Bali 4

A walk down Legian Road followed by a round at Kuta Square and Matahari Square made a "home run" shopping for us. Kuta and Legian are the best places for shoppers to unleash their "talent" with hundreds of small shops-souvenirs, clothes, shoes, surfing equipments, glasses, bars, bistros, pubs... all of them lined up, awaiting to be explored.

Upper row: Shop lots along Legian Road. For those who has strong legs, they are hundreds of shops lined along 4 km of Legian Road for you to explore. Lower row: Shop lots around Kuta Square and Matahari Square.

Stuffs available in Bali: Wind chimes, batiks, casual clothes, CD and DVD, decorative items, shoes, bags.

Balinese Batik and picture drawn by local painters are something unique that we can bring back home as souvenir. We went to visit local batik manufacturer (Tohpati) and local picture painters (Batuan) on our way up to Mount Kintamani. The prices offered there were much more cheaper than what we could get in Denpasar. Clockwise from upper left: photo taken beside local weaver, local painters, pictures available for sales, and local Balinese lady painting batik.

Our group photo at Dewa Putu Toris Art Gallery, Batuan. The gallery was big with hundreds (maybe thousands) of pictures, drawn by local artists and painters. We bought some Balinese painting for quite reasonable price (compared to those sold in our own country)

Beautifully decorated Matahari Square.

Some interesting facts and findings in Bali, firstly, the flower offerings given by Hindus to their Gods twice to trice daily, can be seen everywhere. Secondly, many motorbikes on the road. Motorbikes for rental are available in every street. The boothes offering tour packages are available every hundred meters, offering tour packages with good bargained price. However, beware of the company that comes out with unreasonably low price, as they might offer you a trip that might ruin your nice day. Then, taxis with standard meter are mostly blue.

In Bali, there is no 7-11. What you can see are the substitutes, Mini Marts, one in every 500 metersBig statues always available at the middle of roundabouts showing the stories taken from either Ramayana or Mahabrata. Last but not least, beware of the money changers with super attractive rates, they are good in tricks (we experienced it once). They will make you loss more than those with reasonable rates. Always go for the money changers that produce receipts. They will offer less fuss and problems.

Clockwise from upper left: Flower offerings; Motors for rent available just beside the road; Blue taxi; Sign of Mini Mart; Memorial for the victims of 2002 bombing tragedy in Legian Road; Statue showing a story from Hindu's epic (Ramayana and Mahabrata); One of the hundreds of booths that offer tour packages.

As long as we had noticed, Bali's streets were safe, at least around Kuta and Legian area. Most of the shops along the main streets stayed operational until 9 or 10 pm, and some of them, remained open after 11 pm. Most of the people there can speak simple English. Malay Language or Indonesian Language is widely understood (we can speak fluence Malay Language and had no problem to communicate with the locals).

Night at Legian Road, Bali. Photos were taken around 10 pm. The street was still bright with many visitors.

Lastly, the food. We could find a lot of food around Legian and Kuta- Brazilian, German, Malay and Padang (Halal), Indian, Australian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and many many more. For us, we prefered Malay or Indonesian food here (they just tasted like Malaysian food) for their reasonable price and wide availability.

Clockwise from upper left: Western food; Local fried rice; Betty dining in a local restaurant; Indonesian food (satay, fried rice, and fried potatoes); Balinese curry tomyam.

For more information about Bali, please refer to some of the website like Bali star island, Bali 123, and Bali-online.

High resolution of photos of Bali is available on our Travel Photo Gallery. Back to All Our Destinations.

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Bali 3

Terraced paddy fields, abundantly available in highland area, can be best viewed at Tegalalang and Pacung. We passed by Tegalalang on the way from Denpasar to Batur Mount. We made a brief stop (about 15 minutes) to take a look on the terraced paddy field. The terraced field can be seen just beside the road. However, tall coconut trees planted beside the field flawed the good view. The information we had stating Tegalalang is 500 m above sea level. However, the weather was hot and humid. The farmers just finished harvesting, leaving behind brown and muddy field by the time we visited the field. The view would be better one month earlier when the field just turned into golden sea and about to be harvested.

Coconut trees blocked the good view of terraced paddy field at Tegalalang (left). Nice looking restaurant (Japanese style?) opposited the rice terrace.

Pacung is the best place for terraced paddy field, not only the cozy and windy environment, but the less obstacles between the viewing platform and the field. The place is 800 m above sea level, laid on our way to Bedugul. We stopped for a rest at Pacung and took our buffet lunch at Labhagga Restaurant and Sky Lounge (the price, around RM22 per person).

Great view of terraced paddy field from Labhagga Restaurant and Sky Lounge, Pacung, a must see scenery in Bali.

Labhagga is a name that we will remember. The reason, Betty accidentally left her purse in that restaurant. The purse then, was sent 30 km from Pacung to Legian (one hour by car), right to the lobby of our hotel early the next morning, free of charge by the staff from the restaurant. So, if you ask about our comment on that restaurant, excellent is just enough for the food and the view, and then some more for the service and honesty.

Clockwise from top left: Our photo taken from Labhagga, backgrounded the terraced paddy field; A view of Labhagga Restaurant and Sky Lounge; My brother Ling Yong and his wife-to-be, Livien taking lunch in the restaurant; and LS's parents amazed by the size of the roses just outside the restaurant and insist a photo with it.

Natural spices is another attraction of Bali. On our way to Kintamani, we took a rest at Sai Land Natural Agrotourism Park, Bangli where we tasted numerous of natural spices, tea, and coffee, including Luwak Coffee. The coffee is special due to the process by fox. Interested? More information available at Wikipedia about Luwak Coffee. You can come to my house to take a cup of it before we finished it (we bought 200 g of the coffee, with around RM50++). A cup of Luwak Coffee can easily come to USD50 outside Indonesia.

Local workers serving tea, coffee, and spices to us (Left). Our tour guide, Mayo explaining how Luwak Coffee being produced (right).

Group photo taken at the entrance of Natural Agrotourism Center of Bali, at Bangli.

There are two active volcanos in Bali, namely Mount Batur (1717 m) and Mount Agung (3142 m). Mount Batur can be seen from Kintamani while Mount Agung can be seen from Besakih. Kintamani is 2 hours away from our hotel by car. We took our buffet lunch at Batur Sari Restaurant, it serves halal Indonesian food. Mount Batur,around 24 eruptions were recorded since 1804, can be seen clearly from the restaurant. Taking buffet was more worthy than ala carte in that restaurant, as the price for a plate of fried rice is around RM20. So, why don't we just go for the buffet with more that 15 types of food with a top-up of RM 7? The shape of the volcano that we can see in the photo below was formed during the great eruption in 1917.

Buffet lunch at Batur Sari Restaurant, Kintamani facing Mount Batur. What's the feeling of dining in front of an active volcano? Well, the answer- it's cool!

Photo showed Lake Batur and Mount Batur harmonized like Ying and Yang. The blackened area is caused by the lava from its last eruption. This is a must see scenery in Bali.

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Bali 2

We took two local tour packages in Bali, both with MBA. The first was on our second day in Bali, where we took Ubud (Bali batik in Tohpati and drawings in Batuan - Tegalalang (terraced paddy fields) - Natural spices village (tried luwak coffee) - Kintamani (Batur Mount) - Besakih (Pura Agung) - Sanur Beach route.

The second tour package was on the fourth day, Mengwi (Pura Taman Ayun) - Pacung (terraced paddy fields) - Bedugul (Pura Ulun Danu Beratan) - Alas Kedaton (Pura Dalem) - Tanah Lot (Pura Tanah Lot).

Group photo taken at the entrance of the mother temple of all temples in Bali- Pura Agung (Agung Temple). Agung Mount can be seen far behind the clouds.

The first "official" temple in our schedule was Pura Agung at Mount Agung, Besakih. "Agung" in local means greatness. It is a temple complex with "a collection of temples". According to history, the first temple there is believed to be built by the founder of Bali, Sri Markandeya around 8th century, and extended by priests and rules of Bali from time to time, until it reached the current magnificient size. The temple was really wide spreaded and divided into different sections, representing the different status in Balinese community. The temple was severely damaged by earthquake in 1917 and by the erruption of Mount Agung in 1963, but successfully being restored.We spent about one hour there, taking photos and walking around the temple. The view from the highest temple along the hillside is really good. For us, this is a must-visit temple in Bali.

If you wish to visit that temple, please take note about two important things. Firstly, in order to visit that sacred temple, we have to wear "sarung". Tour company (like MBA) might has prepared them for us but that is not an obligation. Please make sure that you won't end up with rent or buy a sarung with a very unreasonable price at the foot of Mount Agung. Secondly, the internal tourguide controlled by the local associations might be "rude" at the entrance to "force" you to take a local Pura Agung's guide, even you might have one your side (provided by tour company). You can always reject them by strictly say "NO" (they demanded RP60,000 per person). They might be scaring you by saying that you might get lost in the complex. But believe us, that's impossible.Pura Agung is not a maze in themepark.

Left: Our photo at a walkway surrounded by ancient structures with about 200 m in length, upscaling Pura Agung. Right: Structures in Pura Agung.

Our quest continued with Pura Taman Ayun. Taman Ayun Royal Temple at Mengwi, 30 minutes away from our hotel. Built by the founder of Mengwi empire in 1634 AD, the temple served as the praying site for the Royals of the empire. The word "ayun" means beautiful garden. Compared to Pura Agung, this royal temple is much more "younger". We like the unique bright coloured bricks on that temple. There is a cock fighting site just beside the entrance of that temple. According to our tourguide, the cock fighting activities in Bali are no for gambling, but just for fun and leisure.

The postcard like scenery inside Pura Taman Ayun, Mengwi. The entrance of the inner compound of the temple (left), and the praying place of the temple, which is closed to visitors (right).

Photo taken inside Pura Taman Ayun.

Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, located 1200 m above sea level, 50 km away from Denpasar, took us 2 hours to reach there. That's another must visit site in Bali. The uniqueness of the temple not only lies with its altitude, but the fact that the temple is built in the Beratan Lake. "Ulun" here means by the power of the goddess, while "Danu Beratan" means Lake Beratan. The temple is believed to be built around 1634 AD.

Family photo taken at the outskirt of Pura Ulun Danu Beratan. Far right showed the entrance to the temple.

  

Does this photo look familiar to you? Yes, this photo was taken exactly the same angle with the picture showed in many postcards.

On our way from Bedugul to Tanah Lot, we stopped at Pura Dalem, Alas Kedaton. Alas Kedaton is a forest area (about 10 hectar) in the middle of paddy field. The temple is famous with the present of the sacred monkeys and big bats around the temple. The photo above showed the entrance of the temple (upper left), tree with bats and the enlargement (upper and lower right), and the monkeys roaming around the temple (lower left).

Upper left to right: Great view of Pura Tanah Lot and Pura Batu Bolong. Lower left: Kecap Dance available at RM25 per person. Lower right: Our photo taken at Pura Batu Bolong.

Tanah Lot (means land and sea in local) was our last destination on the fourth day in Bali. That is the place which Pura Tanah Lot and Pura Batu Bolong located. Both of the temples are quite famous for the beautiful scenery, especially during sunset (just try to google "sunset at tanah lot" and see the pictures displayed). Pura Tanah Lot is believed to be built by a priest, Niratha in order to worship the god of sea. We hoped to witness the heavenly beauty of the sunset but the we were running out of luck in that. Anyway, we did enjoyed the Kecap Dance at Tanah Lot during the night time. Must visit Tanah Lot? Sure, you have to. Just make sure that you brave yourself to face massive crowd of pilgrims at the wat!

Our trip continued...

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