On The Banana Pancake Trail

Lessons Learned in Lovina, Bali

Lesson #1: When you think you want remote, be careful what you wish for…

We were looking to avoid two sets of travelers in Bali. The first was the drunk Australian; normally found in the south beaches that have become trashy and yet more expensive in the last few years due to the crowd it draws. The second (more innocent) group is the divorced middle-aged woman hoping to find herself. “The Eat, Pray, Love” phenomenom has created an explosion of this narrow type of tourism. You can spot them in cafes writing their memoirs.

So we headed to a volcanic beach in the north called Lovina. This is a western named town meaning “love for Indonesia” but not many travelers seamed to have love for this place during our visit. Bali was experiencing low-season in general, but we wondered if this place even saw much love in the high season. Our hotel probably had 4 of its 30 or so rooms filled. It seemed like a town that had once seen a boom and was now slipping away. More