Bali, Indonesia
December 13th, 2019, Friday
I woke up at 4 a.m. After taking a shower, I left for Singapore Changi airport by Grab taxi at 5.15 a.m. At the airport everything was super efficient. We had enough time to have tea and croissants. We left at 7.15 a.m. for Denpasar, Bali by Scott airlines. Scoot is a subsidiary of Singapore airlines. We flew on a big 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft was packed with Chinese, Malaysian and Indian tourists. The service was great. Being a low cost airline, Scoot even charges for water! The flight to Denpasar was over 2 hours.
Landing at Denpasar airport takes you to a different world. Leaving ultramodern Singapore airport behind, you enter a somewhat spartan but very efficient airport. The front facade of the airport is designed in the Balinese style of architecture.
After we cleared immigration and customs we were greeted by our driver, Gede. Denpasar is the provincial capital of Bali island which is a province of Indonesia.
The drive up to Ubud was through two lane roads and as you get closer its almost a one lane road with cars passing both ways. There are also a lot of two wheelers as that seems the best way to zig zag through traffic.
There are quite a bit of stores all along that sell all kinds and sizes of sculptures. They mostly have Hindu and Buddhist motifs.
Denpasar is quite busy and as you enter Ubud the roads are less crowded.
There are really huge Hindu sculptures of Lord Krishna, Arjuna and others from the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics, in the middle of traffic roundabouts.
In Ubud, we stopped by at a vegan restaurant called Fussy Bird tucked in a narrow lane. It was sandwiched between a house and a temple surrounded by banana and grapefruit trees.
We thought that it looked like a quaint hippie hangout. There were hens roaming around. The interior decoration was very tastefully done. We had wonderful delicious soup, Balinese food and tropical juices. Ubud, it seems like, follows its own laid back time. It took us well over an hour and half to finish lunch. We obviously didn't mind it and were relishing the atmosphere and the sumptuous lunch.
We then drove to our resort, Being Sattva, which is tucked away from the main town surrounded by paddy fields and forests. It is set on 3 acres and has these wonderful serene cottages. There is a beautiful lotus pond in the front. There are water fountains throughout the property. The resort has a very open feel where the buildings blend with nature.
We were greeted by the owners, a wife and husband couple. They were from Bangalore and had busy lives. The husband working as banker and the wife a stay at home mom taking care of kids. She discovered Bali on a yoga retreat and fell in love with the place. They built the property from scratch. It took them 3 years to build and they have been open for the past two years. They said that they had reached a break even point in their investment of the property already.
The husband had left his job as a banker and started giving meditation as well as yoga sessions for corporate houses and women leaders. They have many corporate retreats. They recently had employees from Twitter Singapore office for a yoga retreat. We were very lucky in that the we were the only ones in the resort during our stay. They mentioned that after us there is a 12 person group (10 women, 2 men) from Saudi Arabia coming to the resort. They said that yoga has become popular in Saudi Arabia. There is a women leader who hd gotten consent from the Islamic religious police and gone about making it very popular in that country.
We freshened up and came back to the open dining room for tea, coffee and snacks. The owner introduced us to his friend from Rishikesh. He was also into meditation and spiritual well being. He also went around traveling all over the world teaching. He had been staying in Bali for the last two months. The owners were leaving back for Singapore the next day.
We then drove to the main part of town in Ubud where we saw the Ubud palace. The Ubud palace was the official residence of the royal family of Ubud.
Hinduism took root in Bali around first century A.D. Hinduism was already observed in Java, to the west.
Later, Islam had taken root in Java by the 13th century. To avoid from converting to Islam, the Hindu King, noblemen, artists and others fled to Bali while Islam took over the rest of the country. The Hindu rule gained supremacy in Bali between 13th and 15th century as part of the Maharajipit Empire.
The Balinese language and the Indonesian Bahasa language appear to have lot of Sanskrit rooted words, Balinese more so.
The Ubud palace had some wonderful carvings in stone. There was an intricate carving on the wall. The doors on entrances were golden color with engravings. It started raining while we were roaming around the palace. The palace was partly out in the open. We sat down to wait the rain out while enjoying the serene atmosphere around us. As the rain had picked up most of the tourists had left. The palace compound was relatively small. There were multiple open courtyards within the palace.
After the rain had stopped, we went walking around the main Ubud city. There were lots of shops and restaurants as well as hoards of tourists. The lanes were narrow and there are lots of two wheelers zig zagging through the traffic. We climbed up a hill and then went through narrow lanes between residential houses. We finally found the place we were looking for having our dinner called Herb Garden. The restaurant was out in the open with a thatched roof. The Balinese food that was served was very exquisite and the flavors lingered in my mouth afterwards.
We then headed back to the resort and called it a day. We also gave our orders for the next day breakfast.
December 14th, 2019, Saturday
We woke up, took a shower and went to the yoga class. The Yoga classroom was open with a roof and was overlooking the forest outside. In the distant, I could see a monkey jumping from one tree to another. One of the Balinese receptionist from the resort was our yoga teacher. She mentioned that she was teaching since last couple of years and had learnt Yoga from the owner. She was extremely flexible and showed us some great stretching poses. It was really wonderful doing yoga in the midst of nature.
We then headed to a Hindu temple called Tirtha Empul (Holy Spring) outside Ubud. We drove through the countryside. Gede mentioned that in Bali they have different types of temples everywhere. They have one for the family in the house courtyard, one for the clan, one for the entire village which is generally bigger and then regular temples where anyone can pray.
The countryside is lush green and dotted with paddy field terraces with standing water surrounded by coconut, banana and other tropical trees. The roads are narrow and a little curvy. When you are in Ubud there is lot of stop and go traffic. Most people wait patiently.
We were early and the temple wasn't as crowded.
Tirtha Empul, built around 10th century A.D., is known for the holy spring water where the Balinese come to cleanse themselves with a bath and prayer in the crystal clear water pool. At the entrance there is a huge statue of God Indra.
To enter the temple complex one has to wear a sarong, a traditional colorful cloth that you wrap around your waist to cover your legs. We then walked to the holy water pool and were surprised to find many people already bathing in the pool. There were entire families performing prayers. No tourist can enter the inner sanctum to pray unless given special permission by the head priest. We requested to perform prayers along with the locals. We were called in by the head priest. After we removed our shoes we walked on the open temple floor which was scalding hot due to the hot sun. We sat down on the floor and performed the rituals along with the head priest. The head priest did a special prayer service for us. The head priest gave flowers and rice to us so that we could offer it to the Gods. We then drank the holy water that was given to us in our palms. While the prayer was in progress, there was a lady, a tourist, who came in with her shoes and started clicking pictures. The head priest wasn't too thrilled about it and then asked her to move out of that area immediately.
The entire village was there praying as there was a special ceremony that day. It was such a pleasant site to see everyone dressed in traditional attire praying and chanting. Everyone including males and females, were dressed in white top along with a colorful sarong around the waist. It was getting hot and humid. In-spite of that everyone was sitting on the hot stone floor patiently.
There are lot of similarities with Indian Hindu customs including the recital of Gayatri mantram chants. The temples though are different in the sense that the idols are on the outside and in the inside you just have a Balinese stone tower that symbolizes praying to the holy spirit. The Balinese revere and worship the holy trinity of Hindu Gods Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. They revere Indra, Ganapati (Ganesh) and other Hindu Gods as well. The chanting by the priest is in an amazing low pitched tone.
It was a very spiritual ceremony. We wandered around the courtyard after which the main ceremony also got over. The Balinese families also started coming out with their offerings placed in beautiful baskets on their head. The families then sat on the floor in the covered area quietly and started having lunch served in brown paper.
The temple complex by now was very crowded and even the overflow parking lot was full!
Click here to view all photos from Tirtha Empul Temple
The clouds had by now come in. We were ready to have lunch and luckily the restaurant we chose, Warang Sripadi, was right next door. We had some very delicious Balinese food.
Balinese curries are very famous and are either served with rice (Nasi) or noodles (Mie). Some mouth watering dishes are Nasi Goreng, Mie Goreng, Nasi Campur and Nasi Kuning. Tempeh is also very popular in their dishes.
After lunch we headed back to the resort.
Later in the afternoon, we headed to see the Kanto-Lampo waterfalls outside of Ubud. This was in a different direction. So we got to see more of the countryside. We went past village after village. One thing you will notice is that there are many beautiful statues and temples along the way.
When we arrived there were just a few tourists. You have to walk down a short steep gorge. Then you can hear the water gushing followed by a beautiful view of a large waterfall that is around 500 feet and at least 200 feet wide. The water was clear. We had got our swimming trunks and towels.
There were some tourists ahead of us in line inside the water waiting to take pictures. The water was nice and warm. When our turn came we climbed up the rocks to take pictures. At this point you are essentially behind the waterfall with the full force of gushing water all over your body. It is an exhilarating feeling.
After a while all other tourists had left except for one couple and two local boys. It was really serene. The two local boys were by themselves dipping in the water and enjoying alcohol. We then climbed up, stopped mid-way to admire at a wonderful Balinese sculpture on the rock and then walked back to our car. By then everyone had left. We were lucky to have Gede, our local driver, who knew exactly when and where to avoid the large crowds that are pretty common at this time of the year in Bali. We then headed back to the resort.
Click here to view all photos from Kanto Lampo Waterfall
We decided to go back to the main Ubud town for dinner at Daal & Roti which is right next to the Ubud palace. After dinner we walked around window shopping and getting a feel of whats available. We saw two places from the outside where Balinese dances were being performed for tourists. The dances have stories from the epic, Ramayana. The Ubud palace was cordoned off for the performances. We then headed back to the resort and called it a day.
The resort being surrounded by forests gives you a good feel and a good nights sleep. My room was fully made of glass walls on all sides.
December 15th, 2019, Sunday
We decided to skip yoga today as we had to head into town early to see another temple. After having a sumptuous breakfast including Indonesian and European delicacies, we headed outside of Ubud to see the temple, Tanah Lot, along the coast. The drive was a little longer.
Surprisingly despite it being Sunday, there was more traffic on the road. There were many street processions for cremations which had blocked off traffic on certain roads. The entire village was on the streets. We had to take alternative routes multiple times. We learnt from Gede that since performing cremation is an expensive affair (as families have to feed the entire village after the cremation ceremony for multiple days), they bury the body for a few years after which the people of the village pool the expenses for cremation amongst multiple families. They then take the remains and cremate their loved ones together.
Tanah Lot is along the coast of Bali. There is a beautiful arch butting into the sea. The temple complex is big. There were lot of tourists. It was very hot and humid. I realized that this is summer in Bali. Bali is 8 degrees south of the equator in the southern hemisphere. This is my first time below the equator! There were lot of families who were performing rituals and praying. The gates to the temple are quite famous here. As you are entering you get the feeling that you are touching the ocean.
The main temple is on the top of a massive rock that is also butting into the ocean. There was high tide and we weren't allowed to cross as the sea was quite rough and coming inland. Overlooking the big rock was another temple where the Balinese in their beautiful dresses were performing the prayers led by the priest. Entire families with young and old were present.
Our driver, Gede, mentioned that it is important for Balinese to perform rituals together in their native village. Particular importance is given to funeral ceremonies where everyone are required to be present otherwise they are shunned by other families.
It was a great scene with such a holy place overlooking the beautiful ocean.
We walked back to our car through a maze of local shops. I had a coconut at a fruit shop which was surprisingly not sweet.
We then decided to head back towards Ubud where we found a wonderful vegan restaurant, Sayuri Healing Food, operated by a young Japanese lady, Sayuri Tanaka. There are hordes of vegan and vegetarian places in Bali. The food here was very fulfilling as it did not have any oil and was very tasty. We had delicious pumpkin soup along with an Indonesian tempeh sandwich. I did some shopping here as they had some great organic products. By this time rain began to pour heavily. We waited for over an hour for the rains to stop partially. Our sandals and shoes were extremely wet as we had to leave it at the front door of the restaurant.
We then decided to drive to a local village where there was a family shop that made and sold Balinese silver jewelry. The house was very simple. It had an altar outside for praying and living quarters on one side with the shop on the other.
We then headed back to our resort outside Ubud.
We decided to go for a walk to the neighboring village. It was late in the evening and the sky was overcast. We first went to a beautiful resort next doors situated amidst a waterfall. They had a huge beautiful Balinese statue in their courtyard restaurant. We checked out their spa but were told that they were fully booked.
The countryside was lush green, picturesque and idillic. We were the only ones walking. However, occasionally people on two wheelers would pass by. There were lot of paddy field terraces. We also saw multiple family and clan temples along the way.
After a while we reached the village. They had some shops on either side of the street. The village also had a bigger village temple.
After passing through them we went to the residential area of the village and admired at the beautiful courtyard of the houses. Ganapati (Ganesh) was omnipresent! There were a few people at the village socializing on the street. People at the village were extremely nice and said hello. We saw ladies come by on their two wheelers to fill water at the village water pump in their big water canisters. They were waiting patiently for their turn. By the time we got back to our resort it was dark and it had started raining heavily. It was really a refreshing walk through the countryside.
After taking a shower, we had fun family time playing Pictionary and Guess Who.
It was raining heavily outside. The insects and lizards had come out in full force in the courtyard and the patio above. We requested that our dinner be served in the living room which the staff readily agreed to.
I had wonderful Balinese Nasi Campur followed by a Balinese dessert that was a little like bread pudding along with vanilla ice-cream.
After playing a few more rounds of games, we then hit the bed.
December 16th, 2019, Monday
This was our last day. After a nice shower, we went for a yoga session at 7.00 a.m. conducted by the same Balinese receptionist. She said that she got her flexibility in Yoga due to her training in Balinese dance. We had breakfast afterwards. The fruit smoothie in a bowel is to die for. It was followed by a Balinese version of rice porridge which was very healthy. But the temptation of croissants, bread and papaya jam negated any benefits!
Click here to view all photos of Being Sattva
We decided to head into town to do shopping. We went to the local supermarket and bought some coffee and chocolates that were made in Bali. A famous textile shop was closed that Monday morning due to staff training. We roamed around the narrow streets of Ubud looking at local shops. This is quite the touristy area.
Everyone from homeowners to shopkeepers offer flowers and other things to the Gods outside their shops or homes in the morning. I was told by Gede that they do this only after taking a bath in the morning but before noon. While the shopkeepers called us to shop they weren't aggressive. It is customary to bargain here.
I bought couple of beautiful Balinese hand painted scarfs from a local shop. The lady who appeared to be the owner of the shop, said that I had to pay at least 12000 Rupiah in cash while the rest could be payed by credit card if I chose too. It was around 10.00 a.m. in the morning and I was the first one to make a purchase. Apparently it was customary in Bali for many shop-keepers to get some real cash as part of the first purchase of the day by a customer. We then stopped by one more supermarket to buy local spices, coconut and palm sugar, chocolates and cookies.
Click here to view all photos of Ubud
We then decided to head back to the resort to pack up as it was approaching noon. We ate some fresh fruits that we had bought earlier in the morning. After packing up, we bid our goodbyes at the resort and headed to Denpasar. The drive took us around an hour and half. We reached early at the airport. We were lucky that there wasn't much traffic this afternoon. We said our goodbyes to our wonderful driver, Gede.
There are some huge sculptures of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna as well as Arjuna along the way to Denpasar.
The airport is just outside Denpasar next to the sea resort towns of Nusa Dua and Kuta. After checking in, we had tea and sandwich for snacks. We then headed into the main terminal through security and immigration checks. This terminal that we were in is ultra modern with lot of places to shop and eat. I was surprised to also find many high end European fashion retail shops. There were lot of tourists heading back home. There are quite many flights to various international destinations served by a variety of airlines.
Click here to view all photos of Denpasar
Bali is indeed a tourist paradise. I really enjoyed the laid back lifestyle of the Balinese. Lunches and dinners are slow as cooks freshly prepare the dinner. People are extremely nice and courteous. They are always smiling.
The one thing I worry is that if Bali will get over-run by tourists and expatriates. However I am hopeful that the peaceful Balinese people will find everlasting solutions. This place is indeed another heaven on earth. It was a fantastic vacation and a trip of a lifetime!
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