May 24th, 2009
Despite being caught in rain last night,
we are in great shape today.
And today is a bright and sunny day for a mountain trip to Kintamani.
On the way we will pass by the unique Tegallalang rice terraces
and later, Bali's mother temple - the Besakih Temple.
Here i am, at the entrance to our cozy little inn.
Its not luxurious, but comfortable and clean,
ideal for visitors seeking peace and escape from their stress-filled lifestyle.
The inn's little pet.
A furry Bali dog that barks for attention.
And so we set out north again, towards the mountaneous geography of centre Bali,
further away from Kuta.
Weather is perfect, and we've got Andi to lead us the way.
Soon we arrived at the rice terraces at Tegallalang.
Beautiful landscape shaped layer by layer where paddy is planted.
The place is a feast of green colour with gold tinged paddy signifying the imminent harvesting season.
Andi and Efvi..hope to backpack again with them 1 day.
Just so you know the place we stopped by has a few souvenir shops.
Plus there were also souvenir traders persuading us to buy stuff,
eg. some sculpture supposedly carved from bones.
Just be very discerning before you decide to buy the stuffs k.
Janne having great fun there.
It was quite an enjoyable ride all the way up to Kintamani.
We could really feel the climate changing to cooler and the breeze becoming more chilling.
On the way there were a number of mountain-bikers paddling their way up.
Challenging feat, I told myself if I had the time i would wanna do it.
And i believe i still can. However since that fateful pnemothorax,
I'm just a shadow of my former athletic self.
....and that's beside the story.
Here we are, Kintamani.
Right away you can see Mt Batur, a 1,717 metres high still active volcano,
located at the center of two concentric calderas.
The south east side of the larger caldera contains a caldera lake, called Lake Batur.
Mt Batur, which historically documented 1st erupted in 1804
is just 1 of the many live volcanoes found in Bali.
Just southeast is Mt Agung, the tallest of them standing at 3,142 metres.
If you are up for it,
There are tour packages to hike Mt Batur at dawn
just in time to witness the beautiful sunrise over the lake ( Lake Batur).
And after the breathtaking sunrise, wash away your tiredness in hot water springs.
Sounds cool?...i did'nt have the time to do it :_l
Mt Batur standing marvelous in the background.
And here's Lake Batur aka Danau Batur, the largest crater lake on the island of Bali
and is a good source of fish.
If only you were there, your jaw would drop...
Seriously its that beautiful,
..the nicest piece of art God painted in Bali.
The Rempit culture extended beyond the shores of Malaysia to Bali.
Malaysia boleh!!, erm..right?
Bali's "mata" ..they look chic, fashionable and sexy in those body hugging uniform.
:-D
View of lake Batur from Kintamani.
like a clear piece of glass refecting the cotton-wool blue sky.
..Breathless..Stunned..
..Breathless..Stunned..
Tried very hard to hold myself back from jumping off the hill..
thinking that i can fly over the lake before landing in it..
and then start swimming backstroke..
*wake up wake up*
Efvi was trying very hard to hold back herself too..:-D
And if it weren't for Andi, we would have helped her fulfill her dreams.
Satisfied with catching all the moments with our camera,
We rode down the other side of Kintamani.
Came across this very cute Kintamani puppy for sale, longing to be owned.
The track downhill was very scenic.
We cut through forests and passed villages.
There was rarely any cars, which means less pollution, cleaner air and more enjoyable ride.
..Until it started raining, again.
We were now heading southeast towards Bali's mother temple - Besakih Temple.
which also happens to be situated at the foot of Mt. Agung, the tallest volcano on the island.
We took shelter from the rain at this shack.
Hungry for lunch, we were about to risk swallowing a few friends,
Vibrio cholera, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, etc.
This is Janne Niutanen, from Poland.
He's on a southeast asia tour, already came from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Jakarta,
he'll heading Bangkok, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Wow..the things u can do with Euro, the stronngest currency in the world~
Here's the Masakan Padang. It was not bad actually..jz gotta fight with the green bottles to keep our food.
Janne totally enjoying it. Asia is a food haven, he said.
Here's the entrance to Mother Temple of Besakih, the largest temple complex in Bali
which is made up of 22 temples.
Dating to the 14th century, the temple has stepped terraces and flights of stairs
which ascend to a number of temple courtyards and brick gateways,
leading towards the foot slope of Mt Agung,
which is also considered sacred.
Here's a rough blueprint of Besakih Temple.
Climbing up the stairs. It was still drizzling, cold and foggy.
So we couldnt see ahead of us let alone take pictures
until the mist cleared off.
Since the temple is considered sacred, visitors are required to enter with long pants.
If they dont have 1, they're required to rent a sarong and wear it over the waist.
Did you know, some of the temple gateways and walls are built from volcano larva?
In 1963, a series of eruptions of Mount Agung killed approximately 1,700 people,
while its lava flows missed the temple complex by mere yards.
Since there are anniversaries celebrating almost every shrine
there will be at least 70 festivals held at the complex all year round.
Weird people with weird pose,
must be real cultural shock for the balinese devoters.
Andi was pissed because we got ripped off by the "temple guardian".
Apparently we had to pay 1 of those locals to be allowed access into Besakih's sacred place.
By paying a fee of Rp50,000 (Rm15) per person, we are supposedly entitled a tour by the "guardian".
However after showing us into the "sacred place", he left us
and quickly continue his search for other clients.
You can find paintings and sculptures everywhere in Bali.
1 of the many courtyards with spire.
Temple gates and statues built from larva stones housing more spires.
The temple is quiet with no chanting, broadcasting, or gongs-hitting anywhere.
Well preserved and clean
Basically everything in Besakih look about the same to me.:-p
After the temple, it was still raining and we finally decided to head back UBUD under the drizzle.
Stopped few times to take shelter.
Me and Janne spotted ducks crossing the road, easily 100 of them.
From where they came we didnt know.
Not something you would see everyday.
That's all for today, thanks for joining :-)
Never a dull moment in Bali.
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