Bali Trip Throwback 2

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ROYALNESS

DAY 2: 01/06/2012

Pura Taman Ayun's construction was sponsored by the Royal family

Our second day in Bali started with a breakfast meal at the hotel with view towards the construction site outside the hotel compound. Good way to start the day eyh? Pak Supir waited for us at the hotel lobby while we rushed to finish our first meal of the day. The first destination for today is a royal public temple, Pura Taman Ayun located at Mengwi district. As we arrived at the the carpark area, the pathway directly leads to an ancient looking bridge over a flowing small river. Over on the other side of the gateway, a stone pathway heads to a majestic gateway blocking views towards whatever on the other side of the brick fence wall. The front part of the temple complex is decorated with an open landscape garden with kemboja trees along the way. As we reached the inner temple gateway, we followed a pathway leading at side of the fence wall, towards the main temple area. Tourist aren't allowed to enter the temple so, we circled around the temple area which is surrounding with a shorter brick fence wall. The area consists of a few pagoda-like buildings or hut with each one standing as tall as around 10 feet high.
              

The wall seaparating outsiders from the main compound

The bridge and gateway

Finished with our first destination, we head off to Lake Bratan where Pura Ulun Danu is located. Our journey to Lake Bratan took quite a long ride on the road passing through villages and as we reach a scenic town along the way, our tour guide (more like driver actually) points out that the temperature outside is getting colder as we get even higher to the mountain top as he lowered down his window. We passed through a wonderful town at the side of a lake which looks totally amazing. Further uphill, we reached a place which obviously quite touristy. Apparently, as we reached there were some religious event taking place at the temple complex. There were girls dressing up in traditional performing costumes, local families walking around in traditional outfits and women carrying offerings on their head. We went in the complex with our eyes still gazing around the crowd observing their daily ritual activities. As we got closer to the temple, we can't help to notice Lake Bratan at the background. Its so enchanting that we didn't really paying attention to the Pura itself at the edge of the lake. Just off the edge of the water, a pagoda-like structure stands in the lake which personally got my attention more than the main building complex.

We spent quite a while at Lake Bratan as there where some other places around the temple complex which include a walkway with a small jetty, a recreational garden and a bigger garden at the front. As we were walking back to the parking area, I overheard a family with familiar language. I listen even more carefully as I was curious what I heard was right and it seemed clear to me they were  conversing in Iban language, one of the ethnic groups from Borneo. "what a small world", I said in my head as we continued passing by a row of shops. The driver brought us to a local farmer's market on our way to the next destination where the locals sell local produce in abundance, mostly fruits like strawberries, avocado, salak fruit, and many more (some I never seen before). We bought a box of strawberries and munched some during our journey. 

 

Next we went for a quick stop at one of the nicest view looking towards Lake Bragan from a higher ground and Bali never seemed to stop impressing us. Few photo session as remembrance of the captivating scene, we were off again on the road for our next stop. After a few minutes on the road going downhill, we stopped by for lunch at a restaurant overlooking an amazing scenery, and yes its a miles and miles away stunning paddy terrace. This one is more spectacular then the one we'd seen yesterday, As for the food, slightly better than yesterday and thanks to the panoramic view, it was a nice lunch. 

 

As usual, Pak Supir didn't join us for lunch and he waits patiently at the parking lot ready to get to the next stop. He planned all the itinerary for us as we mentioned where we intended to go and he will try his best to make it as efficient as possible. We drove all the way from the hillside to another temple at a seaside location. It is the iconic Pura Tanah Lot, also known as the snake temple. The temple building is located atop a giant natural stone facing the sea but before we reached our main target of the day, a Balinese gateway greats us that leads to a local craft and tourist market that stretch all the way towards the beach. We bought quite a number of souvenirs here which are mostly modern framed paintings for gifts and home decoration. Our tour guide earlier mentioned that its advisable that if the shopkeeper offered to roll the drawing for easier baggage handling, just say no. These paintings are not as high quality as the expensive ones, so they were probably made from low quality paint and may crack if rolled. He also mentioned that the paintings won't last as long because of this but guess what my painting at home has been hanging there for 2 years and it looks just as new! After a long picking and bargaining session at some of the shops, we quickly walked to the seaside.

When we arrived there, the place was full of people, mostly tourist and some local prayers. Stretches of golden sandy beach with stone cliffs and some huge stone on the seaside, people were standing there looking upwards at Pura Tanah Lot. Outsiders are not allowed to go to the temple on the stone instead, there were a small cave-ish enclave under the stone where locals pray to the snake deity that was said protecting Pura Tanah Lot. Some tourist lined up with the locals to be blessed at the entrance which also located next to the stairs heading up to the temple. We spent the evening until sunset at the seaside, enjoying the breathtaking view of Pura Tanah Lot with the sea as its background.