Bali - Volcano, Temples & Rice Terrace [Part 2]

15 July 2011 @ Bali

Day 2 in Bali started off with the complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel. We finally saw some living things at the dining area...

Nothing much to boast about the breakfast. But the view of our rooms from the dining area was marvelous.

Such a beautiful pool in front of our rooms shouldn't go to waste right? We change into our swim wear and took a dip into the freezing pool. I wasn't kidding, the temperature of the water is crazily cold.

Agus arrived slightly later as he stayed pretty far from our hotel. We checked out at 11am and went up north to see the famous Mount Batur & Lake Batur at Kintamani.

Everyone + Agus [rightmost] @ Mount Batur

The clouds were covering the scenery and there weren't much to see up there. The winds were quite strong and cooling though.

After a quick stop at Mount Batur, we headed on to Pura Tirta Empul at Tampak Siring. To get into the place, everyone has to wear the sarong provided.

There were many people praying and bathing with the holy water inside the temple. It's kinda happening in there. Carvings and architecture of the buildings were quite impressive too.

As the temple is near the mountain, the water in the pool is extremely cold. You can see the locals shivering right down to their toes. How they tahan ah... Geng!

We walked out of the temple and saw some stalls selling Tipat Tahu. Bought 1 plate to share out of curiosity. It consists of fried taufu, crackers, peanuts, cili padi and some sauce.

Next, we went to the Tegallalang Rice Terrace for photo. There isn't much to do there as you can't really go all the way down to the paddy field. The view was beautiful but the photo above pretty much sums up the things that you can see there.

We still have time to spare and we decided to go to our backup plan - Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave). This attraction is towards the South of Ubud town.

As usual, we gotta get wrapped up with the sarongs before entering.

There is a little cave which you can enter through a humongous mouth of the carving on the wall. Nothing much inside there.

On the outside, there are holy water where you can wash your hands and face with. The water level in the pond is getting really low and the fishes gotta swim slantingly. Poor fishies.

When we get out of Goa Gajah, the driver sped off to Kuta town, which is the most happening town in Bali.

But just like the condition of the first day, we got stuck in a massive jam before reaching Kuta.

I'm amazed by how they stack up their plates

Our tummies were growling for food and so we asked Agus to bring us for a local lunch. He brought us to this little shop that sells Nasi Padang - pretty much like our Chinese mixed rice in KL.

We reached and checked into Tune Hotel in the evening. I was having slight fever and so I stayed in the room to rest while the others went out for a walk.

They came back for me to have dinner together and we explored more of the Kuta night life.

We walked along the streets and somehow bumped into this memorial of all the victims of the terrorist bombing at Legion Road, Kuta.

I don't feel very safe walking on the streets as people like to stare at you and some would even ask if you would like to try their "Magic Mushrooms". We didn't know what exactly was Magic Mushrooms until Agus explained that it's a kind of drug that can make you "fly"~

Later in the night, we went to this street near our hotel that sells lots of local food. We tried Bakso, Babi Guling and Teh Botol.

We actually wanted to taste the famous Babi Guling Ibu Oka at Ubud town but they were closed for the Kuningan festival. Due to this grand festival which happens twice a year, most of the shops and restaurants were closed. Dang! Bad timing! Billy, out.