I didn’t imagine Bali to be this huge island where you need to drive an hour or so in between temple runs, within the same village. I was thinking all the while that our nine-day jaunt was too short.
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| Hinduism is practised by 80% of the population in Bali |
Planning
a two-month long trip is really challenging and for our ASEAN Summer Loop trip, we
did some research on the general stuff like the key cities we wanted to explore
and the things we’d probably do there, and that’s it. For the Bali leg, we arranged
our accommodations first and planned our day-to-day roves on the day itself (check here for discounted tours, transportation and activities in Bali).
Being
the best travel researchers (naah), we solely relied on our moods which dictated our
route every day. Like, I just wanna chill
today or No trekking please or Let’s just do two temple runs today.
Well, that’s just us, it’s always nice to have some prepared itinerary before
you go on trips (if you’re keen on this).
For
accommodations, we planned to stay at Kuta first then transfer to Ubud and then
Semiyak for the last few days. For the tours, we emailed different tour
operators in Bali and found out that Bali Golden Tour was the most flexible
from the rest. We did tweak some of their prepared itineraries and they
approved of it with some suggestions too.
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| One of the terraced rice fields in Ubud |
Located
in Central Bali, Ubud is fast becoming the cultural center and art hub of Bali away from the beach
party crowd scene in Kuta. It is famous for its arts and crafts from different
villages and you could see it on the artists’ workshops and galleries that
lined the streets of Ubud.
We
met our lovely English speaking driver/guide for the next five days at Bebek Tepi Sawah Villas,
our home in Ubud. His name was Made Palguna. Apparently, there are four
common names that are being used in Bali depending on the order of birth.
Regardless of the gender, the firstborn is named Wayan (or Gede and Putu), second is named Made (or Kadek), third is named Nyoman
(or Komang), and fourth is named Ketut. The cycle repeats itself if a
family has more than four children. So you would definitely know the birth
order of everyone in Bali and that Wayan
can marry Wayan and they would name
their firstborn Wayan. I digress.
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| Made Palguna - our great driver/guide in Bali Contact Bali Golden Tour here |
Moving
on, Made repeatedly asked us on our preferred itinerary but we often told him
to just surprise us. Confused, he just did the basic Ubud and Kintamani tour on our first day.
We first dropped by at a money changer in Ubud (US$ 100 = 1,293,500 Rupiah |
April 2015) and exchanged some moolahs
(we always bring cash rather than withdrawing from ATM machines).
First
stop was the Tegalalang Rice Terraces.
Located at Tegalalang village on the northern side of Ubud, the verdant
terraced rice fields is one of the major tourist spots on this side of Bali. We
paid 15,000 Rupiah (US$ 1.13) for the parking fee. There are no entrance fees
when you want to go hiking at the rice terraces, though donation boxes are
everywhere for its upkeep.
We passed through some roadside restaurants that offer a nice view of the terraced fields. We weren't hungry yet so we went straight to the hillside to see the rice terraces up close which is very reminiscent of the Banawe Rice Terraces in the Philippines.
We
hiked down to the bottommost part and contemplated whether to continue with the
hiking or not. My buddies decided to remain where they were and started taking
some snapshots on that side while I continued all the way to one of the
terraces.
As
I explored the rice fields, I suddenly tripped and fell on one of the rice
paddies leaving my right leg stuck on the mud. I did get to pull back my leg
but sadly, my slipper was buried in the muddy ground. I scrambled to get the
slipper using my hands and after a few minutes I got hold of it, my arms all
covered with mud.
I
went back to where my buddies were and noticed that they were all laughing.
Everyone, including other tourists, witnessed the fuss I did. I let them
enjoyed that moment of pleasure and smacked them on their faces right after,
well no, I wish.
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| Before the mud encounter |
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| This is a typical gate in Ubud |
It was around noontime when we arrived at Kintamani Village and we paid an entrance fee of 30,000 Rupiah each (US$ 2.25) and 5,000 Rupiah for the car (US$ 0.38). At 1,500 meters above sea level, it was quite noticeable that the weather here is cooler (15 degrees cooler than on the coast). We stopped at Penelokan (means a place to look) and were all stunned by the nice view of Gunung Batur (Mount Batur) and Lake Batur.
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Ogoh ogoh - the huge monster doll that is burnt during Hindu Balinese New Year |
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| Mount Batur and Lake Batur |
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| Poinsettias and pine trees - very Baguio City |
Our next stop was the OKA Agriculture farm. We paid no entrance fee and were guided on a little tour on a small coffee plantation and then the coffee roasting area.
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| Freshly roasted coffee beans |
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| Got a perfect score for the blind tasting game |
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| Balinese tobacco |
For
our last stop, we asked Made to show us an important Buddhist temple in the
area. We then headed to Tampaksiring on the northeastern part of Ubud and went
straight to Gunung Kawi (Mountain of
Poet). We paid 15,000 Rupiah each (US$ 1.13) for the entrance fee. A sarong was also provided to cover our
bare limbs while inside the temple.
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| Three hundred seventy steps (it felt like a thousand though) |
The
370 steps going down to the temple was excruciating even with the lovely view
of rice fields on the way. We were gasping for air when we reached the entrance
and needed to stop for a while to sprinkle holy water over our heads; Made
showed us on how to do this cleansing part.
Gunung
Kawi Temple is a collection of ten candis
(shrines) that were designed to provide a dwelling place for the souls of the
ancient kings. The shrines were carved from the walls of the valley (solid
rock) on both sides of the Pekerisan River thus, providing the perfect
background for the temple complex.
The inscriptions on the shrines indicates that the date of construction started at around 11th century. It is believed that each of the carved candi served as a memorial to a glorified royalty mainly because it was shaped like burial towers, same as the ones found in Central Java.
Moving
on, we crossed a bridge over the Pekerisan River going to another set of candis. It is believed that the holy
waters from the river sanctify the Gunung Kawi. After crossing the bridge the
group scattered. One went to the river and the other took a hundred or so
photographs while I was lost in the middle of the huge rock sculptures.
I love this temple, I kept on whispering to myself. This is one proof of the Balinese’s artistry that stood over the test of time. I also loved how deserted the place was compared to other temples in Bali. Made supposed that it’s because of the strenuous climb on the 370 or so steps (it felt like a thousand though).
And we were all panting and sweating buckets on the way up. It’s really hard work but all worth it.
After our Gunung Kawi stint, Made asked us if we wanted to visit the Monkey Forest and gave him our loudest No response of our lives. It was evident that we were dead tired after doing some hikes that day (we don’t dig hiking and trekking that much).
We
asked to be dropped off at the Ubud City Center to check out the market which
we heard was one of the oldest in Bali. Made wanted to wait for us but we
insisted that we’d just ask for our resort’s free pick-up service. He directed
us to the Ubud Tourism Information Center where they helped us contact Bebek
Tepi Sawah Villas and arranged the pick-up later that night.
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| Free wi-fi, free local calls, money exchange counter and a lot more |
Before
checking out the market, we visited two temples at the city center. First was
the Puri Saren Ubud (Ubud Palace)
which was the former residence of the royalties in Ubud and then the Pura Taman Saraswati which is dedicated
Deri Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and the arts. Just a quick stopover at
the gates and off we went to Ubud Market.
The roads leading to Ubud Center is lined with nice boutiques, art galleries and cafés that made the whole community a perfect place for a walk. Nothing’s grand, the shops were all small and unpretentious. But the highlight of the city center is the Ubud Market, one of the best shopping places in all of Bali.
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| Pura Taman Saraswati |
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| Puri Saren Ubud |
The roads leading to Ubud Center is lined with nice boutiques, art galleries and cafés that made the whole community a perfect place for a walk. Nothing’s grand, the shops were all small and unpretentious. But the highlight of the city center is the Ubud Market, one of the best shopping places in all of Bali.
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| Ubud city center |
Located
at the corner of Jalan Monkey Forest and Jalan Raya Ubud, Ubud Market is a
two-storey building that houses different stalls with batik shirts, sarongs,
wood carvings and other knickknacks that specifically target the tourists. The
outside roads bordering the market are also dotted with boutiques and
shops that are more artsy. To get the best deals, you have to have the best
bargaining skills when shopping.
It has been a fun and very exhausting day and we needed to cap it off with Bintang Bali Beers. We so love our unstructured and spontaneous plan and also our guide, Made, who taught some basic Balinese words in exchange of few Tagalog phrases. And wait till I write about the food hunt we did in Bali, everything was really enak (Google translate now!).
Bali Golden Tour
Jalan Cekomaria, Gang Taman IV No. 1,
Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia
Contact Numbers: (+62) 851.0096.6391 | (+62) 815.5844.9505
Email Address: info@baligoldentour.com
Website: http://www.baligoldentour.com/
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