Bali, Indonesia...Bali Dances...

The first dance show we saw was staged in Ubud palace. It was a Legong dance. The story was a common story where the girl did not love the guy, and informs him of the hero who will come and rescue her. The villain guy gears up for the war, meet a bird in the middle as a bad omen, and kill the bird. But in the war, the villain is defeated. The dance was beautifully depicted, especially the bird and the heroine, who was really beautiful. The dance resembled in many ways, the dances in India, especially the beauty of the dancers.

The second dance was a Barong dance. Barong was a mythological animal which represents the spirit of Bali. It was more of a comical dance, with a monkey character involved. The dance, or more of a show, also involved interaction of monkey with the audience. The Barong was enacted by 2 humans, and we were amazed by the synchronous movement of both of them, which resulted in producing a movement like a single monster.

This was followed by a dance depiction of a short story from Mahabharata. Two asura brothers, Sunda and Upasunda set to conquer the world, get blessings from a god. When they are about to capture devaloka, Indra, as he usually does, send a beautiful apsara who seduces them, and they both fight with each other for her, and become desperate, and lose their power. The apsara was so damn beautiful; her dance had the power of seducing the audience more than the asuras. I really enjoyed the dance, first in my life time, mainly because the story print out was given to us, and secondly, because it was colorful and beautiful.

The next dance we saw was the Kecak dance in Uluwatu temple, with the sunset as backdrop. It was a depiction of Ramayana. Around 30-40 people would sit and form circles and they kept repeating the work Cak (pronounced chak), and this was the music for the dance. The chak-chak sound was there for the entire course of the dance, represented the trees of forest, Ravana’s men and so on. The dance was not so colorful, but again we were given the print of the story. The story was enacted fast, again, Sita was beautiful, and the sunset in the backdrop was gorgeous. There was also fire in the dance, when Hanuman sets Lanks on fire and frees Sita. It was a traditional performance clubbed with two clowns who entertained the audience, which I felt was totally unnecessary.

Bali, Indonesia...Day 7...

The lazy day. We woke up late, and had breakfast from the hotel. We had a plan to go to Jimbaran beach, quite near the hotel. However, just when we reached there, it started raining and we had to come back.

Swimming pool in our Jimbaran hotel...

We checked out from the hotel in 1hr, as we had plans to do water sports in Nusa Dua. We reached the beach, a nice swimming beach, very calm with no waves. However, the water sports was expensive, hence we decided against it. We walked along the coast for an hour or so.

@Nusa Dua...

Fearing traffic, we got back in the car and were on the way back to the airport. We stopped in an Alfa Mart on the way, brought some candies and chocolates and drove to the airport. We returned the Jimny which took us around Bali and started waiting for the flight.

On the way to airport...

In Bali airport...

















It was Dec 31^st, we had a good flight, right on time, and we saw the last sunset of 2011 from the top, above the clouds. And all was set for a trip to the city to see the Singapore New Year.

Bali, Indonesia...Day 6...

This was the beach day, and we planned to cover some of the South Bali beaches. We started after having breakfast from the hotel, and we proceeded to Balangan beach. It was a nice beach, with a good stretch of coast. However, the beach was not a swimming beach as it had a lot of waves. However, again, we felt like we were in a private beach as there were very few in the beach. I had a nice time trying to break the waves. ;)

After changing, we went to dreamland beach. More than a beach, it was a “resort’ish” area. It was more or less, a 5 star place with a great beach. We decided not to get wet there, but I was so much tempted by the green waters and the nice waves there. There were some cliffs on the coast, we walked across the coast, and got tired by the scorching sun. After an hour or so, we decided to move on.

We decided to drive and move to a more secluded beach, Impossible beach, but could not find it. After few more minutes of driving, we decided to skip it and move to Padang Padang beach. This was a beach I discovered while reading a blog, and I thought it will be a nice private little beach. The trek down to the beach was good, where we had to get down in between rocks to reach there. However, when we reached there, it was a very small strip of coast, full of shops and tourists. We dint even have the place to stand there properly. We spent only little time over there, and climbed the way up to the next beach.

After Padang Padang, on the way to Uluwatu, we saw a nice little restaurant. It was on the first floor, and had a view of the Andaman Sea. Even if we dint have a private beach experience earlier, we had a private lunch experience. We were the only 2 in the restaurant, and we had lots and lots of food, and ironically it was our first “lunch” in Bali, as we had decided to skip the lunch for the 1^st 5 days due to time constraints, and we usually feel full when we see something amazing. J

After the lunch, we drove across to Sulaban beach. This was an amazing beach with very little shore, and there were cliffs all around. It was my first experience in a beach of that kind. The waves were not too friendly, but the views and the water were crystal clear. I again got down in the water; Kirti preferred to stay on shore and walk around and see the different views. After half an hour or so, I felt lonely, came back, changed and we decided to go to Uluwatu temple.

Uluwatu temple, another majestic temple facing the Indian Ocean, is again truly the only one of its kind. A beautiful Balinese temple, standing tall on a cliff, is definitely worth a visit in Bali. There were some aggressive monkeys here, and one of them was aggressive enough to grab Kirti’s earring stud. We walked around, saw the splendid view of the ocean, various geographical forms like arches created by the sea, and walked across to take the ticket for Kecak fire dance. The dance started by 6pm, we took a seat from where we could get a good view of the dance, as well as enjoy the sunset in the backdrop. About the dance, I have written in another blog which covers Bali dances. In short, it was a good experience, with a majestic sunset.

Now, how do you describe this viewpoint!!!













A view of Uluwatu temple...majestic, facing the ocean!













Kecak and Fire dance...depicted story of Ramayana...















Sunset at the backdrop... :)










With the real hero of Bali's Ramayana - Hanuman. :)

After the dance, we drove back to the hotel, freshened up and were ready to get a tinge of Kuta nightlife. We decided to visit Kuta, drove and parked the vehicle somewhere. We walked, was met by a stranger on the road, who offered us Hashish and Marijuana, which we kindly rejected. We walked to Kuta beach, sat there for around 15-20 minutes, walked across; saw some pubs which hosted a variety of “dances”. Not in a mood to enjoy those, we kept walking, until we got tired, then turned back and walked towards Mc Donalds, had an ice cream from there and drove back to the hotel.

Kuta at night...

Bali, Indonesia...Day 5...

After having breakfast from the hotel, we proceeded towards Batubulan, famous for its stone carvings. We saw many on the way, and stopped near less crowded ones, looked around and saw many great carvings. Then we proceeded towards, Celuk, which was famous for silverware. We entered a huge gallery where there was some great wood work and silverware. However, as they were not so affordable, we decided against buying it and proceeded towards Batuan.





Stone carvings in Batubulan...there were quite a few humongous ones as well...












Wood carvings in one of the art gallery in Celuk.

Batuan is a village famous for paintings; we stopped in a small house of a local artist. We could see them painting and it was so lively and nice. We brought a painting of Buddha, and we were happy that we did not buy it from the galleries, but from the artist directly. We felt really happy when we saw their entire family overjoyed, for us visiting and buying a painting from them. Then we stopped again in a gallery, full of paintings. We proceeded towards Bona, famous for bamboo craft. We stopped in a street which housed bamboo work on one side and wood work on the other, and behind those shops, we could see the artisans working on their creation. After walking around and looking in a few shops, we both were tired, as we were not too much into shopping or bargaining. However, we enjoyed observing their work and were often wondered by the sharp, intricate designs and work they do.

Paintings in Batuan...













Bamboo work...in Bona













Wood work, again...















Glass work, this time...somewhere near Mas or Bona...

We proceeded to Money forest next, as we had time to cover that as well before Tanah Lot. It was a good experience in the monkey forest. Monkeys are considered to be descendants of Hanuman in Bali and they were very sacred there. Some of the monkeys were quite aggressive, especially to people who carried bananas or plastic bags. We could see some mother monkeys cuddling their cute little ones, another big family, with 3 small kids. At some places, the small monkeys would swing around in small branches, studying the process. Then, there was a monkey graveyard, again because monkeys were considered sacred here. Also, I shook hands with a monkey here, which later bit me because it got irritated with me. ;)

We proceeded to Tanah Lot after that. It was a jam packed drive until Ubud ended, and we thought we would not reach Tanah Lot before sunset. Again, we lost our way, however ended up driving across some beautiful valleys and with some “local support”, we reached Tanah Lot by around 4:30 or so. It was super crowded when we reached there. We walked around, saw the temple from outside, climbed another cliff and decided to settle there to watch the sunset. We sat there for an hour or so, staring at the sea hitting the cliffs and a temple standing tall facing the Andaman Sea. It was a silent good 1hr, where I tried to capture Kirti’s silhouette snaps, and we sat there thinking “philosophically” the meaning of life. J Again, at sunset, we could not see the sun as a round ball or so, but we could observe the amazing changes of color that the sky underwent. And it was a great sight, with the sea, the temple and an orange-pink sky on the backdrop.

They say, the sunset is lovely in Tanah Lot. Now, this is the proof. ;)

We drove back to our hotel after having dinner from Tanah Lot, and decided to call the day off.

Bali, Indonesia...Day 4...

Previous day, in Wawa Wewe restaurant, we had discussed about a fishing trip early morning, in a local fisherman boat to watch the sunrise and to fish. We were picked by the local guy, he arranged us for a trip with the fisherman, and we started it by 5:30 am.

Even though we could not observe sun as a ball of fire, we could see the changing colors of the sky. We went quite far inside the sea, we could see Mount Agung, the volcano which created havoc in 1963, and destroyed almost the entire East bali. This volcanic eruption was the reason that East Bali beaches had black sand. The fisherman spotted a dolphin during the trip and he was making a good catch in the middle. It was a nice experience overall, to watch the beautiful sunrise, Mount Agung and our fisherman with the nylon. We started to feel a little sea sick after 2hrs or so, and we asked him to take back. On our way back, near the shore, we could see the corals from the boat. The water was very clear, and even if we could not observe the distinguishing colors of the coral, we could see quite a few and that helped Kirti overcome the slight disappointment she had the previous day, when she did not snorkel.

Tried a silhoutte of the fisherman, during the early morning boating trip.

With the might Agung in the backdrop.

That was the view from our Amed Bungalow, to which we were saying goodbye. :(

We reached back the hotel, and checked out by around 8:30 or so, and proceeded towards our next destination, Pasir Putih beach or white sand beach.

Captured on the drive between Amed and Candidasa...

It was a small drive away, and Kirti luckily spotted the direction, and we reached there without losing our way. An emerald green beach, all for us, sums up the experience. We could spot a family quite far; otherwise, it was almost a private beach. We played with the waves; it was a good experience, till the end, when we had to change before proceeding. We found it difficult to clean ourselves and change, but managed it.

On the way, Lotus pond in Candidasa... :)

We drove to Tenganan village, a Bali Aga village. Though it was a tourist object, people were very religious over there. They had to marry people from within the same village and it is not open to public after dark. It was a fully traditional set up with small huts, poultry, and cattle. Kids were so happy, playing with each other, the old sand and stone games. Luckily, the touch screens have not imprisoned that part of the world yet. Many houses sold single and double ikat, the traditional dress for women in Bali, and then there were artisans of all kind. There was pottery, bamboo works and the most impressive ones were the artists working on dried palm leaves. They had a sharp knife, with which they make intricate designs, and they color the designs with crushed volcanic stone. They make Ganapathi, Saraswathy, Bali map and many more such beautiful delicate designs on the leaves.

Tenganan, kids enjoying themselves,
felt a bit bad, when we were disrupting their day to day life...









Traditional double ikat, the best of them are done in Tenganan...

From Tenganan, since we had some time left with us, we decided to go to Padang Bai beach before proceeding to Ubud palace. After a short drive, we reached Bias Tugul beach, and we had to trek down the cliff, for around 20 minutes to reach the beach. It was a small little beach with few people, again with green waters. We spent some quality time there, trekked back and reached the place where car was parked. As there was no space to reverse the car, I decided to drive down some way and then reverse it. However, the car was stuck in sand, and we tried all sorts of “circus” to take the car, but with little success. Later, luckily a local guy who was coming to the beach helped us, he pushed the car while I accelerated and luckily, we got away. Needless to mention, Kirti survived a major heart attack. ;)

On the way down to Bias Tugul beach...it gets much worse than the path in the pic... ;)

Bias tugul beach...

This was followed by a long drive to Ubud, again, in which we lost our way. We reached Ubud by around 5:30 or so and the place was jam packed, crowded with tourists. And we realized, we were in the “touristy” Bali now. I had to park my car, around 1km away from Ubud palace, and we walked to the palace. We brought tickets for the cultural program and we walked in the courtyard of the palace.

In front of the Ubud Palace..only a small part of it is opened to outsiders...the royal family stays here...

We had food from a river view restaurant, hoping that they do not make the food with the water from the muddy river nearby.Then we walked to the Water palace, a palace with a lotus pond in front.

The water palace, just a minute walk from the Ubud Palace...

After clicking some snaps, we went to catch the front row seats for the dance. We waited for around an hour, before the dance started. I have covered the dances in another blog. Overall, it was a great experience, a colorful yet traditional dance show, and the first dance show which I remained awake for the entire time.

A snap from Legend of Mahabharata dance. Her role was to seduce the villians. Should say, she ended up seducing me ;)

After the dance show, we drove to Jimbaran, the third hotel of our trip. We could have actually stayed in Ubud that night, but a small mistake in a big itinerary is entertained. ;) The accommodation was nice, with a big room and a balcony.

Bali, Indonesia...Day 3...

After a tiring day 2, we had plans for a relaxed day 3. Our first trip was to Besakih temple, the mother temple in Bali. This was the largest temple in Bali and we had read that every village in Bali should have a temple which should face in the direction of this mother temple. It was again a long drive from Amed, in which, I believe we lost our way, quite a few number of times. We reached the temple by around 11 or so, and it was a good 1km climb after the car parking area. We walked, saw around the temple, and to be frank, I was feeling saturated with temples. It was one of the mistakes in the itinerary clubbing many temples in the first few days, and I could not really enjoy the beauty so much. We were hassled by the locals claiming we could enter only with them; however we managed to get rid of them and get in. It was a temple complex, more than a temple, and there were so many small temples along with a few big ones. It was a long walk inside the temple complex, and I was tired and I could not climb the last one. Kirti managed to see that one as well and we walked back, and it started raining then. We protected the camera, allowing ourselves to get drenched ;) . We went back to the car parking area and started our journey back to the hotel.

I had planned to do snorkeling that afternoon. However my hopes were down as we were already late and it was raining. And to add salt to injury, we lost our way as well. We reached back Amed by around 3pm, I went to the agency that I had contacted for snorkeling. Christina, the head of Amed Scuba, was infected with chicken pox when I went there. I talked to her with 5 minutes or so, and we decided not to do it with her fearing that we would get infected. We had a trip to our home 2 weeks later, and we did not want to cancel that at any cost. We went over to hotel, changed, came over to Wawa wewe to have food, there we met with some locals, who arranged a snorkeling for much cheaper cost. A local agreed to be my guide, I put on the life jacket, and after letting know Kirti my last wishes, I went to explore the underwater life. ;)

This snap was after advising her of what to do, in case life jacket sinks me... ;)

It was an incredible experience; Amed was famous for its coral life. I was so amazed with the colors and beauty of the corals and small fishes over there. Blue, red, pink, violet and all these in different shades, it was truly amazing. Even when I am writing this, I could feel the excitement. Kirti, even if she was scared, went just a little in the shore and saw a few fishes. This was one thing which she missed in the tour. Indeed a breathtaking experience for a first time snorkeler.

We went back to the hotel by 6pm or so, freshened up, and had delicious food, yet again from Wawa-Wewe.

In Wawa-Wewe, relaxed, and a restaurant wholly for us. :)

Then we decided to walk around Amed beach at night.

After a pretty good catch... :) But I seem, more happy... :D

The nice little refreshing walk at night, till the end of Lipah bay summed up the end of the wonderful relaxed day.