Beautiful Bali

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A trip to Bali had been on our radar ever since we moved to Singapore a couple of years back. Finally, during Ishani's spring break in March 2016, we got a chance to make it. We booked a homestay through airbnb and chose Sanur, strategically located to the east of the airport.

Taking an early morning flight out of Singapore, we reached Bali airport on the morning of 26th March '16 and reached our place of stay by noon. The pickup was arranged by the homeowner and she was there at the house when we reached to settle us in.

The car ride from the airport to the house gave us a glimpse of some of the exquisite architecture that we were to be treated to over the next few days. Bali is beautiful, a treat for the eyes. Not just the tourist locations, but many houses, buildings, police stations, schools and not to mention even small local temples are architectural masterpieces with intricate carvings. The most visible part of the architecture which stand out are the "Barong"... these dangerous looking guys stand guard on most temples, buildings, road crossings and all sorts of places and they are supposed to scare off evil spirits. The other most visible and unique part of Balinese daily life are the Canang Sari, the small palm tray baskets which are offered to Gods every morning and evening. These contain various types of flowers, fruits and incense sticks and are not only placed in front of idols, but also on the roads in front of shops and buildings. Walking down a footpath lined with shops in a morning, you will have to be very careful not to step on one of these.



Day 1
After a short rest after landing, we decided to head out to the Uluwantu temple on the southwest edge of Bali. This is a majestic temple is built on a cliff overlooking the Indian ocean, giving spectacular views of the sunset over the ocean. It was already evening when we reached and it was time for the Kecak dance, a traditional Balinese dance, which tells a story from Ramayan in its own unique and distinctly Balinese way.



Day 2
We decided to keep the day light. A short car ride to Nusa Dua beach for some water sports. We chose jet skiing after a lot of debate. My second experience of jet skiing and the first on an open sea. It was with an instructor, but he let me drive the ski myself after a short while. The experience of zooming in full speed with nothing but water all around is something I will never forget. After this, it was back home to lunch and some massage in the afternoon.



Day 3
The first of our full day car tour, time to head northwards. The first stop of the day was in Gianyar, to enjoy a traditional Balinese dance performance, depicting an episode from Ramayan, with once again a Barong in the lead role. The car ride took us north, into the very picturesque area around Ubud. But before that, we had a brief stop at Taro, which is an elephant park. Here, elephants are rescued and bred and tamed to be very friendly to humans. The highlight was the show, where the elephants showed human like skills in playing football, basketball, painting, playing a harmonica and even in mathematics! After that it was feeding time, where we were allowed to go really close to the elephants and feed them by hand, touch them and take photos. Ishani really enjoyed this close encounter with these tuskers. Ubud can be termed as the cultural capital of Bali. This was the most beautiful place we visited in our entire tour. Apart from the exquisite architecture everywhere, there are entire areas designated for a particular type of art and craft - one each for wood carvings, stone carvings, silver work, paintings, etc. We also drove past Ubud to catch a glimpse of Mount Batur, which is an active volcano further to the north. Trekking into the volcano was beyond our capacity and not in our plan, so we stopped for lunch at a place called Cintamani, which gives a very panoramic view of Mount Batur and the lake below it. On the return trip, we stopped for a coffee break at a place where they offered us to taste 7 different varieties of coffee and tea, before leading us to a store where we could buy these.



Day 4
Time to head eastwards, taking the picturesque highway along the south east coast of Bali. An hours drive led us to the temple cave of Goa Lawa. Not a tourist frequented place, and a small temple with exquisite carvings. The temple is just adjoining a small cave, which is infested by bats. It was a sunny morning and most the bats seemed to be asleep hanging upside down, but still the number of bats were so many, it was quite a noisy place. And the picture was complete with a python resting in the shade just below, waiting to gobble up if any bat dozed off too much and fell down. Next stop was the Tenganan village, one of the handful of villages inhabited by the original natives of Bali, who ancestry predates Hinduism. Like Red Indians in US and Aborigines in Australia, there are also very few such people remaining and this village is perhaps the only place where a tourist can get a glimpse of them and their daily life. The most unique thing we found here was their unique way of writing on dried palm leaves. Using a very sharp knife letters and pictures are carved on treated dried palm leaves, and then a charcoal like substance is rubbed into them to make the letters and drawings visible. We happily picked up a few souvenirs made from these palm leaves. It was almost lunchtime now and we decided to break at the Candidasa beach and had lunch at a restaurant overlooking a small white sandy beach. After lunch, we moved on to the farthest point on this day, to a place called Tirta Gangga. It has no relation with tirtha(pilgrimage) or the river Ganga. It is actually a very beautiful garden, with fountains and intricate sculptures. This is built by the local King and they used to come here to relax in the olden days. Next stop was the Ujung Water Palace, again a small palace in the middle of a lake, surrounded by a very beautiful garden. This is right next to the ocean and there is a watch tower which if you climb(about 100 steps), you can get very scenic view of the ocean. It was a hot and humid afternoon and we were tired and sweaty. We needed a break, so our driver cum guide, Surya, recommended a very nice and secluded white virgin beach where we could cool off. Good that we took this break, it was relaxing and very enjoyable, especially for Ishani.



Day 5
On the final day of our trip, we headed north-west. But not before a family photo shoot in traditional costumes. The first stop of the day was in the Taman Ayun Temple. A typical ancient Balinese temple, with intricate and exquisite architecture. This had been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. After a short break for this, we continued north west and headed to the Jattiluwih Rice Terrace. But not before the journey took us though beautiful and very traditional Balinese villages. Terrace cultivation of rice on hill slopes is very common in this part of the world and this one has been developed as a tourist place, complete with restaurants with rice terrace views and trekking through the muddy trails between the rice fields. The place is nestled in a very picturesque valley and the amazing views of this place cannot be described in words. It was raining when we reached, one of those quick afternoon showers in the hills which come and go very fast. When the rain stopped in presented to us the most scenic views of the trip - the valley with the mountains in background shrouded in clouds and the lush green rice fields. We just kept clicking photos and could not stop. The actual trekking trails had become very muddy after the shower, hence we avoided the trek. After spending more than a hour clicking photos, we sat in the car to head back, and just in time. The heavens opened up just as we sat in the car and we proceeded back to our homestay initially in almost in blinding rain. The rain soon stopped and we continued on our way back, savoring the sights of the scenic traditional villages and the ambiance of rural Bali for one last time.



Musings
On the whole a rewarding trip, worth the time and money. Apart from the omnipresent Barongs, two things will stay in my memory for a long time -
a) Luwak Coffee - Luwak is a cat like animal which is fed raw coffee beans and the coffee for humans is produced from the undigested coffee beans in this droppings. It is claimed to have an exquisite taste and is a delicacy and this coffee is very expensive. But the idea of drinking an extract from poop was too much for my mother and she approached every cup or tea served to her with extreme caution and refused to drink even normal coffee through the entire tour!

b) Roadside petrol vends selling petrol in bottles, neatly arranged in racks, outside grocery shops! In rural Bali there seem to be almost no petrol pumps and these are the places you refuel from.

It is very remarkable how the Balinese people have maintained their culture and traditions despite of being a heavily touristed place for many years. But tourism has its influences and you need to be very careful of people ready to fleece you and overcharge on almost everything. Remarkably, despite so many tourists, you see very little English anywhere and getting around alone without local guide can be a problem, if you are not very familiar with the place or do not know the local language.

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Photos

Day 1 - Uluwantu temple entrance
They give you sarongs to tie around your waist when you buy the entry ticket

Day 3 - Taro - Elephant close encounter - 1
Feeding