Bali: Day 3

Good morning!

It's already 3rd day in beautiful Bali. The previous day was very tiring but filled with adventure; waking up at 2am, nap awhile and having fun from 6am till 7pm. Phew! We had to take things slow today by waking up at 7am, breakfast at 8am then start journey at 10am.

 Holy water??? Let's find out more about this interesting heritage site...

Woke up at 7am today and had breakfast at 8am. The industrial counter and those lights are so in.

You can order omelette or however you want your eggs to be done. Noodle soup at the stall next to it.

They serve different menu everyday or at least the 3 breakfast we had. You'll see a different picture of kuih tomorrow.

Waffle and pancakes are cooked to perfection here.

Wonderful breakfast to keep us full till lunch.

Traditional Balinese breakfast. Looks like nasi lemak to us Malaysians.

There's still time before our tour starts so we went for a stroll at Kuta beach. If your hotel is just across the street like ours, you should go back to your hotel washroom to wash your hands and feet. We were charged 2000 rupiah per person just by using their tap and not even entering the public toilet wtf! I know it's just RM0.60 but I tak syiok!

 Anyway, there are lotsa surfer dudes for you girls to cuci mata.

Would you look at the amount of surfers behind. Sorry but we came from an island where the beach isn't appropriate to surf.

 Love the huge waves.

We started journey from our hotel in Kuta at 9:30am and reached Goa Gajah at 11:20am so it took around 2 hours.

Entrance fees for Goa Gajah is IDR15000 and visiting hours from 8am till 5pm.

Sarong will be provided if you are wearing anything short. Typically a yellow cloth will be tied around your waist if you wear something long that covers till your ankle.

Goa Gajah (literally elephant cave) is an archeological heritage in form of a cave ornamented by the beautiful relief on the facade of cave. This place is formerly a place of retreat for Shiva priest and Buddhist monks.  This cave was built on the brink of a meeting point between two small rivers, Kali Pangkung and Petanu River.

Built in 9th century, the mouth of the cave is ornamented by the sculpture of Kala Head with his eyes glancing to the east wall. There is a brief with letter of Kediri Kwadrat from the beginning of 11th century. The function of Kala is identical to a Bhoma contained on the gates of Hindu temples in Bali namely to maintain the sanctity of asceticism and provide the protection. This cave was discovered in 1923 which is previously covered by the grass and trees so that its existence is still hidden as a relic.

The structure and relief of Goa Gajah interior is T-shape. The inside of main room has 11 niches with horizontal shipped. On the right is a collection of three Lingham and Yoni statues which I read is sexual related.

There is a statue of Lord Ganesha set in west corner, meanwhile in the east corner there are 3 on the pedestal and each of phallus is surrounded by small phallus.

A few yards from the cave in the middle of the courtyard lies  a pond of Patirtaan, a place to take Tirta or holy water for ceremony. The holy pond was originally buried in the ground and successfully found in 1954. 

This holy pond is completed by the statues equipped by showers in form of  Widyadara-Widyadari (angels). Perhaps originally there were 7 fountain statues. The missing one was set in the middle as interrupter but its existence has not been known until now.

The existence of 7 fountain statues are based on the concept of Sapta Tirtha, the seven holy water which has purity equal to Sapta Nadi (7 purified river includes Gangga, Sindhu, Saraswati, Yamuna, Godawari, Serayu and Narmada). It has symbolic belief  that taking the water from each fountain could obtain sacred value in equivalent of Sapta Nadi.

We spent around 30 minutes around the cave and pond then heading to exit when we spotted some stairs across the ravine leading to a forest reserve and stream.

So all 4 of us were curious and began to explore. We could see some angmo dangerously stood on rocks and cliff trying to drink from the strong current stream.

After climbing up some steps, we stumbled upon a Buddhist shrine known as the "jungle temple". A priestess performs rituals for visitors and we delightedly participated as well.

She began the ritual by giving us a yellow frangipani each then some chanting and blessed us with tiny showers of holy water.

The frangipani were then slotted above our ears and raw rice were stuck on our glabella and jugular notch. She looks really graceful and strong despite being elderly. I can't imagine how she manages to climb the steps daily while we youths are panting like mad. So it's true beauty shines from within.

We left Goa Gajah at 12:15pm and arrived Pura Tirta Empul (Holy Spring Water Temple) at 12:40pm. You will see this guardian statue before entering.

Do ignore the sweaty angmo. Can't help it's a humid tropical island. Anyway, entrance fees the same as Goa Gajah that is IDR15000. Opening hours from 9am to 5pm.

There is a huge tree shadowing a shrine somewhere around the ticket booth.

A very common rule for almost all temples in Bali is to dress appropriately covering up till your knees. You are also required to tie up your hair if it is long. Others are such as no shampooing, no brushing teeth, washing clothes and so on...I mean who does that in a holy pond? Glad I could understand most of what's written.

Insta worthy gate. I love the cream coloured sarong that I chose on purpose.

After the gate you will see a pond full of large koi.

Pura Tirta Empul was founded around a large water spring in 962 A.D. during the Warmadewa dynasty between 10th to14th century. The name of the temple comes from the ground water source named Tirta Empul. The temple is divided into three sections: Jaba Pura (front yard), Jaba Tengah (central yard) and Jeroan (inner yard). Jaba Tengah that we were sitting here contains 2 pools with 30 showers which are named accordingly: Pengelukatan, Pebersihan and Sudamala dan Pancuran Cetik (poison).
  

Hubby at the inner yard which is less crowded. The water here is said to purify much critical cases than of the middle yard.

The spring is the source of the Pakerisan river.

The temple is dedicated to Vishnu, another Hindu god name for the supreme consciousness Narayana.

Here is the source of the spring water at the rear end courtyard.

You can see the water bubbling like a hot spring but it's cold.

It's around 1:50pm by now so we took the final vain shots.

On a hill overlooking the temple, a modern villa was built for President Sukarno's visit in 1954. The villa is currently a rest house for important guests.

Cool posing idea!

Our guide, Agus informed us that this is a traditional Balinese house.

A vast maze of souvenir shops as you exit the temple. Wish we had more time here coz our guide said this place is one of the cheapest to shop for souvenirs. Regretted for leaving hurriedly as our tummies were calling.

On the way to Kintamani, we came across a lot of Balinese ladies in traditional attire balancing tall offerings on their head. I'm unsure if the procession's a daily routine for the locals. Btw it was raining heavily throughout the journey.

Around 2:35pm which is an hour drive from Tirta Empul, we stopped by briefly at a viewing point opposite the volcano and lake. Glad the rain subsided. God is so good to us for not letting a single drop of rain hit us for the entire 6 days.

We had a late lunch almost 2:50pm at a buffet restaurant that I couldn't recall its name coz the food weren't good.

Basic looking local food overpowered by magnificent view of Mount Batur. It's not like you get to have lunch with this kinda view everyday.

Mount Batur is an active volcano located at the center of two concentric calderas north west of Mount Agung. The south east side of the larger 10×13km caldera contains a caldera lake. The inner 7.5km wide caldera which was formed during emplacement of the Ubud ignimbrite has been dated at about 23670 and 28500 years ago.

The first documented eruption was in 1804 and the most recent was in 2000. Does it mean it can erupt anytime?

After lunch we spent about 10 minutes of being vain again till 3:40pm.

We arrived Bali Pulina coffee plantation at 4:25pm. Kinda off schedule already. We were greeted by friendly staffs and offered a guided tour around the area however I feel the staffs spoke too soft that I couldn't hear what she explained. She should have spoken to all 4 of us and not only to my husband.

This is an Asian palm civet. Yeah, don't ever touch the cat no matter how cute it is. It can be a vicious carnivorous. To produce kopi luwak, coffee cherries are fed and partially digested by the cats then harvested from its fecal matter. The civets digest the flesh of the coffee cherries but pass the beans inside, leaving their stomach enzymes to go to work on the beans, which adds to the coffee's prized aroma and flavour. A packet of 500g of luwak beans can cost up to $600. So basically you are drinking cat poop.

Further in the area you can try on various process in making coffee like this amateur roasting by yours truly.

The staff had to walk down those slippery steps carrying our coffee coz we sat at in a hut way below the center.

The large cup is kopi luwak. If I can recall it costs IDR50000 a cup. The tasting set is free for visitors but 4 of us had to share. Wish we were provided 4 empty cups.

Enjoying a cuppa overlooking the lush greenery in a coffee lover's paradise.

Entangle our arms reliving our wedding moments...with cat poop drink. But seriously it just taste like a strong kopi 'O'.

The kopi luwak is kinda expensive. I am mildly allergic to coffee and can go by the entire year without drinking coffee therefore this ain't a necessity.

We saw this scenic deck when we walked down to our table so we didn't forget to stop by before going up to the center.

The view is gorgeous and nice for photo shooting. Those seemed like rice terrace but they are not.

Here's a ripe cocoa bean. We left the place around 5:45pm.

A few minutes from the coffee plantation lies the famous tegalalang rice terrace. I heard that there's an entrance fee of IDR5000 but did not notice our guide paying any fees.

                            
One of a well known attraction in Bali is the landscapes of Tegalalang rice terrace involving subak, a traditional Balinese cooperative irrigation system passed down by a revered shaman in the 8th century.

A mandatory jump pose almost everywhere I go. Not much you can do here other than enjoying the view, taking selfies or even paint the scenery if you have time to spare. We spent about 15 - 20 minutes at this view point till 5:50pm.

After a nap in the car through a long traffic jam, we arrived at a hyped up joint in Bali at 7:45pm. We were surprised to see staffs in hijab working in a non-halal shop. Agus told us in Indonesia especially Bali locals are open minded about each others beliefs. Come to think of that, we have been to clubs that hired Muslim bouncers and managers and alcohol stores in our airports have Muslim cashiers too. So as long as you stay true to your practice there wouldn't be interference in your profession.

Some of the signature items of Naughty Nuri's Warung are ice cold martinis and succulent BBQ pork ribs previously confined to the streets of Ubud, now you get to enjoy Nuri's everywhere. They even have a branch beside Penang Plaza. The one we had in Bali is at Seminyak.

The prices are just slightly cheaper than in Penang due to currency exchange.

First time seeing recipe in bahasa with the word babi.

You can hang outside and watch the juicy ribs being prepared.

We ordered 2 huge slabs of ribs, 2 pieces of lamb chops and a platter of sandwich. As I have said since the first day, food in Bali has a stronger taste than our local dish so the ribs at it's origin has gotta be better than the branch at my hometown but I wish they could pour more gravy on the ribs.

We requested our guide to drop off in the heart of Kuta for shopping. It was 9:10pm by now.

Whoa! Welcome to Kuta where the convenience store is loaded with booze. Just remember to drink responsibly and never be a junkie coz you must know about the law in South East Asian countries.

Just window shopping and photo shooting like a typical tourist.

I love this white store behind me. Their apparels are stylish.

Argh! I wanna try Jamie's so badly.

Not a Hard Rock fan but a photo is a must. One thing about entering prestigious stores and malls is you have to go through security. After all the bombing, this is necessary to ensure our safety but I do get butterflies whenever I walk in Kuta.

Beachwalk is a semi open air concept leisure mall that I discovered through Google map. I was looking for places to go at night nearby our hotel.

This mall consists of international brands mostly mid range luxury like Zara, Topshop, Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria's Secret, Guess and many more.

Bebek tepi sawah is on the top floor. There's an outdoor stage on the ground floor.

After hanging out on the roof for a few minutes we went window shopping at some expensive atas outlets that sells $100 plain white T-shirts.

Being a sweet tooth I had to enter Flapjacks for some dessert. Supper at 10:30pm but I never give a fuck about health freaks. I often have heavy meals even at 3am

Various gelato for you to choose from..

A menu of scrumptious desserts.

Hubby and I ordered berries gelato.

Our friends ordered chocolate pancake. OMG drooling!

Ice cream to end another incredible day. See you tomorrow where we will be covering south of Bali and "romantic" dinner at Jimbaran beach overlooking sunset.

Click HERE for itinerary and budget. Enjoy the video below...