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Today is my 43rd birthday and I begin it with a large breakfast with my wife before she leaves me to go horse riding somewhere near Keroboken. I take the opportunity to chill out before going back to the furniture store to pick up our Komodo Dragon they have done a great job of restoring him, he is actually looking better than before and the breaks are not obvious. I returned to the hotel around 11am to find Ruth waiting for me we spend the next few hours chilling out before we meet our driver who is taking us down to the South Coast today.
Traffic jams abound today as the festival revellers have taken to the streets in large groups all carrying large and colourfully painted bamboo statues. Our first stop of the morning is the 11th century cliff top temple of Pura Luhur Ula Watu an important temple dedicated to the spirits of the sea. As with most temples in Bali we had to rent a Sarong which the local monkey's use to climb up your body. Unfortunately non Hindu's can not enter the temple itself so we had to be content with feeding the monkey's and taking
photos from a distance. We bought some monkey food from a very old lady, not so much to feed the monkey's as to give the old girl a few dollars, still the monkey's enjoyed it, one of the little ones made itself at home on Ruth's head I had to chase him off with a stick.
We then returned to the vehicle, the driver is now taking us Nusa Dua and Benoa where Ruth is going to buy me dinner, we arrived just after 4pm to find most restaurants closed, fortunately the Loco Cafe was open and we enjoyed a great meal, I told the waitress it was my birthday and she gave us some free drinks and desert. As we were finishing dinner a procession carrying a huge blue Ganesh engaged in mortal combat with a big yellow demon came down the street, some of the locals had long poles they used to hold the power lines out of the way.
We got caught behind this procession for 45 minutes or so but eventually we were on our way back to the hotel, we saw numerous statues during the 30 minute drive. Tomorrow is Nyepi day and
Give me that dress
Pura Luhur Ulu Watutourists arent allowed out of the hotel so we had to go to the supermarket and stock up, when we got back to our room we found a complimentary birthday cake from the hotel, now that was a nice touch. Finished off a really nice day with a massage in the hotel spa which rocked.
Its Nyepi today and this morning I am getting another massage, this time in my room while Ruth is off to the library, I will meet her for breakfast at 10am. All the guests are at breakfast this morning because there is no where else to go, Ruth found me a book so I spent much of the day reading, watching the rain and that really big monitor lizard swimming in a nearby pond. We had to have dinner at the hotel and being a captive audience we were seriously over charged, the food wasn't worth 700,000 rupiah.
Today is the 6th of March and our last day in Bali, we woke early and went for a swim before our final buffet breakfast, we stuffed ourselves silly before retuning to our room to pack. Our driver arrived at 12.30pm and is taking us
Nice hat Marian
Pura Luhur Ulu Watu north to Ubud today, where we will visit some historical sites and purchase some crafts. Mas was our first stop as it is a major wood carving village and we are looking for some quality carved masks, which we found at the first gallery we visited, one is Ganesh the other Rangdo a demon that brings good luck to the household.
From Mas we travelled to Taro where Ruth wanted to purchase a some pachaderm art from the Elephant Safari Park, I walked around snapping a few shots and watching the tourists clambering on and off elephants while Ruth selected a really nice painting by an elephant named Desi which we will frame and hang in our Elephant Room at home.
The light is fading fast so we leave the Elephant Park and visit the wonderful temple at Sebutu before continuing on to Bali's oldest and largest ancient monument, Gunung Kawi. After a short walk down the steep steps from the carpark, we crossed a bridge over a small river where the first five rock cut candi were located. They were around 8m high and as my wife puts it would not look out of place in Petra.
Now that is funny
Pura Luhur Ulu Watu They certainly were impressive as were the others located on the opposite side of the river. The walk back up was steep and unpleasant in the late afternoon heat but it was certainly worth it as Gunung Kawi is a definate highlight.
Putu has done a great job getting us quickly from place to place but the light is beginning to fade so Goa Gajah (The Elephant Cave) will be our last stop. The entrance to Goa Gajah is carved in the likeness of a demon and you enter the cave through its mouth, the cave interior was T shaped and held a few shrines. Outside were bathing pools and a modern temple. A short walk away are the moss covered ruins of an old Buddhist temple destroyed by an earthquake and lying partially in the river.
From here it was a drive of about an hour to the beachside restaurants of Jimbaran where we indulged in an average but extremely over priced seafood dinner on the beach. I would recommend to anyone planning to do this to not bother it is a huge rip off. From here Putu dropped us at the airport, it took quite a
How cute
Pura Luhur Ulu Watu while to check in as the queue was already long.
Denpasar airport has many more shops than it did the last time I was here, so the time before boarding went quickly even though departure was delayed.
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