Russell Pike Landscape Photography

Ahhhh Nusa Lembongan, an island east of Bali. Always a welcome break from the non-stop hassling street’s of Kuta. Roughly an hour by public boat from Sanur and your blessed with a quite 100% Hindu island with awesome waves and an amazing unqiue view of Bali. We arrived with the idea of staying at kutu losmen bungalows, as this has been a cheap home stay for the last few times we have visited. But after seeing what’s there now it looked and upon asking, definitely was out of our price range. 600,000rp a night compare to the usual 150,000rp it always was. Lembongan Made Inn on the other hand, was in our budget and what a bargain too. Four brand new, Java built, coconut wood apartments/huts within spitting distance of the lagoon, all for 150,000rp a night. (£10.50)

It’s a pretty small Island and you can circumnavigate it on a scooter in about thirty minutes. Clearly for landscape photography a scooter is a must if you want to be on-time at the best spots. I tell you there’s nothing better than a scooter for this game; you can go pretty much anywhere you want and park it where ever you like. Only problem was the back brake ceased to exist. The front brake was good enough but not ideal for dewy morning on grass tracks, a few slide outs to jump and running where had. 

The view on the northern tip of Nusa Lembongan at dawn is to die for, a calm Lagoon with the vast Badung strait beyond and Bali as the backdrop sprawled out in front of you with its big volcanoes; Mt Agung and Mt Batur dominating the north-east and the landscape gently sloping away down to the low laying south, behind the low south it rise’s up again with the western peaks. To see all of Bali and get a feeling for it without looking from above is amazing. To capture this scene is on the top of my list. I’ve made a few photos already with the photo on my last update being one of them. But I’m hankering for our next visit in June when we arrive on the very low tides. Perfect reflection of the volcanoes in the very shallow lagoon with nothing but a few traditional boats to break them in the foreground, I might be lucky with another seaweed farmer too. While standing there composing and exposing in the misty, calm, still air, the sea weed farmers seep out from the little wooden shacks to start there long day of work. I couldn’t imagine a better view to wake up too. They are the luckiest people (in the world possibly) in that department. In winter at home I barely see daylight and spend all day inside a workshop with a couple of ugly mugs to look at.

Nusa Lembongan was just what the doctor ordered. On top of that we met a down to earth American couple called Jonathan and Jen which sadly, were leaving the next morning. It’s another case of the law of the sod. Charming people always seem to depart too soon. Hope you guys had a good flight home (I forgot to say, you cleared up and old English idiom that goes “does a bear crap in the woods”).  We were left with some French lads who weren’t you typical relaxed, slow paced garçons. They could yap all-night for France and marched everywhere (including in the wooden apartment rooms) like 24 hour SS soldiers, and they stayed as long as us too. Tis’nt fair some times.

I’ve just wrote this on our flight to Thailand. So by the time it’s uploaded we will be in Thailand somewhere. Pretty exciting stuff, will keep you posted on what happens to us in these new foreign lands.