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| Cliffside nearby Atuh beach |
The Mel Homestay
Mel Homestay for me is quite interesting, it's neither a luxury hotel nor a fancy resort. Quite modest I can say. I really appreciate how the owner make a limited land to a maximum use. When we arrived to the hotel, I didn't know that the shop and the cafe on its front owned by the same person. The entrance is merely a small alley with small pond at the end. The lobby itself consists of few wooden chairs and a table facing the supposedly receptionist which is a man chest high table. This makes us feel like home.
It has a few touch of Balinese style on its garden with "Bale Bengong" (a square wooden structure with grass leaf roof for people to relax) on its corner, only this time made of modern materials such as tiled floor and pottery roof. There are five rooms facing the garden creates the letter "L", and another 3 rooms on the second floor. Luckily I got the room on the second floor, it was really nice when the owner told us to choose which room we wanted to stay.
I have no idea how much we have to pay for a night at this hotel, it was already included in the tour package. On the front, by the road side, we can find a nice cafe with wooden interior, with variation food on the menu like nasi or mie goreng and other typical Indonesian food. There is also a shop for our daily needs like toiletries and other stuff. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the hotel so I took one of them from the internet.
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| Lobby and receptionist at Mel Homestay |
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| Me, my friend and Mr.Kadek, the owner of Mel Homestay |
Pulau Seribu a.k.a Raja Lima Islands
Day 2 at Nusa Penida, we set our next trip to be at 10.00 am with the driver. I didn't know that we would get breakfast, so we ate first before departing to the destinations. First destination is the Raja Lima Islands or some people prefer to call it Pulau Seribu. It is another instagramable spot to take photos in such a beautiful view. Like I said before, Kelingking beach is not the only place where we need to climb down in order to get better view. So we decided to climb down to the best spot enjoying the view of Raja Lima Island. It's another karst coastal area where we can find some small islands scattered on its surrounding, which is the main attraction here. Reminds us of Raja Ampat in Papua, in small version.
It was cloudy and the skies were a little bit dark. It even raining sometimes. We climbed down in search of the best view for background photos. There are some tree houses built in this place. Our driver said that people can rent the house to stay overnight. I wouldn't do that, coz it might look scary at night, although the surrounding scenery looks very pretty during the day. There is also a Bale Bengong on the hill top for 360' view. I took photos in every corner hoping to get good photos in the cloudy sky.
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| Raja Lima Island a.k.a Pulau Seribu |
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| The infamous spot of Raja Lima Island |
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| Famous Instagram background |
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| Tree Houses at Raja Lima Island |
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| Closer look on one of the Tree Houses |
Atuh Beach
So we departed to the next destination after getting enough photos at Raja Lima Island. It is only 15 minutes drive from the earlier spot. I was curious with the beach that has unique pointy shape rocky island in the middle of the sea. I didn't know it was Atuh Beach that I'm looking for, I thought Chrystal Bay was the one.
We had to walk around 200 meters away on the newly developed concrete road. Yet the scenery is breathtaking, on the left we could see dense jungle on the karst hill and coconut plantation on its slope. On the right we can see the panoramic view of tropical beach down below. So again, we need to climb down. This time is further down. Fortunately, the way down is already built in concrete steps, so it's easier to walk.
The beach can be seen from above. It looks similar to the beach on the movie "The Shallow", the newest shark attack movie. It has white sand with crystal clear water. Some shops are built around the beach. Couches are also available for us to relax, similar to Chrystal Bay. I cancelled my plan of getting wet playing on the beach. I thought we didn't have enough time for such thing. So we end up taking pictures in Atuh Beach then go back to the parking lot. Climbing up the hill twice in a day is something hard for me. My weight doesn't support me in this condition. It slows me down and get me really exhausted.
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| Me arriving at Atuh Beach |
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| The famous postcard view of Atuh Beach |
I would say enough with the hiking and climbing hills. But for sure, results don't betray big effort. Everything was perfect. Me as a traveler, seeing these images of God's creations, though in a very small Island like Nusa Penida is mind blowing. makes me wonder more on other corner of the Island. The story doesn't end with the Atuh Beach though. We still have another one destination to visit.
Supposedly we would go to the Teletubbies hill somewhere in the middle of the Island. But I wasn't really interested by the destination. Pictures of it are not really picking my curiosity. I'd rather curious by the Pura Giri Putri. A Balinese Hindu Temple lies within a cave. The wife of Mr.Wayan, the tour operator, told me a huge cave nearby the northern coast of Nusa Penida. The peculiar thing is that the entrance of this cave is merely a hole of a man size. "I am a big fat women, but I could get in to the cave on that small hole which doesn't make sense" she said earlier. I was thinking "Okay, that is interesting"
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| Entrance Hole from the inside |
