Bali Trip Throwback1

-------------------------------------------------------------

ARRIVAL & BARONGAN BREAKFAST

DAY 1: 29/05/2012- 30/05/2012

Bali is one of everyone's favourite place to spend their vacation for obvious reasons; the amazing people and culture, breathtaking views, cheap tourist-friendly attractions, and the list just goes on and on and on. With the recent movie at that time played by Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love potraying this mysthical island, it multiplied your reason not to miss the opportunity to visit this paradise. As we learnt in our first holiday in Bangkok, 3 days is not enough for you to experience the local atmosphere and soaking every moments of your travel time. So, this time we have decided to double up the time to 6 days in Bali and it was a delightful time to roam this majestic place. There are a lot of hotels and hostel choices in Bali according to your preference. As for us, we have booked the hotel earlier before at a somewhat pleasant deal. We stayed at Grand Kuta Hotels and Residences which is known better to the locals as Aston Kuta, its old name. Apparently it was under the Aston Hotel Group before and you can see the hotel accessories such as tissue and toiletries with the name dashed out or covered with marker ink. It was a bit far from major attractions but it was a good deal and we have booked some local tourist guide (which is really cheap!) so, transport is not the issue.

     

So the next morning we start the day with a Barongan dance at one of the local dance schools. The stage itself was impressive; with the iconic Balinese gateway as the background and full traditional orchestra team at one corner under a Balinese hut. The show goes on for about an hour telling local folklore thru dance with the infuse of Hindu mythologies accompanied with impressive costumes. Even though we didn't get the full understanding of the whole story but the performance itself kept me mesmerized. My friends however were not so keen of the scary masks which I thought was really artistic, Next we embarked on our next stop which is the famous rice paddy terrace at one of the foothills in Bali. On our way there, we stopped by a local Art Gallery where the local artists sell their beautiful paintings but the price tag were quite expensive for my pocket. As we continued our journey to the paddy terrace, the scenery along the way was beautiful as well; the traditional local buildings, the small roads, hindu and buddha sculptures along the road and we even stumbled upon a local wedding ceremony march as well.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we reached the paddy terrace, it was already almost lunchtime. Our driver parked the car at the side of a small road heading to an uphill location. After spending sometime at the paddy terrace and savoring the view. we decided to head to the next location, restaurant to get some food! After a few kilometres drive, we arrived at a restaurant on the hill overlooking a breathtaking valley which i didn't remember the name. Even though the food were not that great, but the splendid view was enough to substitute the flavours. After we had finished our meal, we head to our car as some local aunties start to gather around us and tourists selling some so-called touristy items. That is normal as this is a third world country and they'd do anything to survive. However, their faces seem to be sort of similar like red indians because they had red-ish skin, high nose (red-indian like nose) and most probably the way they dressed up as well or maybe it was just something wrong with my eyes.

The next location is the Luwak Coffee plantation and factory along the way back to Kuta. For anyone who never heard of luwak coffee, Luwak is a type of civet. Why would someone call a coffee based on a civet? Go figure! The front part of the plantation were a small botanical/ herb garden with some local plants to display an introductory crash course to the tourist. Nothing new for someone from the neighboring country. Deeper in the compound was a small hut which obviously just for showing the process of producing the famous expensive luwak coffee from A to Z. Around the hut they had some luwak taking sleep in the broad daylight. A few steps downhill, we arrived at a nice small cafe where they gave some samples of coffee choices with a tea and a chocolate tester as well. This venue also was overlooking a nice valley (not as beautiful as the first one) full of bamboo plant and coffee trees below its canopy.

We end up getting some luwak coffee from the store as gifts which I end up drinking them myself few months later because most people around me don't drink coffee. Next destination is the Tirtha Empul Temple, one of the iconic temple in Bali known for its beauty and history. The president of Indonesia, Soekarno even had a palace at the side of this temple which is located at a higher ground. Before entering the complex, everyone must cover their legs with sarong and sleeveless shirts are usually not allowed. So, I had a sarong i bought earlier from one of the shops at the paddy terrace (I found out it was priced higher somewhere else!) while everyone else wore purple sarongs from the temple entrance. The temple started with an open area which leads towards a gateway, typical of Balinese premises. In the temple compound, there were a few hut-like structures with one of them was used as a religious ceremonial hall. Through the other exit out of the temple were some pools, some as landscaping feature and one for religious bath, meant to cleanse the sins of its devout followers.

After a few walks around the complex exploring the parks around Tirtha Empul, we found ourselves strolling around the local hawker market selling some tourist items and gifts. We decided that we should head back to the hotel and get some good rest after the light shopping session before exploring more of Bali at night!