After a great and relaxing evening, we woke up at Puri Mangga in Lovina and had a delicious breakfast that consisted of fresh fruit plates, coffee, fruit juice, pineapple pancakes for Andrew, and the more traditional Mie Gorenge [Fried Noodles] for me.
We then loaded up our stuff and headed towards the sky…. Village Above the Clouds, more specifically [also known as Desa Ata Sawan]. It’s located past Bedugul, in the center of Bali– up in the mountains, above the clouds, as it may be. Andrew found this spot and I am so glad that he did— it consists of a main hut that is just a sitting room with a view over an organic farm, three separate huts [we stayed in one of these], and then a kitchen building with two separate rooms above the main floor. It is tiny and a hidden gem- tucked away in the mountains, far away from the hustle and bustle. It is well worth the drive and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone [website here: A Village Above the Clouds]. On our drive there, we again saw gorgeous rice terraces and tobacco plants as well as…. a new item to check off the list- monkeys. Lots and lots of monkeys. More on them later.
When we got to A Village Above the Clouds, we asked one of the employees if they had a map of the area so we could walk around and his response was, “oh you don’t need a map. Just go get lost and have a great time.” Ummm awesome. We were allowed to wonder through the terraced organic farm and surrounding areas. Ugh just gorgeous. There were all sorts of veggies and plants growing in all different stages. We saw integrated pest management [ a way of naturally dealing with pests rather than spraying] or perhaps it was just shade tolerant plants growing in between non-shade tolerant plants. Either way, I loved it. We saw some intricate bamboo watering systems that carried fresh water from the stream nearby and diverted it down into the farm rows. Bamboo, of course, was also used as growing trays for seedlings. In the mornings, from our hut, we could watch as farmers picked the fresh produce and took portions of it into our kitchen to place on the menu for the day or night. The menus for dinner at A Village Above the Cloud are pre-set but they let you see the menu earlier in the day so you can provide comments or choose not to eat there… it’s very “Americanized” in the sense that they didn’t serve anything too exotic while we were there and the first night it was actually Mexican-Themed [and delicious, by the way]. Our first afternoon here, was spent as mentioned above- exploring and walking and relaxing and deciding that the next day we would rent scooters and ride back into town: destination: Monkeys, Straberries, and Water Temples.
Larking Our Way Through Life 