After we settled down and had some lunch, we decided to get motorbikes and explore the island. We had heard much about Mushroom Beach and Sunset Beach and wanted to be on either one for sunset.
Motorbiking Nusa Lembongan
One of the first things we were offered as we got off the ferry was a motorbike. At Lynda’s we met a young lad who offered us bikes starting off at Rp 150,000. I laughed out loud and said “they offered me virtually half when I got off the boat!”. “What!? How much?”, he said and I replied “Rp 70,000″.
He looked pensive and scratched his head saying “hmm, that’s too low, let me talk to my partner”. I asked him where his partner was, and he pointed to the guy next to him. As he was standing half behind me over my left shoulder, whilst I was sitting down, I hadn’t noticed the man standing next to him. As I turned I saw the guy who had offered me the bike at the landing site.
“Ha!”, I said, “it was him who offered me Rp 70,000!” He got a scowl from his friend and they had some harsh words. “Ok”, the guy said, “we’ll get the bikes”. Ten minutes later two bikes were ready. The one Julia and I used made an annoyingly high-pitched sound and as we went people looked around and laughed. Perhaps they know the bike on the island.
Minutes later we were down the road, John and Pip driving in front. There was a loud pop and I saw their tire deflate. We all stopped and Julia & I had to go back to find the guy, but he found us and brought a new bike almost before we did him.
Nusa Lembongan Places of Interest
There’s several things of interest to see on Nusa Lembongan and although the roads aren’t great, a bike is the best way to get around, as there aren’t that many cars about.
Unmistakably Bali, there’s a multitude of temples across the island to visit: Sakenan Temple, Empu Aji Temple, Pushe Temple, Segara Temple, etc. The mangrove swamps are worthwhile, but a tour around Nusa Lembongan is usually to visit the beaches.
Dream Beach, Devil Tears, Sunset Beach and the best known beach for us, Mushroom Beach, are all must visits. An adjacent island, Ceningan Island, is connect to Lembongan with only a rickety wooden suspension bridge. Capable of accommodating pedestrians and motorbikes, it’s a hairy ride over the long bridge.
We inadvertently took a wrong turn and nearly circumvented the island, eventually ending up at Mushroom Beach just before sunset. It was at this point that our frisbee saw the light as we played around on the beach. Mushroom Beach has fine sand, except at the waterline there’s pebbles and shells and current strong enough to suck you in from the shallow water.
We returned to Lynda’s in Jungutbatu Villag (one of two villages, the other is Lembongan Village) before it got too dark to see. It took us an hour to get to Mushroom Beach, and taking the right road back took us about 10 minutes.
Night Life on Nusa Lembongan
Night life isn’t big on Nusa Lembongan and the only place that got recommended to us, Scooby Doo’s, was dead. We had a pre-dinner drink there and headed up the beach back to Lynda’s and stopped at Surfer’s Beach Cafe as it looked to be quite busy. The crowd wasn’t very social though, so we moved on to Tarci Bungalow for dinner.
After dinner the island was dark and quiet and as we had an active day, we figured it to be a good time for bed. Our day is starting early tomorrow when we’re going diving.