No-Beach Bali (Part 2): Exploring Bali's Majestic Past

- February 23-24, 2014, Sunday to Monday.

- The bright sunny morning greeted us on Sunday after a heavy rainfall during mid-dawn. Kartyu first drove us to Kertha Gosa Pavilion in the town of Klungkung at the central eastern side of Bali. It was built in the 18th century by Dewa Agung Gusti Sideman, and served as a judiciary hall. It has been restored countless times, especially the paintings that can be found at the interior of the roof. The paintings show scenes from the Mahabharata. Apart from the main judiciary hall, a small museum about Klungkung can also be found.

Such majesty.

Look at alllll the paintings. This isn't the main judicial hall.

A stupa outside.

At the roundabout outside.

Dancing with fans.

This is the main hall.

Barong costumel; some say that the appearance of the barong has some bits of Chinese influence (ie. Chinese lion dance.) 

- Next, we went far northeast to visit Pura Besakih, the mother temple, and the most important temple in Bali. Some structures there were at least 2000 years old, and more structures were built since the 1200s. It is located at the slopes of Mount Agung (Gunung Agung,) the tallest volcano in Bali.

- Our driver warned us that we were not entitled to give some donations for temple restoration, or allow other people to guide us through the temple. These may be scams; the only thing we need to pay is the entrance ticket. Also, since there was a festival going on, there were many devotees in Pura Besakih that day. During these times, some people might prohibit us from entering the temple, which should not be. Kartyu assured us that despite all the devotees and their prayer rituals, we were allowed inside the temple.

- True enough, after walking a few feet towards the temple, a guy followed us and asked us if we needed a guide. We didn't mind him, until he stopped us at the temple entrance. Beforehand, I told Clarisse and Marga to act as if we didn't understand English, so we won't be bothered too much. Clarisse was worried, and asked if we would like to go on. I told her that we shouldn't let people like them stop us from seeing what must be seen, especially since Kartyu told us we could despite these annoying people. When we continued to go inside, the man kept telling us that we were "stupid" and other mean thins, probably so we would go back to him and get his "services." Of course, we didn't.

Plenty of people; plenty is an understatement.

Devotees behind us.

- When we were inside, we were amazed by the different kinds of pagodas and prayer halls in the temple. The Pura Besakih had temples within a "mother temple." Seeing all the people in the temple made us see how the locals worship in the temples, and what they wore during these occasions. However, the big crowd didn't allow us to fully explore the Besakih, since it was a bit hard to move around. Also, there were many pathways towards the farther parts of the Besakih compound. We didn't want to take the risk of getting lost since we lacked time, or have more annoying people to trap us in a quieter part of the temple.

- More Balinese men tried to trap us with their tour-guide stint, but we didn't let them affect us; we occasionally walked behind other foreigners who had Balinese guides, so we would have less chances of other people bugging us. Despite these headaches, we were able to get out the temple alive, well, and happy.

Ganesha.

Sleeping dog beside a guardian statue.

Praying devotees.

Dancer at the split gate.

- We had lunch at a newly-opened inn, Tirta Agung, on the way to Tampaksiring. We had a small buffet with an amazing view of Mount Agung. Too bad some clouds covered the peak of the volcano.

- In the afternoon, we went to Pura Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring. Built in the late 10th century, this temple was made with fountains with spring water flowing; the spring water has been considered as a kind of holy water by devotees. Today, devotees and tourists can take a dip in the small pond. People would let the first fountains pour water on their heads, then after that, they would move to the second fountain, until the last. After taking a bath at the last shower, the person is said to be completely purified.

Holy spring.

Another set of fountains.

Shiva linga on a yoni with Nandi.

Someone had just washed his batik sarongs.

- Aside from these foutnains, some temples, and a lot of shops (on the way to the exit) can also be found.

- Ten minutes away from Pura Tirta Empul is the Gunung Kawi. Gunung Kawi is an interesting 11th century temple complex; after a hundred or two  steps down the hill, what made all the effort were a series of memorials carved at the side of two hills facing each other, separated by the Pekerisan River. The memorials were made in honor of King Wangsu and the royal family of the Udayana Dynasty.

Gunung Kawi.

The other side.

Moreeeeeee fountains.

Women on the fields.

- Going down the hill and up again was made easier by an array of souvenir shops that lined the stairs all the way to the parking lot.

- Karyu later drove us back to Denpasar, which was around an hour and a half away from Tampaksiring, and let us shop at Krisna Oleh Oleh Khas Bali. This enormous store, which has some branches throughout Bali, has all kinds of Balinese souvenirs at fixed, but very low prices. Krisna was awesome, although I still like to shop at the smaller souvenir stores in the other tourist areas, despite being a bit expensive, since those stores have some stuff or designs that Krisna doesn't.

- We had dinner at the small restaurant in Krisna. Since it was almost closing time, we didn't have much choices. Since we were hungry, we just had whatever was available.

- I was most worried about out last day in Bali. Our schedule for that day was the most jam-packed, although Karyu told us that it was doable, although he suggested that we should go to Ulun Danu Bratan before anything else; it was two hours away from our inn in Depasar, and the farthest on the day's itinerary.

- Pura Ulun Danu Bratan is another iconic temple in Bali. It sits off the short of Lake Bratan in Bedugul, which is why it is also called the "floating temple." It is a temple dedicated to water goddess Dewi Danu (and later, Shiva,) that farmers like to visit, since the temple (and the lake,) were responsible for irrigation. Aside from the temple itself, and some Buddhist stupas, shops are located at the parking lot too. Ulun Danu quickly became Clarisse' favorite temple, since it seemed serene and peaceful there. Since the lake was at a higher altitude, the wind was colder, and the clouds were lower.

Floating temple.

View from the tiny dock.

Another short series of temple dancer photos.

Surprisingly, or not, a Buddhist stupa.

- We rode through sharply-curved and steeply-sloped back to sea level, and in an hour, we were in the Mengwi Village of Badung, somewhere in central Bali. In the Badung Regency, people frequently visit the Taman Ayun temple, built in the 1600s, and the royal temple of the Mengwi royal family.

The nice gate.

Barong!!

Looks big, but the compound is just very small.

"Tourists."

From the side.

Prayer.

Suddenly, we saw a giant spider; it was the size of my palm, roughly.

- The Taman Ayun complex was smaller than what I expected, since it looked big in the photos. People were only allowed to go around the small group of pagodas, so there was also a limited number of angles for photography.

- We ate lunch on the way to Ubud, and tried babi guling. Babi guling is a kind of roasted pig with some sauce, and sometimes served with pig's blood sausage. It is a must-try in Bali just like it's fried bebek.

- We visited the Goa Gajah after lunch, and is a candidate for the heritage site status in UNESCO. It is located in Bedulu Village, east of Ubud. The compound has some carvings of people holding pots shooting out real water to a small pond below the statues. The main attraction is a detailed cave opening which people used to think was an elephant when it was first excavated in the 1950s (hence, the name Goa Gajah (lit. "Elephant Cave.") Inside the cave, the main altars have black statues of Ganesh (the elephant-headed Hindu god) and the lingam/lingam yoni (phallus/phallus-female symbol.)

Fountains.

HELLO.

Shiva linga statues inside the small cave.

Silhouette.

PEEKABOO.

- After visiting the Goa Gajah, and a bit of shopping on the way to the parking lot, we had a 20 minute ride to Ubud's Puri Saren Agung (Ubud Water Palace.) This was the only place we visited that didn't need an entrance fee, although only a very small portion of the palace can be seen. The palace also stages some cultural shows regularly. We initially wanted to watch the legong dance there at 7:30pm, but since we had already scheduled a dinner appointment with a friend, we chose to skip the show.

Temple gate.

Carving inside.

Someone left his (her?) hat.

- Right beside the palace is the Ubud Market, a popular souvenir market with rather expensive souvenirs; people need to bargain hard, although the bargained price may still be a bit high (but probably not to high, depending on the store.) I was "popular" inside the market because of my Balinese attire with matching Philippine ethnic accessories. Many vendors asked where I got my stuff instead of luring me to buy from their stores; one even took a photo of me. It was a flattering, but a strange and topsy-turvy experience too. Speaking to them in Bahasa Indonesia made my image all the more...."Indonesian."

- Clarisse and Margarette later chose to sit somewhere else while I continued looking for some clothes. After I found the stuff I needed, I want back to the Water Palace after hearing a live gamelan rehearsal. To my surprise, I found Clarisse and Margarette there. While the gamelan played, Clarisse shot some video clips of me doing a Balinese dance. Since I was in my Balinese costume, some tourists initially thought I was a performer, realizing later on that I wasn't.

Rehearsals going on.

I was very pleased with the gamelan....

....so I started to dance.

With Karyu.

- We had some cold drinks at Cafe Gayatri when we realized it was still too early for our dinner meet-up with my friend. At quarter part seven, we crossed the street to Pura Muwa, a small palace in Ubud, and a satellite palace of the Puri Saren Agung. We were a bit early than scheduled, so we were seated by one of the palace caretakers.The Pura Muwa made me think of it as a Balinese version of Seoul's Unhyeonggung near Insadong. Pura Muwa (as well as Puri Saren Agung) also has some rooms that are available for booking in Ubud.

- My friend Pram came a few minutes later, and we had dinner with him. Pram is a friend of an Indonesian friend, and upon knowing about my trip to Bali, she introduced me to Pram online for all my Balinese concerns. Later on, I found out that Pram is one of the descendants of the Ubud royal family.

Hello Pram!!

Before leaving.

- I was delighted to meet Pram for the first time, and the three of us were thankful that he opened his home to us, and hosted us for dinner. We had (more) babi guling, some Balinese vegetable dishes, and a kind of chicken cooked almost similar to the Philippine adobo. We finished dinner late, and thankfully our driver waited patiently for us. (We felt a big guilty, so we gave some extra payment to him for the day.)

- We went back to Denpasar, an hour away from Ubud,  packed our bags, had a short sleep, and met Karyu for the last time this trip. Ibu Adi also woke up early to bid us farewell for the meantime (and to open the gates for us.) Karyu drove us to the airport as the sun was about to rise; we said goodbye to him, left him a generous tip for his service (and his long patience.) Too bad I wasn't able to take a photo of the sunrise because we were too sleepy and wanted to check in as soon as possible. We paid our 150,000rupiah travel tax, went through the maze of stores, and rode on the plane on the way back home.

- Bali is truly an island paradise, especially to beach lovers, culture enthusiasts, zen seekers, and hungry shopaholics. Our successful no-beach Bali adventure was on a tight-budget, but we got a whole lot more than we asked (both tangible and intangible things.) More importantly, our trip to Bali was coincidentally the first trip to Indonesia for the three of us. Because we were very happy with our experience in Bali, we not have better impressions of Indonesia than before. We hope that if there will be more opportunities to go back to Indonesia in the future, whether in Bali or not, Indonesia will continue to amaze us with everything it has to offer to everyone. (I just hope that next time, my face won't be sun-burnt.)