Our Bali Holiday

We are back from Bali! We spent a wonderful 5 days, living in a villa. Really great time for me because I didn't have to do a thing! We had a house-boy, a cook and a driver at our beck & call. Every morning Dewa - the house-boy (well, he is actually a grown man:) - would ask us what we wanted to eat for the day and then he and the cook, Nyoman would go and buy the ingredients and cook the food. The meals were delicious and served right at the time we asked for it. We also had a gem of a driver, Wayan, to whom we would give the day's itinerary and then he made sure we saw all that we wanted to see.

On the first day I went crazy and packed the day with so many places to go to that we were all exhausted at the end of the day! Yet Wayan didn't say a word when I suggested an equally crazy itinerary the following day! Thank God I remembered that the reason we were staying in a villa and in Bali on a package tour was because I wanted to relax and spend time with my family. All we had done on the first day was sleep in the car while we went from point X to point Y to point Z. So, we abandoned my to-see list and just lazing in the villa became top priority!

Here's what we did in Bali:

Day 1: Mon 4 Jun

• Mad day of driving around. We went to the artisan villages of Celuk (silver craft), Mas (wood carving) and Batuan where we visited a beautiful art gallery that was set up in an actual Balinese house compound.
  

• We also drove up to a beautiful scenic place called Kintamani from which we had spectacular views of an active volcano, Gunung Batur and the lake beside it, Lake Batur. The only thing that marred this experience was the lousy and expensive lunch we ate at the restaurant at the top of Kintamani. The restaurant had a lovely view but we didn't realise how esxorbitant the cost of the buffet was because we had not mastered the art of currency conversion yet. We ended up paying about S$90.00 for a buffet lunch that was no way even near the delicious meals our villa cooks served us. We also learnt to our horror that the tax in Bali was 21%. Yikes! Here are pics from Kintamani.

• We also stopped enroute at a spot called Tegalalang for a spectacular view of terraced ricefields and at a small agro-farm at Sri Batu where we were offered samples of all their produce such as coffee, cocoa & tea as well as fruits such as mangosteens & passion fruit.
  
  

• We also went to Tampaksiring to view an old temple built around a spring that the Balinese believe has healing powers. It is called Thirtha Empul and when we visited there were some prayers going on. People filled bottles with the holy water and took it back with them. The priest also sprinkled the water on those who were worshipping.In all the temples we went to, we were asked to tie a yellow sash around our waists & women in shorts (like me) had to wear a sarong that was provided by the temple.

• We then went to another temple called Goa Gajah (the Elephant Cave) which was built in the 11th century. This temple too was built around a spring and they had erected 6 statues from which the spring water flowed, naming the statues after rivers in India
  
  
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• By now, of course, we were exhausted and the drive back to the villa in the evening was a quiet one with all of us sleeping in the car. :)
  

Day 2: Tues 5 Jun

• We spent the morning just enjoying the villa and planned a half day tour today to recover from yesterday.
  

• Then tragedy struck. My camera battery went flat! I had charged the battery before we left and assumed that it would last 4 days and hadn't brought the charger with me. So there we were, in the middle of our holiday, with no camera. Wayan then took us to Kuta to look for a digital photo shop that could help and I ended up paying S$60 for a multi-card charger and plug which looked like it would have cost S$4 in Mustapha as well as a disposable camera since the battery would take a few hours to charge :( Oh well.


• In the afternoon, we went to Ubud which is a small artists' village & then to Uluwatu which is a beautiful temple set on top of a cliff. We had left Ubud too late so Wayan really raced to get us to Uluwatu before sunset. We made it in time but it was a cloudy evening and the sunset wasn't spectacular but we had a good time. We watched the famous Kecak dance which was really a dance drama based on the story of Ramayana. No photos sorry - I have to see how the disposable camera photos turn out.

Day 3: Wed 6 Jun

• Another morning spent relaxing at the villa before going to Mengwi to look at Taman Ayun, which was the royal temple. Tourists are not allowed into the temple but the temple grounds are beautiful. The whole temple is surrounded by a lotus pond.
  

• From Mengwi we went back to the villa for a rest as by this time I had developed a sore throat :( Nevertheless, we drove out first to Kuta Beach and then to Tanah Lot, which is another temple set by the sea. It was indeed a beautiful location but unfortunately my camera battery died again, and I could not take pictures. I was really disappointed as this was a picturesque place and one of the places I had been really keen to see.

Day 4: Thur 7 Jun

• This was our last day in Bali. Wayan drove us to a nearby beach but it started to rain so we had to come back to the villa. We spent the rest of the morning at the pool and reading on the 'bale' until it was time to say goodbye to the lovely staff and the villa.