One of the great things about Indonesia is that once you get done with the long and expensive flights over there, everything else is really cheap! After waking up and eating breakfast at our lodging, we rented scooters from the lodging manager and his friend and took off to explore for the day. We each paid 70,000 Rp (~$4.61) to have a scooter for a day, and the three of us were soon zipping along the winding roads; only occasionally stopping to look up various beaches, restaurants, and waterfalls to explore.
The two islands of Lembongan and Ceningan are very small and are connected by a bridge. Located between Bali and Nusa Penida, we spent our first couple of days here exploring before continuing on to the larger island of Nusa Penida.
The scooters still being somewhat of a novelty, and all three of us very much enjoying the freedom and excitement of seeing the island while simultaneously dodging chickens, stray dogs, and children, we decided to get some of the further destinations checked off our list and took the scooters across Yellow Bridge to the island of Ceningan.
Yellow Bridge is a bridge for pedestrians and scooters to commute between the two islands. The water between the two islands is very shallow and acts as more of an inconvenience than an actual barrier between the two islands. Small ferries were equipped to shuttle vehicles and materials between the two islands or back to the larger island of Nusa Penida.
From Yellow Bridge we continued on to the southern tip of the island to Mahana Point. Mahana point is a famous surfing and cliff jumping spot for locals and tourists, but unfortunately our beginning (or non existent) surfing skills and the rough water below the cliffs made both activities impossible. We contented ourselves with the views of the turquoise ocean crashing into the cliffs, and tiny crabs crawled up the rough rock, keeping themselves just out of our reach from above. We soon were hungry and decided to head back to Lembongan for lunch.
The main city and port of Lembongan is located on the eastern coast of the island, and is one of the best food and view combinations that I’ve ever experienced.
Restaurants are staggered up and down different shelves of the steep embankment overlooking the ocean. Brightly colored flowers adorn the decks and rooftops of all the restaurants, and soon you are lost in a sea of vibrant colors with the backdrop of the turquoise ocean behind.
We eased into the chairs at The Deck restaurant and were soon eating and sipping on drinks with the salt breeze in our hair and the sound of the ocean crashing below us.
After lunch we headed back to our huts and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the pool and exploring options for the next few days. Almost every lodging we passed had private pools but we still felt like we were living a life of complete luxury. We were the only guests during our stay so it was easy to feel that the hotel staff, the pool, and the food were all for us and for our exclusive enjoyment. Vacation brain is nice sometimes.
We would be heading to Nusa Penida the next day and decided to plan out our sightseeing as much as possible so that we might be able to fit everything in. We found maps and directions and began figuring out which beaches and waterfalls we wanted to see. Soon we realized that we were hungry again. Fortunately the cheap prices and fresh food allowed us to eat well and eat often, and we all agreed that we’d like to eat at the harbor again. We jumped on the scooters and were soon zipping down the maze of streets to the busy harbor.
On our way down, we decided to take a quick detour to attempt to get a better view of the city at sunset. We parked the scooters in an alley and found and old building under construction and climbed up to the roof. We were rewarded with spectacular views of the city and of the boats and ships coming in from the ocean.
Roof tops extended for miles until they slowly vanished into the thick mangrove forest at the far end of the island. It would have been nice to have a picnic on top of the building with such incredible views, but we hadn’t mastered finding fresh food in the markets yet and decided to find another restaurant near where we had eaten lunch.
The restaurant we chose was on an upper deck overlooking where we ate lunch. Lights hung in the trees and vases with flowers adorned the tables and bar tops. 
Quiet music filtered through the air with the sounds of crickets and frogs in the background. Little lizards scampered up the walls and trees and it truly felt like we were in paradise.
We ate slowly, not wanting to ever leave. We spent the evening talking about our favorite parts of the trip so far and of the waterfalls and beaches we were going to explore the next day. The sun slowly sank over the ocean and the lighted ships bobbed gently in the harbor like thousands of candles.
