Day 20: The Road to Ubud

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After the lunch in Lovina Beach, we drove to Ubud. Before arriving in Ubud, two excursions were waiting for us, the Gitgit Waterfalls and the Perda Kabu Tabanan. In the evening, we visited the Restaurant Cafe Lotus in Ubud. At this Restaurant, there are shows of the Balinese Dance.



On Bali, it is hard to miss out temples. You can find a lot of temples. Bali is also known as the Island of the Arts. Bali is a Hindu country, and the Balinese are very creative with Hindu Art and Art. A lot of hotels and Resorts are detailed by beautiful arts. You will encounter a lot of temples when you are looking for it. Piece by piece, these temples contains arts. Most of them are still in use. A lot of ceremonies take place. A lot of incense is smoking by these temples. Sometimes in combination with fruits. Around Ubud, and in Ubud itself, you might find a lot of these temples and ceremonies and therefore Ubud is a good highlight to visit in Bali and easily reach because it lays central in Bali. But on the way to Ubud, you have some other excursions and possibilities to spot temples as well. There are always options, if you come from the south, north, west or east, you will encounter temples if you wanted to. Not only temples, but Bali does have some other highlights on Nature. Bali does have volcano’s, and you can find the most in the east. The Batur Volcano is the best known. And she is active. Another active Volcano is the Agung Volcano. The Bratan Volcano is not active. The last eruption of this Volcano would be more than 25.000 years ago. But, you might find some other nature highlights, like nature parks and waterfalls. In Bali, you can find 18 waterfalls. In the two excursions today, I will visit one of these 18 waterfalls. The Second excursions does include a temple. If you are in Bali, with a tour group, you have to make use of a guide. This guide we had, was travelling two days with us. From this guide, you can get a lot of information about the excursions you are going to do.



The first stop we made was the stop to the Gitgit waterfall. To reach the Gitgit waterfall, you need to make a small walk through it, where you have to descend to reach the waterfall. It is not such a great trail as the other waterfall during my Bromo excursion. However, you might can reach a small glimpse of the jungle nature of Bali. When you do reach the waterfall, you will encounter something typical Balinese. A small temple was build, and decorated with a yellow cloth. You can come pretty close by the waterfall. To reach very close, you need to walk over some rocks. Some might be very slippery, so be careful when you are coming close. The Gitgit Waterfall is the best known waterfall in Bali and therefore, it can be touristic. All year around, the water is falling of the rand, but in the rain season the water that falls off is increasing and therefore the waterfall is more beautiful during this time than in the dry time. It is not the highest waterfall, but this one might be the one with the best impression. The waterfall is around 35 meters high. The water is falling on the rocks down below, and a river is formed of the water. The trail to the waterfall is not that great, so just go only for the waterfall. I did like the waterfall. I did not came very close, because I agree that the sight of a distance is a better sight than from close by. Of course, close by is also nice, because you can hear the rough water fall on the rocks and the brutality caused by this effect. The river which is formed out of this waterfall, is quite brutal due the rocks which is blocking the water’s way. It is nice to follow some water streams finding his way through this small, but brutal river. In some cases, you might find local people or tourist having a bath in the small pool of the waterfall. When you walk around in this area, you might spot some chickens, which are walking around free.



Another highlight of Bali is known as the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. Bratan is the second greatest lake of Bali, only the Batur Lake is bigger. The Bratan lake is also known as Danu Bratan or Beratan. Therefore, the temple is named partly to this lake, probably to localize the temple. This lake had an attitude of 1250 meters above sea level. At some points the lake is more than 50 meters, but the average is in between 25 to 50 meters. If you will walk around, this will be around 12 km, and therefore, the lake is 376 hectares. Close by this lake, you have the Mount Catur, but also named by the local Pucak Mengu. This place is quite famous for its great hiking trails, which can include the Lake Bratan and visiting the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. Most people think that the Pera Ulun Dana Bratan is build by the sea, but that is not true. The temple was build in 1633. It serves as a place to workship the Goddess Danu, also known in Balinese as Dewi Danu. Dewi Danu is known as the Water Goddness, and she is worshipped mostly only in Bali. A Pura is an Hindu Temple in Bali. In Bali, you found quite a lot of temples, known as the “Pura”. A lot of these paru’s are found at house, mostly a place for offering. A pura does contain out of 3 parts: 1. Bales (pavilions), 2. Meru or Candi Bentar (a split gate), 3. Jeba Tengah (inner garden). Sometimes, the temple has a part which is only accessible for monks, priest and the gods. This is separated by a closed door, or a detailed, closed gate. In most Pura, you have to wear a sarong. Also, please be careful with clothing, because you should not see a lot of skin. This is unholy. The site does contain many temple, workshop places for offering and it is nice to walk here around. This is one of the best visited highlights of Bali, so it might be quite touristic and busy when you are here. You can walk here around and enjoy the beautiful sights. A lot of details are shown in the many temples. A lot of temples you cannot enter, and if you can enter some, you have to take out your shoes. As you enter, you first cross the Bales (pavilions). The garden here is beautiful, contain grass, threes and plants. If you walk here, you have to go to the Meru or Candi Bentar, the split gate. You walk through these split gates, around 10 meters of height. From here, you should enter the Inner garden of Jeba Tengah. This contains out of multiple temples and offer places to workship. The roads lead you through the gardens, where you can enjoy the garden. Everything is kept quite carefully neatly. You will encounter some offer places, our temples. Some, you can enter. If you will go into them, mostly they are open because they only contain a roof, you have to remove your shoes. The first temple we saw, did not contain the yellow cloths, but a red cloth. These temples are closed by a fence, which means they are only accessible for monks, priest and the gods. Therefore, it is not possible to visit them. But you are allowed to make a picture of these temples. You might encounter threes where the roots are coming out of the ground. A typical, Asian three, and a yellow cloth is bind mostly by them. You can find these threes in the garden. You can find some offer places, which some are open, and some are not open. If they are not open, a yellow cloth is bind, so you cannot enter. It does give a great picture. Some are able to enter, take out of your shoes. They are open on four sides, and contains a roof. You can find some art, but if you look carefully, you can see incense is burning and giving a slightly good smell. Also, you find another big temple. It has a sharp triangle form, and it contains thee cloths. 6 statues are standing there. Left and Right, there are statues of a woman with a yellow top which is carrying an offer shield at the head. By the stairs, at two levels, you see left and right Hindu figures. Above the stairs, a gold, yellow door is placed. The door, is beautiful detailed with details and it is great to see it. You can see it is doors, and therefore, this is a temple which is not able to visit as a tourist. You can see the door is opening on the middle. On the left and the right side, you also see a door. This is a door, which opens at the side and not in the middle. It is almost the same door as the middle door. Both doors containing a woman, where the middle doors contains two figures out of the Hindu culture. For pictures, you can make good pictures from a lot of sights and distances of the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. There is also a stairs where you can stand in front of the temple for making pictures. From here, you can walk back in the garden. You encounter some tourist here and this is defiantly a highlight of Bali. And indeed, this place is a very nice place. Because it is quite big and there are a lot of temples, offer places and the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan itself, the amount of people is spreading in the garden and the area, which makes not that much busy. This place is defiantly something you have to visit when you are on Bali.





From here, we drove to our hotel known as the Mainson Hotel in Bali. In fact, this is a Resort as well. The rooms does not have numbers but names. My room was named as the Seribu Wood. From here, we took the shuttle bus to the centre of Ubud. We dined at Café Lotus. Café Lotus does contain a Balinese Dance, which you can book an diner show as well. I choced as starter Loempia’s, and as main course I had Babi Ketjap. The starter Loempia’s were quite good. Filled with a lot of vegetables and a lot of filling, good sauce and it was very hot. Almost so hot I burned my tongue. Anyway, it was of good quality. Also the Babi Ketjap was very good. This restaurant is one of the best restaurants of Ubud, and it is a little bit expensive. We could enjoy also a little bit of the Balinese dance. This dance is quite important, due it is a very important part of the religious and artistic expression through their Hindu religion. It gives the expression of the local people to their religion. Therefore, the dance is quite ancient. In fact, some people do believe it is kind of Hindu Rituals, portrayed by dance and rhythmical music. One of the rituals which is included is the Sanghyang. It is a scared dance, which involved a spiritual spirits, which the local people believes that it possesses the dancers in trace statue during the performance. The dancers express their stories and dance drama through using their fingers, eyes, hands and head, and therefore with bodily gestures. You not only see woman dancing, but also man and in groups. In some cases, people dressed like animals, for example a dragon is coming on the stage. After the good meal and the Balinese dance, we went back to the hotel with our shuttle bus. The next day, we have an excursion around some highlights of Ubud.

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Photos

Gitgit Waterfall
The Gitgit waterfall from a distance. I like the rough sight from the distance, when you see through the rough nature, the water falling down through the 35 meters high waterfall.

Gitgit Waterfall
In Bali, you can find temples everywhere. It is hard to not find them. At the Gitgit waterfall, there is even a small temple build. Typical yellow cloth are mostly been put on these temples.

Gitgit Waterfall
Here as you see the waterfall from a little bit close by. The waterfall is 35 meters, and the water is falling down. It falls on the rocks laying below. A small pool is formed, and from here, a small, rough river is formed. You can climb on the rocks quite close to the waterfall, but they be slippery.

Gitgit Waterfall
From the pool, formed of the waterfall, a small river is formed. However, everywhere on the water's route, rocks are laying. The water is finding it's way through the rocks, and somethimes it has to fall down of a rock and the road is blocked by a rock. Therefore, this small river is quite rough for a small river. Including the beautiful nature close by it, this is a great place.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
The Pura Ulun Danu Bratan is not build by a sea, but at the Bratan Lake. This lake is quite deep, and it has an average dept in between 25 to 50 meters of depth.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
Here is a close-up of one of the temple. The temple is closed for public, but you can make pictures of it. The reason why it is closed is due the doors. The yellow/gold pieces are doors. The stairs due the main door are detailed by 3 statues on each side, by important Hindu statues and a statue of a woman.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
This is the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. You cannot walk around, but there are a lot of places where you can make a picture of the temple from a distance. The roofs are typical Balinese style.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
Me in front of the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
If you walk around in this temple park, you walk through a great garden, temples, offer places and the lake. From here, you can make great pictures of the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. Here, you can see that it can be quite misty around this lake and the temple and this makes the place quite mysterious and beautiful.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
This is a Solid Gate. A traditional Temple, known as a Pura, contains out of three parts, and the second part is the Solid Gate (Meru or Candi Bentar). The first part contains out of pavilions (Bales) and the third part a inner garden (Jeba Tangah). Some temples does contain place which is only accasable for monks, priest and the Gods.

The Balinese Dance
The Balinese Dance is an ancient form of dance. Most of these dances are a dance form of a Hindu Ritual. Local people do believe that a spirit can bring a dancer in trance during the dance.