Forget Canggu! I Found the REAL Bali Everyone's Missing 🇮🇩

Most people come to Bali for the beaches, but today we're heading north to find a completely different side of the island. We'll ride through Bali's savannas, climb into the volcanic highlands, swim with wild dolphins, meet the locals, and visit one of Bali's most incredible waterfalls. We've got two days, two wheels, and somewhere beyond the next turn, the real adventure begins. Let's ride. Good morning. Morning. Yes, how are you? All right, so we just made a quick stop before we get to our first destination. This is apple fruit from Bali. Yeah yeah only in Bali only in here in Sabana land. So I'm just gonna yeah yeah yeah ah so right right man you're like a professional. It's like a coconut and a lychee and um yeah it's really unique maybe make it more fertile more fertile yes no babies and then we're doing a a safety helmet bucket hand wash awesome i also feel like on a road trip you need to take every opportunity that you can to hang out with the locals this guy's getting me his goats now so we got some fruit some goats there's some cute kids yeah the big one is giglos you know giglos yeah Yeah, all the other ones. He's Ketut, I'm Adam, and we're on a road trip. I'm going to hop back on the bike and we are going to head into Savannah Tenir. Wow. This is crazy. We just left the coast in Ahmed with all that green, lush landscape. And now we're out in what looks like an African savannah. There's little herds of goats running around. there's some horses over here and I am the only one here. It's like my own personal Bali and I absolutely love that. You can see the ocean and then the grasslands leading straight up to the forest and Agung in the distance. It really takes your breath away but we still have a long way to go today. We're actually going beyond Agung there into the Kintamani region where they grow coffee and the volcanic region of Bali is. So let's hop back on the bike and keep this adventure rolling. Oh man this is amazing. Northern Bali just blowing me away every stop. So just over here is Mount Batur. It is an active volcano that's almost a mile above sea level. If you look below it you can see where the lava has actually flowed down and kind of taken over the landscape. To the right you have this beautiful Lake Batur that has filled up in the caldera. So stunning. Wow. And the ride up here was like it was like watching Bali change. You know as I got higher it started getting colder. I actually had to stop and put on a jacket because it was getting so cold. You're driving on the top of the mountain with rice paddies on both sides. There are temples everywhere. Such a unique and beautiful part of Bali up here in the north. I'm so glad that we're doing this and that's again that road trip magic that you get when you take yourself out of the comfort zone away from the tour and just come out and get to experience this firsthand. I think we should keep this little adventure going. But first, I need to fuel up. I stopped at one of the many restaurants that are right along the rim of this valley and picked myself up one of my favorite local dishes, mi goreng, which is fried noodles with some chicken sambal, as well as these crispy little chips right here. And a locally grown and brewed coffee. Wow, that's so good. Right now we are in Kintamani which is one of the primary coffee producing regions here in Bali. They make Arabica coffee and you can actually go to the plantations and go on a tour see where they grow it as well as how they process it. But we don't have time for that today because we still have an hour and a half drive to one of the most amazing waterfalls here in Bali. So let me finish up, enjoy the view, and then I will see you when we get there. All right we have arrived and it was a beautiful ride out here. The roads are pretty good most of the way but there were definitely a few spots that were let's just say rugged so make sure that you're careful while you're driving and because you can't really predict what's going to happen on the road I also recommend having good travel health insurance for any time you're traveling. I use Safety Wing. I've been using them for 10 years and they have never let me down. They're good in 180 countries and have some really great prices so i'll put a link in the description below if you want to check them out and we've already arrived at the second bowl waterfall look at that amazing so when i arrived here i paid for my ticket they'll actually let me leave my bag in their office so i don't have to carry my computer and stuff down to the waterfall and i also got a guide neoman hi neoman i mean the view up here is pretty amazing but we are about to walk down to the bottom and get up close and personal with this so let's do it wow you have the twin falls there and then you can see fiji waterfall out there the rice terraces all above it i am already water falling in love with this place and neoman just told me it's 343 steps down to the bottom it seems like a good idea now but i think future adam is going to be pretty upset so you can see the top of second pool waterfall there but first we're going to hidden waterfall little rocky road my favorite kind of ice cream next to peanut butter and i love this the water is just dripping down all this green around just me and the old man oh wow it's nice and cold that feels so good this is so special I mean over here you have the hidden waterfall and then behind me here you can see how the mist is just like coming down so gently and the light is cascading off of it. I feel like I'm in a dream right now and the sound of the waterfall behind me is just so relaxing and there's only like three people down here. I think I might hop in quick and do a little swim and then we'll head over to the main waterfall wow i'm speechless this is amazing the waterfall is 80 meters tall that's like 240 feet and it just cascades down through all of this lush greenery and into this little pool at the bottom that you can take photos in the sound is like thunder it's just pouring down and then there's this mist that is just coming off. I think this is so special and again there's not even that many people here for a place that is probably the best waterfall in Bali. So think about it, come to the north, you will love it. And right now I'm seeing that the sun is starting to get a little low over the top of this valley and we still have an hour drive down to Lovina. So I'm gonna huff and puff my way back up those steps and spare you the agony of watching me and then hop on the motorbike and head down there. Hopefully we can make it before sunset. Okay so we made it with just a few minutes to spare. Look at that. So beautiful. We are at Pantai Lovina. Amazing sunset on the water and you can see right up here is a big dolphin on the top and that's actually what this place is known for. So tomorrow morning we are going to be going out and swimming with dolphins hopefully because you never really know and I cannot wait but wow this is so beautiful. We were at the beach and Ahmed went through the rice paddies then came to the African savannah, climbed up to the top of a volcano with the lake down into a valley filled with waterfalls and now we are in Lovina with a stunning sunset. There's a bunch of restaurants right here along the water with beanbag chairs. They also have all of the dolphin boats running down the coast here that are going to be taking us out at 5 a.m tomorrow and then where that dolphin statue was is like the most popular spot for people to just come down, chill out and take all this in. So right now I am going to go and head to my hotel, check in and get a little bit of rest before we have that early morning rise and you definitely don't want to miss it. So I'll see you in the morning. Good morning my friends. I checked into my hotel last night and then came back down to the beachfront promenade where I had a lovely dinner on the beach at Funky Place then there was a really cool fire show some traditional dancing and some not so traditional dancing where they got me involved it was a ton of fun and now it's about 5:45 and the sun is just starting to come up and we're going to be heading out to hopefully see some dolphins i booked my tour for eight hundred and fifty thousand rupiah and i'm really excited so we've been out here about a half an hour looking for dolphins and you can just see the sun starting to poke its little face out from behind the mountains this is so gorgeous i'm so glad that we got up early i know it's not easy getting up at 5 a.m but But it really does give you the chance to experience that, like, essence of the beauty in the day. And it looks like instead of swimming with the dolphins, you actually hold on to this piece of wood right here. And then it pulls you next to the dolphins. So, zero effort and maximum dolphin ability. So, we've been out here for about an hour looking for dolphins now. it's so beautiful on the water but we've come to this giant group of boats and i think they've seen dolphins because we're speeding up right now wow they're right in front of us all right it's time to hop off the boat grab that bar and see if we can see the dolphins underwater wow that was absolutely amazing i mean we saw at least 40 or 50 dolphins down there and they're such majestic animals seeing the way the light is like playing on their skin as they start to come up closer to the surface completely blown away and that's what nature can do to you you get up for a sunrise you come out and see some dolphins and i also love that they're not feeding the dolphins so this isn't like something that's affecting their natural way of life so it's really cool to be able to experience them in their natural habitat acting like dolphins act being on that bar next to the boat pulling you made you feel like you were flying and if you want to do some additional snorkeling and diving about an hour and a half from here is a place called Pemuteran and just off the coast is Menjangan Island and they have some phenomenal scuba diving and snorkeling out there i did it last time i was here so we're not going to be going and doing that today. But after our early morning rise and all the driving we've been doing, I think that we deserve a quick relaxation stop. So I'm gonna hop on the bike and head 20 minutes over to the Banjahar hot springs for a little rejuvenation. I'll see you there. All right we have arrived and it is beautiful here. The jungle is all around. You can see the river right there and over here on my right. So they have some fountains right here that are one meter deep that look really nice. Aha! Over there is where the Naka fountains are or the dragons. So let's go and hop in and we can talk a little bit about this place because you know what I need to relax a little bit. Man that feels so good and the water is not very hot. I'd say it's about 85-90 degrees so it's more of a warm spring than hot spring but it's amazing i mean look around me here another unique place here in northern bali those hits just keep on coming and this is a volcanic fed spring so there is some sulfur smell in it and it's known as a holy spring you can actually go up and see like the source of it just up here behind me and this is a place that isn't just for relaxation but one that they believe heals you and it's been like that for hundreds of years so we're getting some history and relaxation together i absolutely love that and another great place which is just about a 10 minute ride from here is also very unique it's called the Brahamavihara Arama and it is the biggest buddhist temple here in bali and the second biggest in indonesia they have gardens and stairwells that look like they're going up into heaven. There are some really great places to sit and meditate. They have a replica of Borobudur from Java which is the biggest Buddhist temple there. It's really special and I highly recommend leaving yourself a little bit of time to head over there. But right now we need to get back on the road and head up into the mountains towards Munduk where we have some very special stops along the way. So I will see you on the road. Wow look at this view. We just drove 40 minutes and now we're on the top of a mountain with two volcanic lakes right down below us. This is the Twin Lakes of Bali and you can actually go down and explore the little towns along them, do some really cool trekking, camping, and there are some beautiful temples that are right along the water they're totally worth checking out if you have the time but northern bali is blowing me away look at the green with the blue there's rice paddies on one side and these two lakes on the other and on the way up here i was actually smelling coffee being roasted because we are back in one of the coffee regions of bali so i am gonna hop back on the bike head down the mountain or over on the mountain and see if we can find one that we can explore and have a delicious cup of joe and on the way to the coffee plantation just now i noticed the Handara gates which i've been to before they are one of the most iconic places in bali for a photo they're these beautiful gates that most people think lead to a temple but they actually lead to a golf course i know but it's still really nice and speaking of taking photos i just got here it's about 11 30 and when i bought my ticket for 50 000 rupiah they said it was a two and a half hour wait to get your photo taken between the gates because everyone gets one minute so that's a lot of people waiting the other option is you can do what i did and i just stood behind the people and had my photo taken in front of the gates instead of between them so if you really need the instagram photo you can definitely stay here for a while and do that but i don't want to waste my northern Bali time on something like that. All right now let's go get that coffee. So it turns out that the coffee plantation was actually before the Handara Gate so i had to do a little backtrack in order to get here. it was only like five minutes but if you're doing my route stop here and then the Handara Gate. so anyway let's head in and check out this plantation. wow what a view. amazing. so Wayan the fifth generation coffee farmer and owner of this place just took me down for a tour through the coffee fields he explained to me that because we're at 1 300 meters above sea level you can actually only grow Arabica coffee here because no other ones will grow then he took me to where they grow avocados bananas cinnamon chili peppers they even have their own beehives here where they make wild honey. Then he took me up to see the luwaks, which are like these crazy animals that live here that are a mix of a cat and a weasel. And they actually eat the coffee beans whole. And when they go into their stomach, the stomach acid will then change them chemically. And when they poop them out, they then eat them. This is what they look like when they poop them out. They then clean them, not eat them. And then they roast them and it becomes the most expensive coffee in the world. So just think about that. Then he showed me where they actually roast the beans and do all the processing. And now he's given me eight different cups of the local brew that they make here. The first one is the natural process. It's a little bit bitter, but like that strong kind of coffee taste to it. Vanilla is up next. You actually roast these with the vanilla beans right so good then we have the honey process from that wild natural honey a little bit sweet and peaberry a little bit lighter than the other ones then we have wine process no alcohol don't worry i'm driving also nice it actually does taste a little bit like wine then this one is a special one it's made from bats mice and squirrels that have eaten it's not made from them but they actually eat the beans and then spit them out and then they collect them and make this it actually tastes kind of chocolatey and then we have this is from the Luwak in captivity they have here that's nice very bold and then our last one is the wild Luwak i like that one i think that one's the best very good well thank you so much for showing me around your family farms i really appreciate it and now that i am caffeined up i'm gonna hop back on the bike and we're gonna head to a iconic place not far from here that i think you're absolutely gonna love i'll see you there this is Ulun Danu Beratan or the sacred water temple and even if you've never been to bali you've probably seen photos of it in the rainy season the water actually rises up to just below the bottom of the temple and it looks like it's actually floating i've been here twice at sunrise and it will blow your mind you can go out on boat rides here they have beautiful gardens to walk through a giant dinosaur whose mouth that you can walk into and look at gardens inside they also have the locals playing music and you can even dress up in some fun costumes and pretend that you're the king for five minutes i think i look great with hair by the way our trip traveling to a different part of bali has really shown me so much that Bali is so much more than what i think it is sometimes you know if you haven't seen the video before this one i drove from Uluwatu to Amed and explored Amed and it really opened my eyes and then traveling through the north in this one has just blown my mind i think that every place we stopped was one of those wow moments and i absolutely love that and that's why taking adventures instead of just traveling is something that can not only change your perspective but change who you are and i can't recommend it more so go out there explore the open road take the one that no one else is on stop at random places and just explore talk to the locals eat the food and just love every minute of it because you and me are so fortunate to be able to do things like this. If you enjoyed this video please give me a big thumbs up, comment, subscribe, and don't forget to... I will see you next time for some more Bali adventures. I want to continue the road trip but tomorrow I actually have to drive to Denpasar to renew my visa so they don't ban me from the country. I will see you next time. Terima kasih.