Bali - Day 2 (The tour)

We got up early today, about 6am.

Didn't sleep well last nite. The mattress was a bit hard & I couldn't help feeling a bit spooked thru the nite. haha.

Since it was still too early, we decided to take pix in the garden (yup, we were still in our PJs). It was quiet and refreshing. In fact, it was a nice change to walk in the garden early in the morning before getting ready for the day.

We were already at the restaurant way before 8am. Surprise, surprise...There were lots of people on the beach. Kids played at the beach, people flew kites or swam in the sea, flocks of people going to the temple, carrying their baskets of offerings, etc...Gosh!...We should have brought our camera to breakfast. Didn't expect this...Hey, this is not even 8am. In Bintulu (my hometown), people don't really get up that early on a SUNDAY morning, let alone, going to the beach.

Later we met our guide for the day at the lobby. A young chap, in his 20s, dressed in a traditional balinese attire. He introduced himself as Putu. Our driver for the day was Bpk Wayan. As we drove off, Putu informed us about the unique names for Balinese where the children are named by their birth order. The oldest will be named Putu/Wayan, 2nd as Made, 3rd Nyoman/Komang and 4th Ketut. The names are then repeated for any more children. To differentiate further, the names are added "I" for male & "Ni" for female. Example, as for my case it would probably be Ni Wayan Elly. hehe.

The first program for the day was the Barong performance in Batubulan which were starting at 9.30am but since we were quite early, we were brought to the Batik gallery somewhere in Gianyar (can't remember the exact location)...spent about 40 mins there.

After the Barong performance, we went to Celuk, a village famous for it's silver. Alongside the road in the village was numerous silversmith. Wow! Some even make to order. Excellent designs too. We finally left this particular silver gallery, more than an hour later & having spent hundred of thousands Rupiah. Phew!

We didn't stopped at Mas for the woodcarving. Instead, we headed on to an art gallery somewhere .... We were introduced to varied style of Balinese painting. I could just spend the entire day there. The paintings were beautiful. Bought framed paintings of Rama & Sita (their version of Romeo & Juliet). The frames were beautifully carved. I thought it would be the perfect wedding gift for Dez. Other than that, I bought a modern painting of Balinese dancers and a painting of Balinese village in young artists' style.

(Note : if you were ever tempted to buy paintings at art galleries, hold on to the thought first until you get to smaller village where the same painting will cost only a fraction)

After the art gallery, we proceeded to Kintamani for lunch. We made a short stop at Tegalallang to take picture of the rice terrace. Cool!

The journey to Kintamani took us almost an hour to reach there. Kintamani is located more than 1000 metre above sea level, hence the cool air. The restaurant had a stunning view of Mount Batur (3rd tallest volcano) & Lake Batur (the largest lake). What better way to end the lunch but to sip the Bali coffee & looking at the mountain...ahhh....

(There are a number of street vendors outside the restaurant, calling for you to buy their stuffs. So, you tend to get distracted while enjoying your lunch. It's sad tho having to be selfish & ignoring them.)

Initially we were supposed to visit Pura Besakih (Mother Temple) but since we wanted to catch the 6.30pm cultural show in Batubulan, we visited Pura Batur instead. Pura Batur is the 2nd largest temple in Bali.

On our way back to Batubulan, we made a stop at a art market in Tampaksiring. Found nice souvenirs there. Since there was still time before the cultural performances, we took the opportunity to visit Pura Desa Batuan.

We then headed back to Batubulan for the Kecak & fire dances. The performance was about 1 hour. Later, we went back to Sanur for dinner at a restaurant where we were entertained by more dances e.g. bumble bee dance & Baris.

We finally got back to the hotel past 9pm. It has been a tiring but great day.

So for tomorrow, we had decided to charter the car with driver & guide for 7 hours. We had just made the call, requesting for both Putu & Bpk Wayan for our day trip tomorrow.

As for the plan, we're just going to cover some places that we had missed today.