Indonesia – Page 3 – Travels with Ali

Sunset and Smoke on Samosir Island, Indonesia

From our hotel balcony.

~ A trip to Ulun Danu Beratan Temple ~

Today we were going to take a trip out to see the lake at Ulun Beratan Temple. We had booked June the day before and he arrived promptly at 10.30 am. Our first stop would be the lake which was just over an hour away. Anthony loves to have a chat with taxi drivers (I think this is a male thing) and before long they were discussing the politics of Indonesia. My hubby seems to know something about any government. I could see June was very impressed by his knowledge.

When we arrived we could see it was super busy and a very popular place to visit. Once we had parked we ventured off into the beautiful gardens and down to the lake.

The details on the bird above looked like dried petals, beautiful to see up close.

We wandered around the gardens admiring all the different statues and flower beds before making our way down to the lake.

The History of Ulun Danu Beratan Lake

“It is said long ago there were several groups of people who found a very large area of land. It was part of an ancient volcanic eruption. They decided to make their home here. They started farming here and planted rice and other crops. The land was very fertile.
The crops thrived and were ready to be harvested. It is normally the women who harvest the rice while the men carry it to the barn to be stored.
A miracle happened and the rice grew again. The rice they harvest never runs out.
The people soon got tired of all the harvesting and had a habit of sticking glanggang (sic) into the ground which in turn hit the water vessels in the ground. Soon the water emerges from the ground and gets bigger every day, inevitably the water drowned all the rice and became the lake”. Source: ulundanuberatan.com

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Posted as part of Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share

The Abundance of Ubud, Bali

First Night

Setting off from Perth to Ubud, we caught an afternoon flight to Denpasar on Batik Air at 2.15 pm. We arrived at 6 pm but didn’t reach our destination until 9.30 pm. I had booked a driver with Booking.Com who had waited for over an hour for our appearance. There was an extremely long wait to disembark before boarding a bus to the terminal, then the wait for visas and our luggage to arrive, so we didn’t meet June, a very lovely man, until 7.30 pm. The traffic in Bali is notorious and doesn’t seem to get better over the years. I’m sure the drive to Ubud would have been even longer if it wasn’t for June’s incredible prowess in driving, formula one style. I closed my eyes many times as he overtook cars and trucks, I’m not sure how this would have helped in any way!

Finally arriving at 9.30 pm, we told the reception staff that we would have dinner immediately. They were extremely helpful and we did our check in while eating a most delicious dinner overlooking one of the beautiful pools and under the magnificent “Strawberry Moon”. We were staying in the middle of rice fields in Ubud, something I have wanted to do for a while, for four nights at The Plataran Ubud Hotel and Spa.

Slipped behind a cloud, the second I pulled out the camera

After dinner we were shown to our villa, which we had been told was a free upgrade!

On first appearance our room seemed incredible, but after an almost sleepless night due to noisy people staying in a house overlooking our villa but not connected to the hotel, we decided otherwise. First thing the next morning we asked the reception staff if we could move to our original room. Just after breakfast we packed up and moved on.

Day Two – Exploring the hotel grounds

The Plataran Hotel is surrounded by beautiful lush gardens, situated minutes away from the hustle and bustle of the busy Ubud streets. The rooms look out onto bright green paddy fields of rice, where you can watch the women harvesting and whacking the rice.

You can walk through the paddy fields by following a path of stepping stones. We continued our walk around the rest of the grounds and found fish ponds and waterfalls and sheep, rabbits, chickens and ducks.

It was such a peaceful setting with only the noise of the birds and and the water gurgling along the little gullies.

We followed the route through to a small village just outside the hotel.

Breakfast is served at the same place we had dinner overlooking the pool.

Ubud’s Main Streets

Today we were just going to be tramping the busy streets of Ubud. Soaking up the atmosphere and trying to keep dry.

Ubud is a town in the uplands of Bali, surrounded by rice paddies and steep ravines. It’s also a popular destination for arts and crafts and made famous after the film and book “Eat, Love, Pray”. Home to shrines, temples, yoga barns and warungs (small cafes and restaurants). Also nearby is the famous Monkey Forest, which we would not be visiting!

It’s hard to work up any pace walking along these pavements, the paving stones are generally sticking up at odd angles and then there are the ubiquitous motor bikes and scooters parked haphazardly. Anthony was constantly telling me to “be careful” as he knows my predicament of footcidents over the years.

I had time to have a pedicure and foot massage in one of the many spas along the roads and have to say it was most relaxing, although she could have gone easier with the pressure!

We eventually headed back to the hotel to have a shower before dinner, but disaster was awaiting us. After having a rain shower I noticed that the bath was black! I ran the water again and sure enough there was black silt coming through. I’m not sure how I didn’t notice, maybe because I had my eyes shut. Anyway a long story short, we had to move rooms once more until the problem was fixed.

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More to follow soon…

~ Sightseeing in Bali at Tengenungen Waterfall ~

During our week in Bali, Anthony and I hired a driver to visit one of the many waterfalls that Bali has to offer. Tengenungen was around 30 minutes drive away and our driver was going to wait for a few hours while we explored.

This not a free attraction but the fee to enter is minimal. Before walking to the steps down to the waterfall there is a small strip with many stalls selling the usual Balinese crafts. They were all calling out to us to visit on the way back.

This was the first sight of the waterfall and the glass bridge across the river. The bridge wasn’t open that day, which was a relief with the sun beating down.

It was an extremely hot and humid day and there were nearly 200 stairs to traverse! The stairs of course were not nice and even enabling one foot after the other, rather they were all different sizes; steep, wide, narrow and shallow. So it was a case of walking down like a toddler learning to walk, for me anyway.

There was a hotel set amongst the rocks with a gorgeous looking swimming pool and tables with umbrellas around it. I’m not sure if you would want to spend more than one night here.

A cute bird’s nest, large enough for a person to sit in. I did see a lady climb in, I wasn’t brave enough as the drop was too steep! It didn’t look that safe, it definitely wouldn’t have passed health and safety requirements in Australia.

Finally at the bottom we saw there were “bridges” to cross the pool to the waterfall and more steps going up the other side. I decided to sit and watch Anthony go across as it all looked a bit risky to me. If someone was going to fall in it would be me.

I thought you would be able to swim in the pool down below but there were signs saying no swimming, I probably wouldn’t have gone anyway because of all the rocks. The sight of the waterfall amongst all the lush tropical greenery was worth the effort.

Anyone could use these signs to take selfies with, but again I wasn’t brave enough to climb over the logs and through the water to get to them.

Anthony’s journey across the river

I’m glad to say Anthony made it back in one piece and then we made our way back up again. Oh, boy was this tough going. I was stopping every four or five steps and with a lady hot on my tail. I had to keep turning round and apologising but she said, “no, you’re okay, it’s exactly my pace”. Then she said “you must be 30 years younger than me”! Well that would have made me 30 or her 90, maybe it was my hat and dark glasses.

Once at the top we stopped and looked at one of the stalls and I bought a dress and Anthony bought himself a sari! He said he wanted to wear it around the garden at home, but he wore it to dinner that night. He surprises me everyday.

Stopping off for a coconut and a last look across the river at the bridge.

It was a lovely morning and I’m glad we made the effort to go. There are so many different places to see in Bali but the heat does affect you, early morning is the best time to go.

Bali Safari and Waterpark Antics

During our week in Bali we spent a day a the Bali Safari and Conservation Park, with time in the waterpark after. I think we were all amazed about what a fantastic place this is. We had a conversation about the ethics of these types of places but upon reading about the park and also walking around we all agreed that wonderful things were happening here.

Upon arrival there is a bus to take you to the actual park. By the time we arrived the Tiger Show was about to start so we hopped off the train and went to find seats. The seating areas were extremely full but we managed to get good seats.

It was all very exciting at first with the tigers running around and climbing trees. Then the poachers came on reflecting what is happening in the real world, the whole audience was quite shocked when the tiger ran off and a fake one (obviously!) was brought back in a trap. Hard to explain to Lachie and Rosie.

Next up was the Elephant show, which again started off fun until, you guessed it, poachers again. These elephants are very well trained and one started limping and then fell down, dead! The whole audience gasped and both kids started crying, with other children also crying. We had to leave in a hurry.

I took mostly videos, so most of the photos are just clips of these. I had some fun with Canva compiling these!

It was an incredibly hot day but almost every 10 metres were Safari staff carrying trays with ice cold beers and water.

After the shows we got on the train again for our safari tour, which takes you through the park to view the many animals that live here.

We all had our favourite animals, for me it was the spotted deer, so many babies.

Our guide and commentator was very funny and informative, explaining about the various animals and constantly cracking jokes.

Lunch was next and we walked around looking for somewhere suitable for all of us. There are many options available but we chose a food hall type of venue with air con blasting away.

Although there were many more animals to see we were all hot and tired and wanted nothing more than to get wet. So off to the waterpark it was.

I’m not sure who had the most fun, the adults I think. There were also two pools for swimming with two large slides as well.

The parrots below sit on perches and can fly around freely. If you’re very brave like Elena and Damian they will climb onto your arms and pose.

Some information I found from the Bali Safari website:

BIG CAT SHOW

The tigers in the Big Cat Show are not deprived of food in order to elicit show behaviours and performance. All our animals receive a daily balanced diet based on modern zoo nutrition recommendations and scaled according to their body weight.

ELEPHANT SHOW

The elephant is not ‘being forced at rifle point to lie down’ rather the elephant and actor together are performing a scene, this scene and the whole show highlights the story of human – elephant conflict in Sumatra and sends a strong message of elephant conservation to our visitors. Source: Bali Safari Park

There is also an established Sumatran Tiger Breeding Centre here which is the first place in the World to artificially inseminate a tiger.

Such a fun day was had by all, we were all glad to get back to the hotel for some relaxation before dinner.