Travelog, Bali (Nov 12, 2007)

Nov 12, 2007 - Tour Day I

To view the map in detail, kindly visit:http://www.baliguide.com/bali_map.html

We started the day at 8am, had breakfast at the hotel. It was already bright and sunny at that time. The sun sets at around 6:15am and by 7:30am it is already hot(off course, as their island is nearer to Khatulistiwa). As usual, you did not want to have anything except scramble egg but I managed to feed you with fried nasi goreng. Before deciding to have meal at the hotel, Ayah took the effort to ask about the food prepared. Taking into consideration that the population is 90% Hindus and most of the food served and prepared non-halal way, we were very particular about the food. Luckily, the waitress told us, they only served and prepared halal food as most of their visitors are Muslim, mostly from Middle East.

We started our tour at 9am. We rented a small car including the driver which costs us 350,000Rupiah/day.

The driver, Madek, took us to Barong Dance which was 30 minutes away from Legian. They said, when you are in Bali, in order for you to understand the culture, it is advisable to watch at least one dance show.

This mythical dance was about good versus evil. Barong is a character of mythical half man half-dog, lion-creature with bulging eyes. Barong is the "Lord of the Forest" and magical protector of Balinese villages. The opponent is Rangda, the evil witch. The Barong dance epitomize the eternal struggle between good and evil. The background music is gamelan, it rings madly and intensely when both creatures fought ferociously. I did not really concentrate on the show as you were moving around, back and forth, lying on the floor, and also move from one chair to another. Luckily, Ayah chose the back seat and there were not many people at the back then. You did not really interested with the show, none of it amused you! So do I, my dear!hehehehhe...I think only Ayah attentively watched with awe.

The show - not really good caption.

With the dancers. One of them whispered we needed to pay them after picture taken. Gross!

After the show, Madek drove us to Ubud, the northern part of Bali where the climate is a bit cooler. Ubud is known as cultural heart of Bali. Every village that we passed has its own art's specialty, be it silver, batik painting, art painting, sculpture or carving. Different village had different traits. The people were very articulate with the hand-work. As Ayah put it that they do not even had an art degree for the good arts inherited. We did not buy anything from the art shop as most of the items were quite pricey. Ayah bargained for the painting he liked but did not manage to get with the price he wanted, and decided to buy from other places later. It turned out that the good painting was only in Ubud, and not elsewhere. Poor Ayah!

The road to Ubud.

Next we dropped at Ubud Market, where we happily did our shopping. You really had a good time running here and there in the market. Most of the items were very cheap compared in Legian, or Kuta. Imagine a piece of silk(silk pareo that matched with kebaya) only costed 150,000Rupiah equivalent to RM60. Here, those kind of silk is around RM120 the cheapest,RM300++ the most! Among the things we bought were carvings, silk pareo,home ornaments, fridge magnets, your decorated pencils and beaded slippers for souvenirs. What a retail therapy for us!

Entrance to Ubud Market. Check the jovial faces!

We spent our time for almost two hours in the market. We could not find any 'promisable' restaurant nearby for lunch and Ayah decided that we had quick lunch in the car. Me and Ayah only gobble bread and biscuits. You had instant "Nature's Own" porridge and milk instead . Tired, you dozed off in the car after the meal. Then, we headed to Lake Batur. On the way, we stopped to view the padi terrace down the cliff. Madek told us, the terrains were mannedly kept. Only Ayah hopped from the car and snapped some pictures closer to the cliff. The 'greenery' really soothing to the viewers.

The mannedly padi field.

The scenic drive over a small roads overlooking beatiful rice terraces brought us to the mountain village of Kintamani which about 5,000ft above the sea. It offers spectacular views of Lake Batur and volcano. According to Madek, one could cross the crater lake below the still active Mt Batur and visited the village. There were a number of backpacker tourists that visited the village before.

The active volcanic mountain.

Mt Batur and the crater lake, Lake Batur. Can you spot the village below the mountain?

After that, we stopped at the coffee plantation where Ayah bought few packets of 'Bali Coffee'. You were still sleeping at the time we arrived at the 'secret' plantation. Why did I say that? We could not recognised the entrance to the plantation as the gate was closed. Only the tourists guide or the drivers would notice the place, and if the tourists wanted to stop by then they would pull over. There was a plaincloth man guarded the gate and would only open it when the driver 'signalled' to drop by. When he opened the gate, it was quite a big parking space for the visitors which could not be seen when the gate closed. Only Ayah and Madek hopped from the car and made a tour about the plantation. According to Ayah, there was a hut where they showed how the coffee bean been fried and pounded. Then coffee would be served to tourists. Beside coffee, cocoa also been planted there.

Tourist enjoying the fresh coffee at the plantation.

You woke up before we left the plantation. Right after that we headed back to Denpasar and on our way back, we stopped at Tampak Siring to visit Tirta Empul, the temple with holy water shrine. Next to the temple, was the presidential palace with modern architecture.

Ayah asked Madek to drive us to Bali's Bakery and then to Wong Solo for the dinner. We did buy some cookies, bread and few pastries and they were quite pricey indeed. We also bought few cuisine for Madek and family. Ayah pitied him, as we did not stop anywhere for lunch and as a result he could not have his lunch too.

We had our dinner at Wong Solo. We ate as if we broke fast during first day of Ramadhan month, really starving! We ordered five dishes for the dinner. The food was so good, even you finished your plate of rice with a bowl of 'sayur asem' soup. When we got back, it was only 9pm and after we cleaned ourselves, we went out again. We strolled along the narrow lane and checked out few designers' boutique. I had a pair of Birkenstork's sandal! To Ayah's dismay, the store did not have his size of the preferred sandal. It always hard to find an oversize shoes or sandal for Ayah. Usually, if the store has, then it always be the expensive one for him. What an expensive feet!