Bali - Day 2 (13 November 2013)

Went to bed early the night before, these days I’ve been going to bed early, must be the age haha! After I showered and restored some sense of humanity in my appearance I hopped to the hotel restaurant to eat breakfast. I’ve always been a breakfast person and I always look forward to having buffet style breakfast at any hotel. Breakfast offering was enough, I wasn’t blown away or anything but I did gorge because I had the whole day ahead of me touring the island. For as long as I had scrambled egg in the morning then I’m a happy camper. I asked my driver to meet me at the hotel lobby at 8 AM to have an early start.

The Tourist Guide/Driver

Before leaving Manila I already contacted a tour guide in Bali to drive me around the island, we agreed on the date and price which was USD 70 or IDR 700,000. At first I wanted to pay him in $ but I reckoned paying in IDR is much cheaper. I got his contact details (mobile and email address) from another blogger who also went on a solo trip to Bali, emailing Kadek  was a breeze and he responds quickly. 

It was already past 8 AM and still Kadek was nowhere to be found, I had an idea of how he looked because the blogger posted a picture of him. This is where it gets funny, I texted and emailed him asking him where he was and confirming if I got the dates of our arrangement right, I also told him that I was wearing a black shirt at the poolside so he could spot me fast. I was waiting for a reply then this guy came to the hotel lobby approaching Caucasian guys. I saw that he had a piece of paper with him and seemed to be asking the white guys if it was their name written on the paper. I didn’t think it was him since I knew what he looked like, and he didn’t approach me anyway so I didn’t think anything of it. And so a half hour went by without my tour guide arriving, then I got a reply that said “dekat kolam ne” I asked the people at the hotel to translate it for me they said it meant “I’m near the pool” which was strange because I couldn’t see him. And one of the hotel staff approached the driver I saw earlier and asked him if it was me he was looking for. He handed me the paper which had my name on it and so we started the tour on a funny note.

He explained to me that Kadek wasn’t available that day and that he needed to bring his grandma to the hospital so he was sent instead. 

The Barong Dance & Kris Dance

The tour started at the Barong Dance and Kris dance at Sahadewa in Gianyar, this traditional Balinese dance is all about the never ending battle between good and bad. My driver, who is Hindu explained to me that of the Hindus belief in balance between good and evil, a check and balance between them always equal and one not getting over the other. At first I thought of it as weird, coming from a Catholic upbringing which told me that good always triumphs evil.

Barong & Kris Dance Sahadewa in Gianyar

The dance was exactly what I was looking for, that intricate Balinese dance with full on make up and costume. That dance is so intricate, every part of the body had movement and meaning even the eyeballs and pinky fingers moved.

After the performance, the actors lined up on the stage then tourists could have their pictures taken with them. I sat next to Japanese ladies who were all made up you would think that they weren’t on vacation. 

Ubud Rice Terraces

Next destination was the Tegallalang Rice Terraces in Ubud. I’ve seen the Banaue Rice Terraces and it pains me to say that Bali’s are better in terms of their condition. They were a lot of “regular” (read not terraces) rice paddies in the island which tourists go gaga over, I was more nonchalant at these since I practically grew up on a farm, rice paddies still exist behind our house in Bulacan at this day and age.

As we were driving, my driver asked me questions like where in the Philippines I came from and whether I got affected by the strong typhoon they’ve been hearing about on the news. We also discussed what places I found interesting and wanted to see in Bali and told him I was more into the history and culture stuff so he customized the program for me.

Sebatu Holy Waterfalls

Me at the Sebatu Holy Waterfalls

Next we went to the Sebatu Holy Waterfalls, this is not a typical tourist place and is visited only mostly by locals to perform rituals and to bathe. It is said that the standing under the falls would cleanse both the physical and spiritual parts. It's quite a hike, nakakahingal and takes a toll on your legs lalo na your knees hehe. Along the way I saw people selling plastic jars so people could take water and bring it home. The hike looks like this:

The hike going down to Sebatu Waterfalls, the climb back up is more deadly hehe

Pura Gunung Kawi

Gunung Kawi (left), Sebatu Holy Waterfall (bottom right)

Gunung Kawi (Sebatu Tegallalang)

And so he went crazy on the temples and places Balinese people held sacred. A lot of which involved water like springs and falls. The Balinese are very religious people and I appreciated that, along the way I would see people on worship garb on their way to the many temples to make their offerings. 

Some pictures from Pura Gunung Kawi:

My guide drinking water

Tirtha Empul

One of my must go to places in Bali was Tirtha Empul which I saw in the Bali episode of Samantha Brown’s travel show. You can just tell that this wasn’t just any tourist destination, the place had a lot of history and meaning.

Mount Kintamani

Me at Mt Kintamani

Mount Kintamani is Tall Volcano/Tagaytay to us Filipinos. Kintamani is an active volcano+lake. Tagaytay talaga sya complete with restaurants overlooking the lake. He brought me to a buffet style restaurant (Grand Puncak Sari Hotel and Restaurant) that charge IDR 100,000. I didn’t want to eat because of all the flies circling the buffet table but I was afraid of offending my driver since he thought that this was such a great place and also it was already 3 PM and I was really hungry and so I had lunch here anyway. Food was blah but I took the chance to sample traditional Indonesian desserts like what they call Black Rice Pudding and Brown bean pudding which was monggo in Filipino. Weird lang kasi it was dessert to them, it was sweet naman pero I was used to earting monggo as a savory dish.

Wisata Penglipuran

Next was the Penglipuran which was where you could see the traditional Balinese village set up preserved to this date and it was still functional, people still lived on this village. The village was one long alley with houses on each sides, the alley lead to a temple. The most amazing thing though was on the drive over we passed by a bamboo forest where all you could see are bamboos for long stretches. 

You had to pay for a ticket before entering the village, the price was lower if you were Indonesian. My driver told me not to speak and he did all the talking and I got the local rate haha! From then on he bought the tickets for me and got the local rate!

I just love the architecture of Bali, the houses are laid out so simply but the details are so intricate it just blows my mind.

Goa Gajah, Gianyar

The last of the temples we went to that day was Goa Gajah in Gianyar, I think the literal translation would be the Elephant’s Mouth or something like that. Again I passed as an Indonesian and got in cheaper. The Goa Gajah features a cave where the entrance is made to look like the mouth of one of the Hindu gods.

The temple complex also has ruins and a water fall.

Art shopping in Ubud (Dewa Putu Toris Art Studio)

Ubud (ed. although I think this particular place is in Gianyar) is known as an artists’ village, my driver took me last to an art gallery where they showed you how they make traditional Balinese paintings which were like their architecture, very intricate. They gallery was like a house converted into a gallery. The guide also said that several artists live there.

I wasn’t really keen on buying art, in fact earlier in the day I asked my driver to skip the silver and art shop stops, we did skip the silver place but I guess he really wanted me to see the place. He was funny because he told me that I could just look and not buy hehe. 

In the end I ended up buying not just one but two paintings, one of a traditional Balinese rendering of Saraswati, the goddess of learning, and one modern abstract painting by an up and coming Ubud based painter. Total damage: IDR 700,000. Not bad, diba?

In hindsight I guess it was a good decision, now I decided that I’d  buy art every country I go to. Actually on my way home pag dating ko dito, I remembered that one of the items in my to do list for this year was to “acquire art” so I guess that’s hitting 2 goals with one stone, the other being to travel alone.

Service in the gallery was amazing, she was very friendly and even told me of past Filipino guests that spent fortunes on Balinese traditional paintings by one of the living masters. I felt no pressure to buy at all haha it’s just that I got tempted and I cave in. I would advise you though to buy modern paintings because these were rendered in canvas and could easily be rolled para madaling iuwi, the Balinese painting naman was in paper so they couldn’t roll it. What they did was they put it in cartons, kind of like an improvised envelope, would easily fit a trolley yun lang I came only using my backpack.

A note on visiting temples

The Hindus are very particular in terms of clothing whenever entering temple grounds, tourists must be “formal” before they are allowed to enter. Men and women would have to wear pants, but they always have sarongs at the entrance people can borrow in case you came in your shorts. No need to wear shoes, sandals are appropriate. Fortunately, the first day I wore pants but they had me use a cloth to tie around my waist, kind of like a belt before I was allowed to enter.

My driver/tour guide

My tour guide was heaven sent, basta makaka-discount he would make sure to get me discounts on entrance fees. He was also really warm and friendly, you could tell na driving me around wasn’t just a job to him and he really wanted me to have a good time. And he gave me a lot of inputs na you wouldn’t get in any guide book.

You can contact him through this number:

Dewa Suarbawa

+62 81 936 216 644

He doesn’t actually have his own car but he said he’ll just borrow Kadek’s car whenever gigs like these would come by.

You can also contact him through Kadek

Kadek “Alung” Suastika

alungsuastika@gmail.com

+62 8174793556