3rd to 8th March, 2017

We decided that we should get out and about once again and soak up some Balinese culture, so this meant heading more or less straight up the island to see a couple of temples, some rice terraces and maybe some wood carvings.

An early start (for us!) of 0800 saw us head off into the traffic towards our first temple of the day, but not without stopping briefly to snap one of the many magnificent statues that frequent many of the main roundabouts in Bali. They usually seem to represent a god vanquishing some demon or other and are generally huge! This is the one we saw. I think something similar would make the difference on some of our roundabouts at home!

Next to Pura Taman Ayun, a temple (or Pura) thought to have been built in 1634 and encircled by a moat to symbolise the mythological home of the gods, Mount Meru, floating in the cosmic ocean. It is a wonderfully tranquil place with soft red brick  and pale stone all looking suitably ancient, but very well preserved. There was a large covered area with some models of people cock fighting (illegal now we were told, but there seem to be plenty of the birds being bred).

There is then an inner courtyard with its own smaller moat which is inaccessible to the general public except at festival time. There are some two dozen meru or pagodas inside and the three most important ones represent Bali’s holiest mountains, their spot in the temple representing their location on Bali. These are Batukara (11 tiers), Batur (9 because it is smaller than the other two) and Agung (11 again).

Taman means garden and there was a lovely wooded area at the far end, again very tranquil. Balinese temples seem to have eschewed the brashness and over-the-top colour of some Hindu temples you find elsewhere and were certainly a bit of a relief after all that gold of the Buddhist temples and shrines of our earlier travels. Great carvings too… (and a couple of good snaps of Val)…

We had a short break at a fruit market to get a few provisions. I can’t remember what the door was all about, but it was really lovely, so you get that as a bonus…

So, one temple down and two to go – or so we thought. More on that soon. Next was Pura Ulun Danau Bratan, again in a lovely setting, this time in Lake Bratan. Built in 1633, it is dedicated to Dewi Danu, source of water and hence fertility for the island. Our guidebook did advise rather deprecatingly that you COULD hire a pedalo, if you must or, worse still in their view, join a speedboat ride. We took their implied advice and didn’t.

It is certainly photogenic and I have largely managed to crop out the hordes of people taking their selfie shots. I liked the eagle in the garden nearby too.

It was time for some lunch which we took overlooking the rice terraces of Jatiluwih, very beautiful and the oldest ones on the island. Also a chance for me to try to capture the essence of what they are like. I am not convinced I have succeeded, but see what you think… very green!

Now I mentioned another possible temple, Tanah Lot, this one actually on a rock in the sea, but we had to make a decision as to whether we saw that at sunset (with serious hordes of other people) or looked for some wood carvings and we settled for the latter, in Ubud. We went first to what was obviously a tourist trap, not least as the prices were on the decidedly high side, so in the end we had a quick walk through what is termed Ubud Art Market, though mostly it was low quality tourist stuff, football shirts and those wooden penises again (I am still intrigued as to who is buying them). We did find a mask though to go with the one we have at home already, so I will be drilling more holes in the dining room wall when I get home! More nice material and another lovely gateway.

And that was our tour as it was time to get back to the hotel. Another good day out and if we ever come back to Bali I would certainly look at staying outside of Denpasar and the south so we could more easily access the rest of the island as it has a great deal more to offer.

We have continued to sample the great restaurants near the hotel and managed to find some ribs, which were good.. though the attempt at a selfie needs work!

Having finally posted about Bali, it turns out that an Old Emanuel (where I used to teach) saw the post and was living really close so we so we met up with said OE, Helen Hobson and had a good catch-up on things past and present future (though the evening was not actually that tense, haha). Great to see her and, as ever, I feel vicariously paternal, though I am not sure I ever had much effect on Helen who was always very focused and well-behaved and did not grace my office for a ‘chat’! She is working for a marketing company and it seems that in this day and age if you simply do all your work on the internet, you can locate anywhere you like. Isn’t that fantastic!

Well, tomorrow we fly off to Mumbai for two nights before landing in Goa. We shall miss Bali (except the traffic). Nice people, again, great shops, lovely food and restaurants, a fascinating culture, wonderful spas and a fabulous hotel. Some final shots of the latter before we go. They have been excellent in every way.

Next stop – India!