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Published: August 22nd 2013
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Well, today was a great day - and unexpectedly one of my favorites of the whole trip. We booked a chef called Kadek with the villa who arrived around 8am and prepared nasi goreng and fresh fruit for breakfast. Nasi goreng (fried rice with mixed vegetables and a fried egg) is something my brother in law Chris loved when we visited Bali 10-12 years ago, so we saluted Uncle Chris over breakfast today! The fact that we had a swim in the pool before the outdoor breakfast made it taste even better.
After that we met our driver for the day, Madeh, and started the slow drive to the Ubud area near the middle of the island. The traffic is pretty wild but still tame compared to Hanoi. But the roads are narrow, rough and rarely go in a straight line for long so progress was slow. We asked Madeh what he recommended around Ubud that would give us a taste of real Bali. He briefly mentioned shopping locations but he quickly understood that was not what we wanted! Then he suggested temples and rice paddy fields, and that was what we agreed upon. And he did well. First stop
was the Elephant Cave Temple. Two temples, one Hindu and one Buddhist, in a valley. The Hindu part was a cave, but I'm not sure what elephants had to do with it. Originally built in the 11th century, apparently the whole thing was lost in the jungle for centuries until Dutch archeologists rediscovered it in the 1920s. It was all very peaceful and far less glitzy than the many temples we saw in Thailand, Beijing and even Hanoi. We had to borrow sarongs to cover our legs - first I had a pedicure and now I'm wearing a sarong! Whatever next?! While at the temple we got a Hindu blessing from a very nice little old lady. She spoke no English and we spoke no Indonesian so we're not really sure what was said but it seemed very friendly.
After the temple visit Madeh drove to Ubud which is a lovely artsy kind of village. A lot of tourists but still worth a visit. We found a nice restaurant for lunch, and ate local Indonesian food - except for Carys who had a pizza!
After lunch we went to the stunning paddy fields at Tegalalang. A steep river
valley with terraced paddy fields on both sides. I'll post some photos but I fear that they won't really do justice to the scene. Really a stunning view.
The final stop was another temple. The Gunung Kawi temple is another 11th century Hindu temple set in a valley. But what made it stand out was that the huge individual shrines were carved out of the rock of the valley walls. Beautiful and surely a massive undertaking one thousand years ago. Again, my iPhone photos probably won't do it justice.
After that we headed home. The drive was long and slow but the scenery was good and I enjoyed seeing all the kites that fly high over Bali all day.
This day trip was something that I would have easily passed on if Sandra had suggested we spend the day by the pool. In fact I asked her this morning if she really wanted to go, secretly hoping for a "no". I'm glad she was keen as it was a very good day and it showed us a beautiful side if Bali that we'd never have imagined from our drive to the villa yesterday. Well done Mrs S!
Anna-Marie arrived here around 9pm after a delayed flight from Singapore and we sat outside and enjoyed the warm evening. Plans tomorrow center around reading a book by the pool. Tough life!
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Chris
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Nasi goreng! Now that's a breakfast fit for kings! I can still remember every minute of that holiday. Have a lovely chill out. Your photos are great but I could have improved on them if I'd come along as tour pap!! xx