Bali - Photos (1)
JJMoon Diary
Barry and Margaret Wilmshurst
Tue 20 Oct 2009 11:19
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Bali - Photo
Album
We have visited some very
remote and some wonderfully different places in Indonesia. What could Bali
offer more? It is so touristy. Ah, but there's magic there and
despite the tourism we succumbed immediately to its charms.
The Bali party comprised
Stuart and Annabelle from Troubadour, Ian and Lesley from Tapestry and Barry and
Mags from JJ Moon.
Firstly we felt like
royalty as we had a car and driver for the 4 days we were there. Pak, our
driver was excellent, quiet and efficient and very pleasant
company.
  First stop Kuta Beach to
find out what it is all about. Nice but not for us for any length of
time. However, we followed this with lunch at Poppies, a famous
restaurant tucked away among the back streets at Kuta and it is a real
garden paradise. We ordered reistafel, for some their first
experience of the colonial Dutch delight and eyes shone when the many different
dishes arrived. It was a good start to a wonderful
mini-holiday.
Our hotel, Ubud
We had reservations
at an hotel in Ubud having made a selection from Lonely Planet.
Annabelle (Troubadour) had taken considerable trouble in choosing and then
reserving and we were all delighted with the Sayang Terrace which
was in old colonial style, a little way out of town, with a glorious
view overlooking the valley and the Ayung River. It had a small but
pleasant pool for a cool relaxing dip after sight-seeing as well as wifi, well,
wifi some days!
  From the
veranda at our hotel looking towards the pool and then across the
valley.
Seeing the
sights
Our four days
were a mixture of culinary delights, temples, dances and trying to get that
perfect picture of the rice paddies. We went to the theatre the first
night to watch a Balinese dance. The dance we fell on was called Kecak and
is accompanied by a choir (no orchestra) who "sing" a repetitive beat which is
the base to which the dancers perform. Unusual and interesting but no
photos worthy of the blog.
Temples
Pura Tirta
Empul
An inscription
dates the founding of a temple at the site to 926 AD. Ever since - for
more than a thousand years - the Balinese have come to bathe in the sacred
waters for healing and spiritual merit.
  Entering the
temple. The boys are ready to go.
  Keeping up the
structure
   Scenes of
activity in the temple
 The temple is
looking good
 Overlooking the temple on a hill above is a surprisingly modern
building: the Government Palace, built in 1954. Originally the
site of a tea house for Dutch officials, it was later redeveloped as a
palace for former President Soekarno during his frequent trips to
Bali.
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