Bali (Day 2 / Night 3)

On this morning, we bade farewell to the frangipani-lined streets of Nyuh Kuning, as we would be putting up the remaining nights at a different accommodation.

We had a short stop at the petrol station and I was a little confused with what they had:

Motor and Roda Dua... hmmm..... for us in Malaysia, they mean the same thing, don't they?

And wow, Solar? They definitely are big on sustainability! But oh, okay, Solar meant Unleaded. Haha...

From that pitstop, we stopped at Pura Taman Ayun, which is situated in a beautiful park with trees and ponds, near the village of Mengwi.

Built in 1634 by the Raja of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Putu, it is referred to as a Pura Kawiten or family temple, a special temple where the deified ancestors of the Raja and Mengwi Dynasty or religion or Other important temples are honored.

As it was a private temple, we were not allowed entry.

Pura Ulun Danu Batur was the next temple we visited.

According to our guide, this temple is considered a 'powerful' one because this is the temple of the supreme water goddess, Dewi Danu, who the traditional Hindu Balinese, who call their religion Agama Tirta, or Religion of the Water, believe makes the water flow into the rivers and irrigation systems.

The location of this temple is also of significance, as Lake Batur is the lake that provides fresh water to the majority of the rice irrigation systems in Bali. As we continued our journey, we passed through Jatiluwih, a picturesque village with a serene patchwork landscape of green paddy terraces.

Noticing cars stopping at the side of what looked like an eatery of some sort, we thought we might as well answer our hunger pangs and stopped to have lunch at Cafe Jatiluwih.

I gave the roasted rice tea a try, which to me was very fragrant. Glad I tried it.

Bro being the noodle-lover he is, ordered a bakmi goreng.

Dad, Mum and I ordered rice dishes, all local brown rice, like ayam goreng kalasan, ayam bakar sambal kecicang and nasi campur.

We also tried their tahu telor, which wow, was the best! Okay, I am exaggerating it a little perhaps due to my two loves, eggs and tofu, combined into one.

Tanah Lot is a rock formation off the main Bali island. It is home of a pilgrimage temple, the Pura Tanah Lot, and is a popular tourist icon.

It was not hard to gauge the popularity of the place - there were SO MANY people there!

Literally meaning "Land in the Sea", the temple sits on a large offshore rock, which has been shaped continuously over the years by the ocean tide. The temple has been said to be started by 15th century priest, Dang Hyang Nirartha. During his travels along the south coast, he saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later, he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods.

Thus, the temple was built and has been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries. At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. A giant snake purportedly protects the temple, which was created from Nirartha’s scarf when he established the island.

In 1980, the temple’s rock face was starting to crumble and the area around and inside the temple started to become dangerous. The Japanese government then provided a loan to the Indonesia government to conserve the historic temple and as a result, over one third of Tanah Lot's "rock" is actually cleverly disguised artificial rock.

The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples were established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western coast. Up the hill and round the bend sits Pura Batu Balong.

Where does it remind you of?

Precisely my reaction, too! I thought, "This looks like Great Ocean Road's London Bridge!"

Tonight, we started our stay at a homestay in the heart of Ubud town. Rumah Roda is run by Darta, his wife Suti and his family.

Our rooms were located on the first floor of the three-storey building.

Mum and I took the corner room with a double-bed while Dad and Bro took the other room with a double-bed and single bed.

They had a lovely dining hall, which they open to public on weekends.

Weekends is when they serve a buffet of local home-cooked dishes.

I really liked the rice wine and the fruits which they served with coconut shaving and honey. Yum, very.

We took to an evening stroll in town to digest the food.

And the night ended with something very familiar...

Bali (Day 1 / Night 2)

Of course, the first thing Mum did was to check out if they fed the water lilies fertilizers to make them bloom so gracefully.

From the outside, the room I shared with Mum looked like this:

Despite the drizzle, I could not wait to gorge in a hearty breakfast. So, I made my way to the pavilion with the buffet breakfast.

In addition to the unlimited fresh salad, fruits, bread, coffee, tea and juice, we also ordered mi goreng, scrambled eggs on toast, sunny side up on toast and a banana pancake.

With sunlight, I could take a better look at the place. This was the pathway that led visitors to their rooms.

There was a separate pavilion for lunch and dinner with a lovely lotus pond.

Next to the pool sat the reception pavilion. Gosh, the patience involved in doing this...

We were thinking that we should incorporate this at school for the children to train not only their patience and emotions but also their fine motor skills, as well as art, patterning and sequencing, which will lead to improved algebra and statistical skills in future.

We took some time to explore the village that the hotel was situated in. Some of the houses had shop fronts and were done up really nicely.

Even residential houses were like hotels. To them, perhaps it is just part of life. But to us, it was unique. I guess it works the same way when other people get intrigued with how Malaysians are multilingual while to us, it is just part of life.

Throughout the walk, we noticed how in front of every shop, there was a little offering with a joss stick.

They had an ingenious way of keeping the offering on a 'tray' made of banana leaves. I was wondering what the shaving was and was told by our driver cum guide that those were pandan leaf shavings. The rest of the content, as you could see, consisted of balsam flower petals and a pinch of rice. Known as canang sari, these are small offering baskets that Balinese offer to their Gods three times a day.

This ritual is the Balinese Hindu way of showing gratitude to the richness of life. Offering appeases the spirits and brings prosperity and good health to the family. And in Bali, the most sacred act in life is in maintaining a good relationship between people and spirits.

Our first stop for the day was Gunung Kawi (poet mountain) in the district of Tampaksiring, which was reached by climbing down a flight of 371 steps girdled with paddy terraces.

Located on the river Pakrisan, this 11th century temple complex comprises ten rock-cut candi (shrines) carved into the cliff face.

Cut into the sheer cliff face and standing in seven metre-high sheltered niches, these monuments are thought to be dedicated to King Anak Wungsu of the Udayana Dynasty and his favourite queens.

There was another part of the complex which required visitors to take their footwear off.

It was a series of caves, which I assumed was for meditation purposes, as one of them even had furniture in it.

After the hike back up the hill, our next stop was Tirtha Empul Temple.

Built in 926 A.D. during the Warmadewa Dynasty (from the 10th to 14th centuries), this splendid temple is one of the holiest in Bali. The site was built around hot springs that still bubble in the central courtyard. There are people who come here to cleanse themselves physically and spiritually, a process called melukat.

According to Wikipedia, legend has it that more than a thousand years ago, a powerful King named Mayadenawa ruled over a vast area which included Bali. Mayadenawa possessed the spiritual power to transform himself into anything he desired. Unfortunately, he misused his powers and became a cruel, black magician.

A priest named Sang Kulputih appealed to Indra to come to Earth to kill Mayadenawa. As he had many spies, Mayadenawa learnt about the upcoming attack in time and managed to organize his defenses. However, Lord Indra's forces were superior and therefore, victorious. Most of King Mayadenawa troops fled, leaving him almost without defense. The war was interrupted by nightfall. When Indra's forces slept, Mayadenawa stole into Indra's camp, walking on the sides of his feet as to leave no foot prints, and created a pool of poisoned water. This way of walking gave Tampaksiring its name, for tampak siring is Balinese for 'without imprints'. He left as he came and when Indra's forces woke up the next morning and discovered the water pool, they drank from it and became violently sick.

When Indra found out what happened, he created a large spring of fresh water by stabbing his flag pole to the ground.The clear water was able to cure the sickness of his army. The spring was called Tirtha Empul, which means bubbling spring.