one of my favourite days on Bali. After all, we had plenty of scooter cuddle time with beautiful scenery along the way, action-packed swimming, wildlife sightings and great food, all combined.
As always, here are our video summary and pictures.