Tag: Warung

Waterfalls & Rice Terraces! – Northern Bali, Indonesia

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Today was a day of exploring waterfalls. We ended up hiring another driver from Bali Customized Tours, however I forget what his name was this time… I think it was Ali. We had breakfast at the Westin hotel again, and was picked up at 7:00am.

First stop was Leke Leke Falls. The last few kilometres of driving took nearly half an hour because of how bumpy and uneven the road was. The waterfall isn’t frequented as many others around Bali, so we were the only ones there. Standing at 32 metres high, the water sources are from springs in the mountains, so the water is quite clear. The entrance fee to the waterfall is about $4/pp and the hike takes about 30 minutes return.

After visiting Leke Leke falls we drove to Sekumpul Waterfall, about another hour away. You need to hire a local guide to bring you down to the waterfall, because its a protected area. Our guide introduced us to his family, and he had a pretty cute dog named Molly that ended up following us for a while. The hike to the 80 metre high waterfall takes about 45 minutes, and involves going down about 350 steps. At the beginning of the hike there’s some beautiful rice terraces.

After exploring Sekumpul Waterfall our guide showed us another waterfall, just 10 minutes away, which involved two water crossings. This is the fifth time I’ve had to do a water crossing in my hiking adventures, and I really enjoyed it.

Now it was time to climb those 350 stairs to head back to the car. It wasn’t too bad, but it’s certainly not fun in 32°C heat!

We then drove to a local warung to have some lunch. Unfortunately this was a very bad choice to eat this time round, because Julie and I both ended up getting quite sick for a few days, as you’ll find out in subsequent blogs.

After lunch we visited Aling Aling Waterfall, which was just a few minutes away. Aling Aling Waterfall stands over 35 metres tall. We had the opportunity to also go down a natural waterslide, or jump into the water, however we were really beginning to not feel well, so we asked to just go to our hotel. The drive to the hotel was about another hour, which made for an uncomfortable ride.

Our accommodation tonight was at Handara Golf Resort. Handara Golf Resort is a beautiful mid-century hotel that was the brainchild of Ibnu Sutowo, known as the “father” of Golf in Indonesia. The resort took two years to build, and was opened in 1976. The resort was completely renovated in 2015, however still maintains its mid-century charm. In 1979 the golf course at the resort was rated as one of the Top 50 greatest courses in the world.

For dinner we had some western style food, since we wanted something we were used to, and were not feeling very good. Julie had an open faced burger with beef bacon, and I had some Japanese Ramen. Since we were not feeling well we decided to watch Netflix in bed, and head to bed early.

Temples! – Bali, Indonesia

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Today we took another a custom tour with Bali Customized Tours to Eastern Bali. Our tour included “The Mother Temple” known as Besakih, a Bamboo Forest, Penglipuran Ancient Village, and Gunung Kawi Ancient Tomb. Our driver today was Ambara.

Before we were picked up we had a delicious breakfast prepared by the lovely staff at Hideout Bali. I had a traditional breakfast with eggs and delicious toast, and Julie had porridge and fruit.

First stop was the “Mother Temple”, also known as the Besakih Great Temple. It is a pura complex in the village of Besakih on the slopes of Mount Agung in Eastern Bali. It is the tallest, holiest, and most important temple in Bali, sometimes drawing as many as a million visitors on some of the holiest days of the year. In fact, this is considered one of the largest Hindu complex’s in the entire world. The extensive complex contains 23 separate but related temples, with the largest and most important being Pura Penataran Agung. The temple is built on six levels, terraced up the slope. The entrance is marked by a split gate. In the temple there are a plethora of pagoda’s with 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 roofs, which symbolize the different gods. This temple is undergoing an extensive $150 million upgrade to allow better parking, access, and more shop fronts. During our visit here we were blessed, and I still wear my red, black, and white bracelet that I was given after I was blessed.

Next stop was the Penglipuran Ancient Village, which was also next door the Bali’s largest Bamboo Forest, spanning over 20 hectares. Penglipuran Village is one of the few traditional Balinese villages remaining. The architecture of the buildings and land processing still follows the concept of Tri Hita Karana, the philosophy of Balinese society regarding the balance of relations between God, humans, and their environment.

The place we visited before grabbing lunch was Gunung Kawi, also known as Candi Tebing Gunung Kawi. Gunung Kawi is an 11th century temple and funeral complex in Tampaksiring, which is North East of Ubud. It is comprised of 10 rock-cut shrines (candi) that are carved into 7 metre (23 foot) high sheltered chines of the sheer cliff face. There are monuments dedicated to King Anak Wungsu of the Udayana dynasty, as well as his favorite queens. On the Eastern side of the complex are five temples that are dedicated to King Udayana, his Queen Mahendradatta, and their three sons Airlangga, Anak Wunsu and Marakata. On the West side of the complex are temples dedicated to the King’s minor Queens.

After visiting the temple it was time to get some lunch. We ended up stopping at a local Warung. I had some duck, which honestly wasn’t very good, and was a rather small portion. After lunch we stopped at Oka Agriculture Bali to do some tea and coffee tasting, which included Kopi Luwak, which is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries that were eaten and defecated by an Asian Pal Civet. Honestly, which the coffee was quite smooth, I prefer regular coffee. We samples 16 different coffees and teas, and ended up purchasing some Ginger Tea and Mangosteen Tea.

After our coffee and tea tasting we drove a short distance to a local wood carving shop, and were able to see them creating their beautiful art work. It’s amazing how much effort goes into creating these carvings. We opted not to purchase anything due to limited space in our luggage.

It was then time to head back to our final night at Hideout Bali. We ordered some local Balinese dishes for dinner, and enjoyed watching some Netflix in bed, because the mosquitos were too bad to be out on our balcony.

Travelling to Bali, Indonesia

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Today we woke up at 430am to catch a 730am flight to Denpasar, the capital city of Bali, Indonesia. I woke up feeling quite unwell so I didn’t feel like eating. I attributed my stomach problems to the noodles in my Laksa Soup, that I ate the previous day, being made of rice. I have developed a rather large sensitivity to rice, corn, and potatoes within the last six months.

The flight to Denpasaar was on a SCOOT Boeing 787-9, and took about 2.75 hours, which is a very short hop for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. SCOOT is a low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines that was started in 2012. It merged with Tigerair in July 2017. The airline was fairly “hip” and had electronica music playing upon departure and arrival, as well as a neat rainbow inspired lighting scheme.

After arriving in Bali we took a GRAB (think Uber) to our hotel; Ratan Hotel Uluwatu Pecatu, about 30 minutes (16km) away. The hotel was fairly nice for only $40/night, however they could have cleaned the room a bit better. The small private pool area was quite nice, but we never used it, because it was too cold. Haha. Before diving into our adventures let’s look at the history of Bali, Indonesia.

Bali History

Bali is a province of Indonesia, and is the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It was originally inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian’s who migrated originally from Taiwan. Culturally and linguistically, Balinese people are quite closely related to people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Tourism makes up for about 80% of Bali’s economy. Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in a Muslim-majority Indonesia, with roughly 87% of Balinese people adhering to Hinduism. Bali’s capital city is Denpasar, which is comprised of about 2.3 million people. Bali has a total population of 4.3 million people, which means over half the population lives in the capital.

Exploring Bali

After napping for about four hours we dropped off our laundry to get cleaned. Laundry is very cheap to get washed in Indonesia, typically costing about $1/kg. It was then time to get some dinner. We ate at Warung Boga Sari. Warung’s are typically where the local’s eat, and it’s cost is typically $3-5 and is based on the weight of the food served. We had a bunch local Indonesian dishes, including Tempe, which is fermented Tofu. It’s one of my favourites so far. On the way back we stopped in at Indomaret (Not Indomarket. Think 7-11) for some water, and a few snacks. We really struggled to stay awake, so that was the extent of our day.