After few days of discovering East Java I jumped on the ferry to Bali, which takes only 40 minutes to cross over between the islands. Bali is the most famous Indonesian island and the worldwide number one tourist destination of 2018. So my excitement was over the roof as you might guess. In 10 days I stayed in many different locations on the island in order to discover as much as possible, being a first timer in Bali.
I spent the First 2 nights in Tanah Lot, southwest coast of the island. On this picture is Pura Batu Bolong, one of the temples in this area. From Balinese language Tanah Lot means “Land (in the) Sea”.The most popular tourist and cultural icon in this location is the ancient Hindu pilgrimage temple Pura Tanah Lot. It was built on the rock-island in the 16th century.
Sunset.Tanah Lot is very popular in the evening. It is a photographer’s paradise to shoot sunset with the temple on the rock, standing in the sea.Next 4 nights I spent in the heart of Bali – village Ubud, which is famous for its beautiful scenes of rice paddies. Most famous one is Tegallalang rice terraces.You can easily spend a few hours in the Tegallalang rice terraces by walking up and down the paddies and taking pictures of the gorgeous scenery.Not far from Ubud you will find Goa Gajah or Elephant Cave, built around the 9th century and served as a sanctuary. This is the entrance to the cave with the faces carved into the stone.The Ubud Palace or Puri Saren Agung, was the residents of the royal family.Sacred monkey forest sanctuary in Ubud is a place where I touched a monkey for the first time in my life. There are more than 700 monkeys in the forest so they are free to walk in any direction and they surely will steal any shiny thing from you, like a bottle or some candy, so don’t bring any of those with you.A bit more than one hour of drive from Ubud is located Jatiluwih rice terraces, UNESCO’s World Heritage site. They are bigger than Tegallalang and offer picturesque panorama views.Sometimes weather gets unpredictable and brings some dark clouds, but hopefully didn’t get wet that day. By the way during my stay there was not a single drop of rain.The best way to experience Bali is to ride a scooter. You can rent it in countless places across the island for about 70000 IDR (5 USD) a day.Sunrise trekking on the Mount Batur is one of a kind. This is an active volcano with recent eruption in 2000. Down the mountain is Lake Batur and behind is the highest point on Bali – Mount Agung.As the sun is rising from the sea, clouds are covering the landscape down. This place is just one hour away from Ubud by car, but I had to climb volcano for another 2 hours.Mount Batur is 1717 meters (5633 ft) high and offers 360 degree views.Monkeys are everywhere, even high in the mountains.I’ve seen sunrise at the top of the volcano and I enjoyed the sunset by the sea on the same day in the Lovina Beach, northern part of Bali.Fresh coconut water from the coconut tree under which I was sitting.As sun disappeared behind the horizon, colors of the sky popped out, creating a beautiful reflection on the swimming pool of 1000 Dream Bungalow hotel.Bali has lots of waterfalls. Here is Sekumpul waterfall, located not far away from the Lovina Beach, it is rated as Bali’s most beautiful one. Sekumpul means “group”, because it is a group of falls.Lavish nature on the way from one waterfall to another.Waterfall Align-Align was glowing under the sunshine with a rainbow by its side. It is good to stay few days in the north of Bali to enjoy waterfalls, snorkeling and to meet sunrise with the dolphins (this part I unfortunately missed).Across the island of Bali, on the south, is located village Uluwatu, famous for its cliffs. spent a day by the pool on the cliff. Very unique pool of The Edge resort, overviewing the sea.Last day. It is time to go back to Hong Kong, my homebase in Asia, by Airbus A330-300 of Garuda Indonesia airlines.Final glimpse of Bali after the take off: on the left is the highest point of the island Mount Agung, which soars at 3031 meters (9944 ft); on the right is the Lake Batur with Mount Batur behind it.
