Today we are travelling away from the coast up to the central highlands and staying in a mountain village at 1500 metres, Munduk. Of course, there was a stop on the way which was to see another temple, but this one was Buddhist, Bali's largest Buddhist monastery, and also a meditation retreat. It has an impressive mini replica of the world's largest Buddhist archaeological site, Borobudur, which we are planning to visit in Java ……. Heather is planning to see it at sunrise!

We continued with our scenic drive of twists and turns heading upwards to the misty, cool mountains. Dutch colonists used to stay in Munduk to escape the heat of the old capital city below. As we drove in to Munduk it looked unassuming with just one single main road. However, we walked down a narrow alleyway to our homestay and found a hidden secret - the valley opened out in front of us and hills full of clove trees and low-lying cloud - mystical.

As to be expected, (we are in low season), we were yet again the only guests. It was raining so we spent the afternoon on our balcony admiring the view until it stopped and we ventured out on to the main road. Georgia and Toby who we met travelling in 2012 had been to Munduk some months prior and they recommended Warung Classic - it was on the opposite side of the road and set on stilts leaning over the valley. We had a few beers and ordered some food which was freshly cooked, excellent and cheap as chips - with a million-dollar view thrown in. We watched the most amazing sunset unfold with thick clouds below us, words and pictures cannot describe.

Day 2 was a sightseeing day and Heather had researched a number of things she wanted to see. We woke very early to a cacophony of cockerels and left after breakfast at 9.00am driving even further up to 2000 metres with amazing views on either side of the road until we reached the breath-taking view point of the two crater lakes of Buyan and Tamblingan, known as twin lakes.

We then slowly made our way down the other side with views of misty rainforest, through farming areas with coffee plantations, vegetable fields, traditional rice paddies and hydrangeas farmed and picked to be used for religious offerings.

Our next stop was Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, or affectionately known as temple on the lake - the most famous and picturesque of Bali's temples and is on their 50,000 note (£2.50). The temple was built in 1643 and is a sacred place for the worship of the main Hindu trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to invoke fertility, prosperity, human well-being and sustainability of nature. As luck would have it, there were very few tourists but a big celebration which was so interesting to see.

We started to head back toward Munduk but stopping off at one of the many, many waterfalls in this area, Banyumala twin waterfalls. We had researched that it was one of the lesser known waterfalls in the area. Off the main road it was 3 kms of a very narrow pathway, certainly only one car width. There was then a steep downhill walk of 400 metres to reach the steps which in parts were a bit tricky to negotiate. The further we walked down we were thinking we have to come back up the same way. Note to self - bring a swimming costume when visiting waterfalls with a natural pool. Although no Niagara Falls, it was a really beautiful spot with only a few people.

After a cup of tea on our balcony, Heather felt that we had not done enough sight seeing for the day, so we put on our walking shoes and set off for a self-guided walk through the local rice terraces. We saw not one single tourist on our 2 hour, very steep up and down walk, worlds apart from the resorts in the south of Bali. Our day finished with a few beers with dinner and an early night, ready for another full day tomorrow.

Again, we set off at 9.00am and back up the windy, narrow roads following the same route as yesterday for a while. We were heading for the Jatiluwih rice terraces, derived from Jati meaning "real" and Luwih meaning "beautiful". They are maintained again by the Subak system of water management cooperatives dating back to the 9th century and give a new meaning to the word green. It is also the only place in the world that has three annual rice harvests. The scenery was magnificent and we enjoyed a couple of hours walking through the beautifully contoured terraces. We could have spent longer but we could see that a storm was rolling in and we didn't want to get caught. If time had allowed, we would have spent the night in this area as there was plenty of walking to be done and views to be seen.

After leaving Jatiluwih we headed for yet another temple Heather wanted to see called Batukaru temple, located on the southern slope of Mount Batukaru, Bali's second-highest volcano. It's an extremely sacred site of the Hindu population and is very remote - the first temple we have visited with no other tourists and was very peaceful and serene.

We headed back to Munduk through small villages and mostly in the pouring rain and two hours later we were back at our homestay and sat on our balcony with a welcome cup of tea. Out time in Munduk was coming to an end and we have enjoyed the beauty of this area very much. For dinner we were headed to a local Warung called Heaven we had popped in to yesterday for a beer. Heather got talking to him about Jack Fruit which we had first eaten in Malaysia many moons ago. The owner said that if we came back today, he would cook us a special jack fruit soup and a banana flower dish. It was very unusual but tasty and he had also made us a desert of boiled banana in palm sugar and coconut milk called Pengat Pisang - it doesn't sound appetising but it was really delicious. A sweet end to our 3-night stay.