Ulun Danu Temple

Arriving at Ulun Danu Temple or The Floating Temple.

Surrounding Panoramic View of Ulun Danu

Click on the pictures for larger view

The village or kampung near Ulun Danu Temple

Part of the Floating Temple.

During the raining season, the temple appears to be floating. We can actually walk to the temple because the water level as seen in this photo, was only up till knee level. So, it is save to walk across. If you are visiting this place during the summer / dry season, the pathway leading to the gates of the temple are clearly visible.

Random pictures taken. Trees... look like Popsicles!

This scene reminded me of my school days, when my art teacher taught me about 'perspective'

GitGit Waterfall

Gitgit Waterfall

We arrived at Gitgit Waterfall late in the evening, around 6.10pm

From the main entrance, it is about 800 meters walk to reach the waterfall spot as shown above in this photo.

Along the track, you pass through small plots of padi fields and a long row of souvenir shops, operated by the locals. Often, young children will come up to you and more or less 'beg' you to buy from them. 

My personal opinion - dont buy from any kid coz if you do, then you wont have the heart to turn down the other children selling the same things.

Random picture I took.

Isn't it majestic? 

Look at the texture!

Wildness!

Arriving At Lovina, Searching for Hotel

From the airport, we headed to Lovina, north of Bali. It is about 2 hours drive from Denpasar.

I spent the first night at Lovina before my tour to the coffee farm. I did not make any room reservation,

so I had to do some hotel hunting. The affordable room rates around this area is between IDR 350,000 

to IDR 500,000 per nitght. (USD 30 - USD 50 per night) The rates for the more expensive hotels can cost

up to USD 150 per night.

After 40 minutes of hunting, I decided to stay at Melka. Simply because I get to watch and play 

with the dolphins! Haha! The room I stayed in as Deluxe Room, the only available room within my budget

which costs me USD 60 per night! Compared to the other hotel located 10 minutes down the road (sorry i forgot the name, hehe...) which was situated next to the beach, with beach AND sea view. And it was

only USD 40. 

Chup! Wait... dont jump into any confusion yet. I paid more for the Melka Deluxe Room beacause I

wanted to save on the Dolphin activity cost. The picture below shows the compound of Melka Hotel. Not bad la the environment. The night I checked in, it was raining cats and dogs. Thundering all night from 9pm - after midnight, so sad... Ended up dating with my map of Bali on the bed. But it was good, I manage to pick

out some interesting activity and places to go. 

Compound of Melka Excelsior Hotel

Earlier I said I decided to pay USD 60 for the room in Melka. The reason was I wanted to pay lesser for 

the dolphin show and activities. If you are the in-house guest, you only pay IDR 400,000 to swin with the dolphin. If you walk in, then you need to pay IDR 600,000. 

Click on the picture to enlarge, you'll know what I mean when you read it.  ; D

The Price List if you want to watch and have fun with Johnny (the Dolphin)

First Sight of Bali & Lunch

For me, visiting Bali is about understanding the culture and the people.

The architectures here are inspiring. The age of the buildings are fascinating.

Pura means Temple in Balinese. The gates are called 'split gates'.

You will find this in every house in Bali. It is their culture and religion.

The split gate are to protect the house from evil spirits and dangers.

It is believed that the split gates will close and joint into 1 piece to

crush the evil spirit if they try to enter the house.

Look closely and you will notice that each side of the gate, is exactly

the same design. So when it closes or joints together, it becomes a 

complete piece.

Along the way, we saw many of such statue wrapped in clothes

of different colors. There are red, yellow,white, black & white checks, 

red & white checks and yellow & white combinations.

Each color represents different God, Deity or spirit.

Red represents the Fire God, while White represents Water. 

Black on the other hand represents Air. 

Black & White checks represents spirits of different forms.

Above is our tour guide Mr. Kasena. 

The pouch with colorful flowers is called canang sari or little offerings.

You will see it place almost at every corner of every house, office,

stalls and roadside. It is a practice of the Hinduism in Bali, offering for peace, 

good business, thanks giving and almost any reason you can think of.

FresTea is normal Ice tea. It is served in glass bottles, everywhere

in Bali. I supposed it is easier to serve this way, hassle free. 

All you need to do is just to pick a bottle, pop the cap and sip through

the straw! When you are done, the stall keeper will just pop it back 

into the containers for the supplier to collect and replenish them.

This is our transport.

Baby Guling. It is crispy skin from the pig, like the Chinese's suckling pig.

Served with mixed vege as side dish and white rice.

My plate, had a huge FRIED FLY in it. I eaten almost 3/4 of the plate,

before this bugger show himself. Euu....

This is how a stall by the roadside selling Babi Guling will look like.

Almost every corner of Bali sells babi guling. Next on the menu will

be the Bakso.

Next post ~ Arriving at Lovina

Arriving at Bali, Ngurah Rai Airport, Denpasar

Bali ~

The Island of God

The Island of Culture

The Island of Peace

Day 1 - Arriving at Bali, Ngurah Rai Airport, Denpasar

This is the statue of I Gusti Ngurah Rai, the National Hero of Indonesia from Bali.

The statue is located along the road leading into the airport area.

The airport in Bali is named after him and he appears in IDR 50,000 note too.

Read about his story from Wikipedia

Photo taken from inside the van while on the move.

I was immediately welcomed by the culture upon arriving at Bali.

The statue is white and gigantic. I still cant figure out the name 

of this statue yet. (oops!)

Along the road, there are hundreds if not thousands of motorbikes.

When I was in Beijing, it was bicycles. Here in Bali, it is motorbikes.

Kasena our tour guide, shared with us that an affordable motorbike costs 

around IDR 1.4mil

A long stretch of motobikes on the road.

Next post ~ First Sight of Bali & Lunch