Day 39 - I slept pretty well last night. After breakfast and saying goodbye to the hotel's monkey, we were ready to hit the road. It was exactly 8:30 AM. This hotel started decades ago and was left to the man's son, who's now revitalizing it. It may not seem so correct to cage a Balinese monkey nowadays, but Mimi is far too old to learn to fend for herself now.First on the list to visit was the 'Brahmavihara Arama'. It's a Buddhist temple in the hills right outside of the beach area. We may have visited this location on our 1992 trip. There are two different important Buddhist sites in Bali and this is probably the one we saw last time too. Important additions have been added to this location. In fact, there is a great Borobudur-type structure which is rather amazing.
It was a peaceful place and we gave a 'donation' which got us free sarongs to wear to cover up our legs. I've not worn long pants since we landed on this island in the middle of last month! I didn't even bring shoes, figuring my Keen, closed-toe sandals is all I will need until next April! We got bottles of free mineral water too.
Next, we headed toward the road which would loop us back to the southern beaches and our studio apartment. This means we would be able to see the rest of the day's locations and not need to retrace any of yesterday's drive.
Just as yesterday, we took tiny little connecting roads between villages. We stopped to see crops such as the durian here. None of way was marked by a road sign, and our driver was not a GPS-sort of guy. He simply asked from the comfort of his seat as people were doing their activities. The roads were tarred but the space between these houses were often along the original paths. This left little room for a sidewalk. Negotiating between cars and motorcycles required the precision of a surgeon. Our driver was blessed with those skills.
The most iconic images of Bali are often taken at the Water Temples. The Hindu 'Pura Ulun Danu Beratan' complex is a bit of a tourist trap nowadays, I fear. We saw delightful scenes in Bali before we arrived here, but we knew we had to pay for tickets to enter. The two of us spent IR 100,000 to enter. Surely religious sites should not require tickets. However, money means little to tourists. I'm just not sure if the money goes to the government to someone else. The grounds really were well kept. We had some sun and witnessed the mist roll in when there. It was amazingly pretty.
We continued on our way to another buffet lunch. The view this time was a bucolic setting with terraced farming and views of the mountains. We took a few extra 'kueh dadar' wrapped coconut palm pancakes. They're supposedly green from the pandan leaves, but I think colouring is sometimes added. It's a classic, bet you can't eat just one dessert. In fact, several extras ended up in Jay's pocket on the way out.
Lastly, Jay asked we turn off to visit the Jatiluwih rice terraces. If one searches for images of iconic Bali, these often come up. The scene really was beautiful and the misty location realistically showed why they are productive. Some people stay in a local guesthouse just to stare at the view for a few days. We didn't have that luxury, as we had to let the driver take us back to Kuta.
Getting through the Denpasar and North Kuta traffic took an hour! We got to our studio apartment at a bit after 4:00 PM. It is funny how human memory works. I will surely remember these two days, or at least parts of them until I die. That cannot be said for an ordinary Wednesday and Thursday. I will remember the crooked roads and picturesque villages along our routes. The people we saw appeared resilient and happy. It's days like these that, for us, form the gift of what life is.