After a big thunderstorm overnight it was a lovely clear day and the beautiful lotus flower in the pot outside our bungalow was starting to open.
As Sam was expressing some boredom with Ubud (he’d had enough walks I think and he’s not into shopping and restaurants), we decided he needed some action so we booked him for a Sobek white water rafting trip while we went our own way for the day.
After he’d left, Graeme and I headed up to the Ubud market for a look around. We stopped at a shop just before the market and bought some woven cloth wall hangings, then at the market bought a shirt and a chequered cloth piece that the men wear around their sarongs at temple ceremonies to match my checked cloth traditional hat I had bought earlier in Ubud.
After that we had a look at the offerings and prayers being made at the market temple and saw the donations chart the temple puts up to show the donations made by families to the temple. I later spoke to someone about this and he said that it wasn’t very good that they make public the amount of the donation because many families can’t afford as much as others, and this makes it very public information. I must say I agreed with him about his views.
As I wanted to go out to see the Yeh Pulu stone carved panels, we looked for transport. Some of the bemo chaps couldn’t speak English enough to communicate so they raced off and came back with … Norm … Nyoman Suastika (he’s mentioned from time to time on the BTF).
Norm is a very lively, enthusiastic person who is very invigorating as he is very knowledgeable about the places we visited and we did not need to use any temple guides, as he would act in this capacity as well. We arranged with Norm to spend up to 3 hours with him in his vehicle.
First we headed off to Pura Penataran Sasih (the moon temple) at Pejeng. It has a large kettledrum in a bale at the back of a fairly plain temple. Geometrical and abstract designs are etched into the face of the drum and it is believed that it dates back to the Balinese bronze age – 3rd century BC. Also there are some very old carved statues in a bale. Norm warned us that the temple guardian added 0’s to the donations listed in the visitors book, so beware, if you see the previous visitor made a donation of 40 000, it is most likely that the donation was 4,000 not 40,000 rp. hence you should not be tricked into making a larger than usual donation.
Next we were off to the village of Bedulu to see the Yeh Pulu (yeh = holy springs, pulu = stone vessel) stone carvings and spring (entrance 4,000 rp includes sarong & sash). The carvings date back to the 14-15th century and are reached through a nice walk a few hundred metres down a few series of steps, past some showering areas where people can experience the spring water (cold). The carved panels extend about 25 metres and are very interesting as some of them are dramaticthree-dimensional figures. At the panels are the loveliest of guardians, a very happy old lady and man (about 95 years of age), who dispense the water from the spring (believed to be holy water) to visitors.
After being sprinkled with water (Norm had a full face wash lucky chap!), we took photos with the guardians who were thrilled to be given small gifts of clip on koalas and bubble blowers plus some rupiah. I was looking forward afterwards to having a cold drink at Made’s café at the entrance to Yeh Pulu but it had closed down.
Norm told us that there was to be a cremation ceremony at Payangan, a village north of Ubud, and would we be interested in going? As Graeme wasn’t keen on going, Norm dropped him back at the Villa Rasa Sayang and off we headed for Payangan. On the way there was the biggest traffic jam, the cause of which we never found out, just congested traffic I think.
When we arrived the procession with the funeral tower had already arrived at the cremation ground. Norm quickly put a sarong and sash on me (He has spares in his tour vehicle) and off we hurried.
Norm found me a raised spot amongst the 500 or so Balinese attendees about 3 ½ metres from the funeral pyre.
As we arrived the corpse of a lady (believed to be 98 years old) was being blessed with holy water (from about 21 temples around Bali), wrapped carefully up and then a gas burner was put under the pyre which was constructed from bamboo poles and along with some type of accelerant liberally added and whoof .. up the flames went.
The Balinese people were smiling and laughing together and the gamelan played (I don’t think it was a full gamelan orchestra on this occasion). I was able to take some terrific photos and chatted to some women who indicated that the lady had been ill for about a month before her death from old age, and that she had only died last week. Sometimes a family buries the deceased until they can afford the elaborate ceremonies involved with the cremation.
While the pyre was still burning the ornate tower that held the corpse when it was being paraded in the procession to the cremation grounds was being chopped up and burnt separately, it doesn’t get reused. The tower had dramatic gold, red and green trim. Later on that day the ashes of the would be collected and scattered in a river or the sea.
I felt very privileged to be able to attend this type of Balinese ceremony. The Balinese people are very sharing with their traditional customs.
Off again on our jaunt Norm and I travelled north to Taro on side roads to see the lovely lush countryside with the carefully designed subuk irrigation system, children swimming in the irrigation channels (they don’t worry about swim wear here), the kids were very happy to be given some small toys I had in my bag; there was a large pig slaughtered at the edge of the road .. do you want a photo Norm asked? No thanks!
We passed through Tegalalang and I saw a shop with beautiful light shades hanging out the front … stop Norm … we went back to the shop and the tiniest Balinese man, he would have been no more than 4 ft. high was ever so happy to negotiate a good price for six of them, and I have two of them now hanging in my bali bale in my garden at home.
They are made from brightly coloured delicate fabric with gold threading and edged with gold tassels, absolutely beautiful. I love buying something unusual like this, especially jewellery like a special ring, so I can think to myself, I can remember buying this at such and such ..
On the way back to Ubud we travelled through the village of Petulu and saw a few of their famous white herons perched in the trees.
People were busy with the harvesting of rice in the fields and carting large sacks of rice – hard work I imagine. We headed off back to Ubud after a busy and exhilarating day seeing some special parts of Bali.
Back at Villa Rasa Sayang the boys were relaxing and Sam said he’d had a great day white water rafting. He went to sleep around 6 pm and when he hadn’t woken by 8.45 pm Graeme and I went out and had pizza at the Bali Pesto telling the staff we weren’t far away.
I found Ubud and the surrounds interesting and very scenic, especially if you go for walks outside of Central Ubud. I was surprised at how commercial Ubud was, with all the shops and restaurants; maybe I was expecting it to be a bit more rural. The market was a good place to bargain and we bought a few nice handbags and traditional items there.
Tomorrow we’ll be off to Padang Bai in east Bali, and looking forward to getting back to a seaside area again.
We’d had a phone call from Nyoman (Alex) to say he’d picked up some work in the morning and to expect him around 12.30 to take us to Padang Bai. As it wasn’t a long trip we weren’t concerned as this gave us time to have some ‘beauty’ treatments and we were pleased that Alex had picked up a bit of extra work.
So after breakfast we headed off to the Milano salon (20 metres from Monkey Forest Road, near the football field) where I’d previously had a manicure, as Sam was keen to get some tips put in his hair (aren’t 15 yo boys funny sometimes – it’s so surprising!)
So they started with my pedicure and Sam waited for the hairdresser to arrive. In Paris sweeps on his platform heels and Sam explains what he’d like. Well, my pedicure didn’t take that long, it was a lovely job, and the flower painting is the best in Bali in my opinion.
I left Sam in the hairdressing chair and took his cap back to the Villa Rasa Sayang (as he has a habit of leaving it places) – I had to check on Graeme as I’d left him having a leisurely breakfast and with the job of packing our bags. As we did a reasonable amount of shopping in Ubud this may have proven a bit of a chore. Well, he did a great job, the bags were ready and waiting … so was Alex and all we needed now was Sam so we could head off to Padang Bai.
Well, Sam comes along Monkey Forest Road and you could see his hair from ½ kilometre away! Instead of some semi subtle orange tips he had a full flaming Mohawk … it was the colour of those iridescent safety jackets they wear down at BHP! Alex was trying to be very polite but he couldn’t get the smile off his face, as Graeme & I were just absolutely flabbergasted and astounded at it all! How could we fix it up by the time he had to go back to school in 2 weeks – the whole top part of the head had been bleached back to white and then the bright colour had been applied - heck!!
Sam was, I think, in a bit of shock himself and said he wished I hadn’t taken his cap back to the hotel; apparently he got calls of ‘hey, red boy’ all the way back down Monkey Forest Road.
Anyway, he got over it quickly and over the next couple of days he would raise his cap suddenly, causing a laugh or two from beach sellers, he certainly knew how to draw a crowd as they’d all come and have a look.
We drove to Padang Bai via Gianyar where we had visited a weaving factory last year. We asked Alex to stop for a satay fish lunch en route, a favourite usually served by warungs in this seaside area.
Last year we had enjoyed lunch at the Warong Merta Sari (mentioned by Janet De Neefe in her book Fragrant Rice); this time Alex took us to a different one in Kusamba that looked over the beach. It was great to see the sea again. We ate fish cooked in banana leaves, fish satays served with rice, peanuts and beans and my favourite drink, iced tea as the meal can be quite spicy.
I hadn’t pre-booked any accommodation at Padang Bai but had an idea that we would like to stay at the Pura Rai Hotel, after a recommendation from a friend, and also, it was rumoured to be the only accommodation place in Padang Bai that had a swimming pool.
We were pleasantly surprised to find they have built another swimming pool, so it now has the only two swimming pools, to my knowledge, in Padang Bai.
We told them we wanted a sea view and were shown to adjoining rooms 101 and 106 that were located on the top level, above the reception area. The rooms were very palatial, with a four-poster king sized bed in each and ornately painted artwork at the bed head (a bit like your own oil painting 3 metres x 1 metre right above your head!) The bathrooms were spacious, a shower with mandi and very clean. Plenty of cupboards, refrigerator, good lighting, 2 air conditioning units in each room that worked so well we only bothered to turn one on, and … our own balcony to die for.
Running along the front of the rooms was a long veranda with comfy chairs and tables, then another open area with two sun lounges and then about 4 metres after that a large rectangle bale with a long table set up about 5 metres long and about 16 chairs, I’m pretty sure they were made of teak.
The harbour of Padang Bai was spread out before us and it was just so relaxing to sit out there and watch the sea traffic – prahus with fishermen, and the ferries going to and from Lombok (the ferries run 24 hours a day loaded with people, cars and trucks; it’s quite unbelievable the amount of cargo moving in this port).
The Puri Rai is situated to the east of the harbour so you don’t get any traffic noise from the harbour but can watch all the action.
Sam enjoyed sitting on the ledge of the bale watching the world of Padang Bai go by. We could see Lembongan and Nusa Penida Islands across the sea.
What cost this extravagance? Well, it was 450,000 rp per night (tax included) for the two rooms per night and included breakfast on our private balcony – about A$71, the most we had paid for accommodation in Bali, but well worth it.
I wanted to also spend a night or two somewhere in the Amed area but the boys were not keen to move so we did a day trip with Alex around the eastern tip of Bali (but that’s another story).
After settling in because we were going to be there for four nights, we went for an orientation walk. We had only been to Padang Bai once before and that was to spend a brief hour sitting in one of the bales at the beach relaxing and eating fresh pineapple with Alex.
There is a wharf area for the ferries, a large car park, some small shops, police post, several restaurants and homestays. There are a quite a few warungs/restaurants, even a small snooker hall, right on the beach at Padang Bai.
We met some locals who told us about a barong ceremony happening that night as part of a celebration. We headed off and found what must have been most of the female population of Padang Bai sitting down near the sea. I said to Graeme, these are mainly women and children, where are all the men? Ah, he says, … as a long procession of men, the gamelan orchestra and barong come along …. they’ve been doing secret men’s business – I could have thumped him for being smart!
As with most ceremonial things I have observed in Bali, it was all over very quickly. The barong came out and did a bit of a dance, the crowds strained towards the priests to get their share of the sprinkling of the holy water and then it was all over.
Sam had bought some grilled sweet corn on the cob for tea from a beach seller but joined us for dinner at Made’s Café (next door to the Puri Rai Hotel). 1 mixed fruit juice, 1 arak attack, a deep fried snapper, 1 mie goreng special and an orange juice – 55,600 rp. We found Made’s served good food and had a DVD screening every night – to entice us back they offered us our choice of DVD – Graeme was very keen; he had been without TV now for 11 days!
To bed with the sounds of the sea again, this time, the hourly horn heralding a departing ferry … you got used to it and slept through.
Woke at 4.30 am – damn … must have been a ferry horn that woke me up. I’d say I got used to it over the four nights and henceforward slept through. Back to bed till 7 am then breakfast on our private balcony – watching the interesting nautical happenings in the harbour. There were the Bali-Lombok ferries going back and forward, one would be leaving and pass another one waiting out in the bay to come in, and then there were a multitude of fishing prahus and boats taking divers and snorklers around to Amuk Bay, a few kilometres to the east.
Breakfast was the usual eggs, juice, toast, bali kopi, you got to know what was the best value to keep you going till lunchtime (the best breakfast to order was the egg sandwich because you got egg, tomato and cheese in a toasted sandwich); as in Bali, you never know what you are going to get and it is nice to have a bit of tomato (bit like needing a vegemite fix).
We decided to go for a walk to find the Blue Lagoon (page 295 Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok). We walked along the beach road towards the east and just before you turn onto the road that leads to the three temples of Padang Bai we found the turnoff to the left (signposted) and followed the track up a hill, and then … down the hill … a fairly steep track leading down (and I mean steep … we were clambering down at an angle of about 45 degrees) through palm trees and foliage for about 5 minutes until we came to a tiny cove with mixed black and white sand. It was like finding a hidden paradise. We were surprised to find 3 warung there selling drinks and meals – they must bring in supplies by boat, or otherwise it would be a bit of a haul by foot I’d say.
It was a beautiful little cove, and the water would have been so clear if the sea hadn’t been so choppy. We’d been told it was one of the nicest snorkelling and diving places in the area. I’m glad we’d arranging a snorkelling trip for 2 days time; maybe the wind would be calm by then as I didn’t fancy going out in a prahu when the sea was so turbulent.
Sam adventurously ordered a margherita pizza (18,000 rp) – teenagers! always hungry and we’d only just had breakfast! Oh well, at this price it doesn’t cost too much to feed him. (I wondered whether they were going to cook it on site or order it in … back over the track we’d come!), but after 20 minutes it was served up and he declared it pretty good even though the cheese on top was a bit runny and he couldn’t have been that hungry because he shared it with a beach seller who’d managed to track us down and was selling art – 8 x 10 pictures, some finished with a fine layer of sand.
Sam negotiated a price of 20,000 rp. for a lovely sand picture of two fish, and it looks terrific framed and on our wall at home.
So we sat at a warung watching the waves crashing on the beach and enjoyed some yummy fruit juices and chatted with the sarong ladies who had managed by this time to find us. I bought 3 sarongs for 50,000 rp. keeping in mind I was the one who was going to have to cart them back up the track again. Also bought 3 little wooden sailboats modelled on the traditional prahu boats for 35,000 rp.
We then clambered our way back up the track and back to the Puri Rai Hotel for a swim after getting all sweaty from our walk – we put one of the toy boats together and had fun sailing it in the swimming pool. It was nice relaxing in the pool and having a few bintangs at the pool bar. By the way, Rooms 305 and 306 are close to the pool and would be a good choice if you wanted cheaper rooms without the sea view.
We had a late lunch at one of the beachside warungs called the Dewi Café and talked with the owner who was a school inspector at Amlapura/Karangasem. The nasi goreng and satay were really nice and the view was supurb.
Graeme bought a sarong with geckos on them … a first …. I thought he’d be the last person to buy a sarong, it must have caught his eye! By the way, you don’t come to Padang Bai for the shopping; mainly they have toy prahu, wooden fish and sarongs. There are plenty of restaurants and homestays, and also a few laundry shops.
Later that afternoon I noticed a lot of people wearing traditional outfits making their way up the hill in the direction of the temples. Ah, I thought, it must be part of the odalan (temple anniversary) that locals had told me was happening over a three day period, so I quickly put on my sarong and sash, grabbed my camera and dashed up to the temples.
Arriving at one of the temples, the Pura Tanjunsari, and after checking with one of the ‘organisers’ – I tend to find them fairly easily because they tend to wear a distinctive check type sarong arrangement - I was invited to enter the temple. The gamelan orchestra was playing music in a bale in the outer courtyard and it was so pleasant to hear the music being played in a traditional environment. In the inner courtyard the Balinese people were kneeling before the priests in prayer and being blessed with holy water and I was able to sit quietly at the back near the entrance to the inner court yard to observe.
Like most things ceremonial it seemed to finish up fairly quickly. The gamelan players took a break (ah, now I discovered the secret of how you get cool … lift your sarong and tuck it in at the waist … it was amusing to see the gamelan players getting cool .. some of them wearing shorts under their sarongs! (I suppose it’s a bit like discovering what a Scot wears under his kilt)
The larger instruments of the gamelan were then packed up in a truck that passed me as I was walking back down the hill to the beach. About half an hour later a procession of men came down the hill playing small gamelan instruments such as drums and that was the finish of the day’s ceremonial events. I had been able to get some great photos and felt very privileged to have been able to see this event.
That night we had dinner at Made’s café and watched the movie they played - Mona Lisa Smile – I enjoyed it, the boys only just endured it, as it could be considered a bit of a girlie movie.
Emailed to our son at home and then bed …
Graeme & I woke early around 5.30 am and decided to go for a walk to the Padang Bai early morning market. Alex was not due to arrive at 9 am so we had plenty of time.
Early morning markets are an excellent way to observe a community participating in their everyday lives, as traditionally it seems the women go to the market to get fresh produce and then do their cooking at the coolest time of the day. Quite often a family may not have refrigeration, hence an early morning market in a village is usually a daily happening.
The walk to the market from the Puri Rai Hotel was only 5 minutes and already it was a busy place; bought some bananas for 1,000 rp. a piece (this may have been tourist price, not sure), snakefruit ½ kilo for 2,000 rp. and tamarinds (similar to mandarins) ½ kilo for 2,000 rp. The exchange rate at the time was 6,300 rp. to the A$1. Also on sale were spices, fish and assorted clothing items. The only meat I saw being sold was chicken.
After visiting the market we walked down to the pier where there was a long line of trucks ready to be loaded onto the ferry to Lombok. Stall keepers were setting up their food and drink stalls near the pier ready to ply their trade to the travellers who pass through Padang Bai. There are several businesses where people can buy boat tickets to Lombok. Padang Bai may be one of the ports for the VOA as there were immigration officers at the pier.
After breakfast on our balcony Alex picked us up for our day trip. We stopped briefly at Candi Dasa to drop off some film I wanted to have developed and collect on our way back.
Our plan was to drive via Bugbug to Karangasem (it was renamed Amlapura after the eruption of Gunung Agung in 1963) and down to the coast to Ujung, site of the ruins of a water palace, then make our way along the coast road to Amed and back to Padang Bai stopping at Tirtagangga to visit the water palace there.
Amlapura is quite a large town, I think it services the East Bali area and we drove past a military base with a lot of soldiers in formation in the parade grounds. I think this is where we saw a statue of a policeman with an arm outstretched as if on patrol at an intersection or roundabout; it looked very real, I suppose it would ‘fool’ someone once at least! We made a comment to Alex that as all the real police were busy with duties associated with the forthcoming elections they needed mock models of themselves to do traffic duty.
The Ujung ruins, which is 5km south of Amlapura, were a bit of a disappointment. It was the site of a water palace built in 1921 by Anak Agung Anglurah, the last raja of Karangasem. There is only one piece of ruin remaining that I could see; I was expecting to see a few remnants of old buildings in amongst lush wild growing grass amidst peaceful solitude of abandonment. Instead there was one beautiful arched stone structure, standing all alone, amongst a perfectly manicured lawn circumferenced by a very nice ornate fence.
We didn’t bother going in and Alex thought there may have been plans to reconstruct the palace as we could see a large manmade pool with a bale and a roadway in lined with palm trees.
On we travelled east along a well made but narrow mountainous road; it seemed to cling to the side of the mountains in parts as well as being very undulating, somewhat like riding a roller coaster on the side of a mountain with the ocean way below.
No worries, we had every confidence in Alex’s driving. Alex said last time he had travelled this road it wasn’t well made and was very rough indeed; he had been discouraging people from choosing this route in the past.
We passed through small villages and very traditional tiny houses made with thatching (except for the tin roofs) and a small bale alongside for sitting in and relaxing, a bit like an outside lounge room.
Stopping at a lookout point we had the most marvellous view of the Bali coastline. From our vantage point on the road we could see bays with hundreds of prahu boats lining the beaches.
At, I think it was Aas, we had a photo stop and Sam decided to head down the hill to the beach (no discussion with us – typical teenager!). I sent Graeme after him while Alex and I drove around a bit further looking for a roadway down.
We couldn’t find a road down so we made our way back (the three point turn was interesting as the road was tiny and on the edge of a precipice) and Alex decided to climb down to look for them, so he vanished into the thick shrubbery as well! So I decided to sit down on the side of the road and enjoy the view. Well, along the road comes a bush walking along.
As it got closer I could see it had two legs and turned out to be a woman carrying a huge load of long grass. Then a couple of fellows, topless except for some short material wrapped around their waists, came along and stopped on the road where I was sitting. I tried conversing with them but it became obvious they couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Balinese, so I indicated I’d like to take their photo, which they didn’t seem to mind and I gave them a toy koala and bottle of bubbles.
Well, after that they took a keen interest in my camera, my bracelets and especially my watch. Being a little concerned that they were getting a bit insistent, and not sure of their intentions with my camera, I hollered “ALEX” down the valley, and they decided to move on. Alex comes puffing up the hill (and he’s a fit body builder too), saying “what’s the matter Mam” (I occasionally have to remind him to call me Anne), with the news that he hadn’t found Graeme & Sam.
Finally Graeme & Sam came back up the hill with stories of how they had found the beach but ended up lost in a traditional village, all the women were topless and couldn’t understand their requests for directions to find a pathway back up to the road. At last they had found someone who had been able to show them the way out.
After that little adventure I was glad that we were all back in the car and we drove up and down and around on the mountainous road past Ibus, Selang, Lipah. I was wondering how you’d get down to the properties near the beach, as I couldn’t see any roads. I had intended to stop at a few of the hotels mentioned on BTF to have a look but time was getting on.
The road eventually levelled out parallel to the sea and we stopped at Jemeluk for lunch at the Divers Café, which is a really nice open-air restaurant right on the beach. We could see a few people snorkelling a few metres out from the beach and decided we’d have a snorkel after lunch.
Lunch was very nice; chicken (ayam) satays, fried noodles (mie goreng) with pork and rice (nasi goreng) with pork. We hired flippers ( we had our own snorkels and goggles) and enjoyed some pleasant snorkelling just a few metres out from the beach with a variety of coral and fish. Afterwards I had a look at the Galang Kangin Bungalows (tel/fax (62) 0363 23480) that were right on the beach at Jemeluk. These were fairly new and fresh, a lovely balcony and good bathrooms, no fridge, but Iunderstand you could use a fridge they had downstairs. The price per night for 2 people was 80,000 rp. (A$12.60) – great value in a nice spot.
We travelled through Amed and Celik and between the villages of Abang and Ababi saw a spectacular valley of rice paddies, with Gunung Lempuyang (1058m) and Gunung Seraya (1175m) to our left providing a very scenic drive.
Arriving at Tirtagangga Water Palace we walked past stalls at the entrance (the stall keepers were not pushy at all).
The Palace was built in 1946 and is one of three built by Anak Agung Anglurah (Ajung, Tirtagangga and Tirta Telaga Tista at Jungutan). Apparently although sustaining damage in the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung, it has been beautifully restored. The grounds are quite large and comprise terracing with several pools (at least one is a swimming pool), bales, ornate statues and fountains, including a large boar that spouts water into a pool.
One pool near the entrance, with water 1 metre deep, has a stepping stone pathway through it, one felt as if you were ‘walking on water’ – quite remarkable. This pool had at least 12 ornately carved statues sitting in it and was my favourite area of the garden. The plants used in the garden complimented the area wonderfully and there was a gathering of kids trying their luck at fishing.
Feeling refreshed at spending time in such a serene environment we made our way back to Padang Bai, stopping at Candi Dasa to pick up the film I’d dropped off. Sam bought a nice watch for 30,000 rp. from a street seller (which he has since sold to one of his teachers for about a 200% profit!).
We arrived back at Padang Bai around 4 pm and Alex headed back to Kuta. We would see him again in 2 days to take us back to Kuta for our last 4 nights in Bali.
We had dinner at a beach warung opposite our hotel called the Pantai Ayu. The shrimp and avocado cocktail was nice but the sweet and sour chicken was a bit stringy (a fighting cock who had lost the battle maybe?), although the boys enjoyed their meals.
After a long day of travelling, but feeling happy that we had been around the tip of east Bali, we went to bed. Next time I would like to spend a few days staying in the laid back environment of the Amed area and explore the snorkelling areas for a while longer.
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