Day 16 - Final Day in Bali

---

Had our eggs and mangosteens for breakfast and finished packing before meeting our driver Alit who I met on the path leading to the entry car park. I left Daisy and our luggage at the side car park as it was close to our villa and would save us carrying it down. I hopped into Alit's car and we drove around to the side car park, packed our luggage in and set off on our day tour.

First stop was the Ceking Rice Terraces, Tegallalang. We did one of the big swings together which was fun and then set off on a trek through the rice Terraces which was great. You did have to be careful as parts were a bit muddy and slippery, but it was a great little hike. We stopped for a drink at one of the many little cafes and decided to walk a bit further on and after about 10-15 minutes, I confirmed with one of the workers, that the track did continue on back to the road, so I started back to get Daisy and found her quickly as she was wondering where I was. By this time we had lost Alit, but figured we'd see him back at the car. As we got closer to the end we saw some farmers tending to some crops. Most of the terrace area however is just a tourist attraction with giant swings and a zip line.

We then continued in the car and stopped an ATM to get some cash. After we set off again, the air con went off and the car made some spluttering noises, so Alit stopped the car beside a little shop selling wooden toys. He couldn't fix it so decided to transfer us to another car. After about 30 minutes his friend Madi came along and we transferred all our luggage his car. Alit was very apologetic but we were just sorry we couldn't have him for the rest of the day.

However, like just about everyone in Bali, his friend Madi was also really nice and accommodating. It was 12.30pm so we asked Madi to take us somewhere to eat on the way to our next destination. He took us to one of the many roadside restaurants. This one was called Amertha and it was very good. We both ordered a deep fried whole water carp ($7) and was delicious.

Next stop was Pura Tirta Empul, also known as the Holy String Water Temple. Here we saw the water spouting out into a large pool with people (mainly western tourists), lined up to shower beneath the spouts. We then headed for the exit, but it took ages to get out as the exit basically took you past all these market stalls. We had seen these on a doco about Bali before we came, so weren't surprised. We of course bought a couple of things.

It had started to rain a bit but didn't last long. Madi initially suggested not going to the next temple on my list, Candi Tebing Gunung Tawi Temple, as he said we may not see much because of mist. We said we'd leave it up to him and fortunately he thought he should stick to my itinerary. I say fortunately, because it was my favourite temple visit on our whole Bali trip. There were many steps ( over 300) walking down into a valley, carved out by the Pakerisan River. At the bottom we saw large carvings, called Candi's, carved into two cliff faces. The Candi's are over 7 metres in height and quite impressive to see. We were quite hot and sweaty by the time we got back up to the top, so we stopped at cafe and had drink before meeting Madi at the car.

It was about 3pm before we set off again on a slightly longer drive to Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave). This complex is just 600 metres from Tanah Gajah resort but we hadn't found time to get there previously. As there were more steps to get down to the complex, Daisy had decided to give this one a miss and explored the many market stalls at the top of the entrance. When I got down, a man introduced himself as the keeper of the complex and offered to tell me some of the history, but he ended up taking me on a tour of the complex and I knew he'd expect money at the end, but I just decided to go with the flow. The " Elephant Cave" was interesting. An elaborate entrance with 3 niches, one with Ganesha, hence the name. Again the surrounding views were beautiful. By the time I left it was past 5pm and getting dark, so we decided we'd have to miss the last spot on our itinerary, Tegenungan Falls. Another thing to visit "next time".

As expected we did hit heavy traffic on the way to the airport but still managed to get there just after our scheduled time of 7.15pm. We said our farewells to Madi, who had shared with us his family stories and did an excellent job driving us around.

First thing we did at the airport was get changed to warmer clothes for our flight and arrival back to Sydney winter. We grabbed dinner and spent the rest of our Indo cash plus a bit more on snacks and gifts and boarded a bus to our plane which took off on time. Had a on-off uncomfortable sleep, but safely landed on time in Sydney at 6.05am. Thank you Bali, ( Justin & Lynn for their wedding invitation) for a wonderful holiday.

---