We had an 8am pickup this morning for a day exploring Bali's largest rice terraces and three of Bali’s most impressive water temples: lakeside Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, the sea temple of Tanah Lot, and Luhur Batukaru Temple, on the slopes of a volcano.
We covered a lot of ground today but the time in the car was very interesting. Our guide Risk was easy to talk to and was happy to answer the hundreds of questions we had. Very informative. Risk brought his cousin to drive the windy mountainous roads so that Risk could be fully at our disposal.
We drove by a field getting prepped for planting. This would serve as an interesting comparison to the rice field we would see later today.
The Ulun Danu Bratan Temple on the shores of Lake Bratan was very peaceful and scenic. The Hindu religion and culture are fascinating and I loved discovering so many similarities (and differences) from own. There was some sort of ceremony going on which apparently doesn’t happen very often so that was cool to see. It didn’t feel like we were at a tourist destination. This was a very much an active temple and a sacred place for the Hindu people. It was built in 1633.
There was a man on the shore with a shotgun. Apparently he'd modified the gun to shoot an arrow instead of a bullet. It seemed he was going to attempt to "catch" a fish at any moment so Justin waited taking video, but it was taking too long so we moved on.
The rice terraces of Jatiluwih were next on our agenda and they were incredible! Justin and I both agree it was a must see and a highlight of our trip! We walked through the terraces taking picture after picture.
There were a few cheesy props for pictures – tourism is a major income producer for Bali so they try to appeal to all the new instagramers here and there.
I'd never given much thought to how rice is grown and this definitely gave me a greater appreciation of that process. The rice was almost ready to harvest so it tall and green, so beautiful. Such a unique experience for us.
A buffet lunch was provided at a little restaurant overlooking the fields. Perfect setting and the food was pretty good too.
The Luhur Batukaru Temple sits at the base of a volcano, but the clouds were low so we couldn't see much beyond the temple grounds. We had to wear a sarong on the grounds and they had some very interesting rules…
This is our guide's favorite temple of three we visited today. I can understand why, it was the least touristy and most natural and simple looking, lots of moss, etc...
for washing
Tanah Lot is an impressive temple on the cliffs of the sea. Definitely the most crowded of the day but for obvious reason. Before we even saw the Tanah Lot we walked by this beauty.
another gate we had to get a picture of us in
so many offerings everywhere
The tide was out so we were able to walk around the temple.
The locals believe that it is a miracle that there is a fresh water spring at the base of the temple. Justin and I walked another half mile or so down the shore and climbed up a little hill to take on the views.
our guide musta taken this one
On our way back to the hotel we passed people dancing on the streets. Fascinating culture!
We had some time to hit the pool back at the hotel. Our little pool didn't get any sun in the afternoon so we scoped out a few rays at the main pool. We had a hard time figuring out what to do for dinner and ended up sharing a pizza at one of the hotel restaurants.
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