Bali, Day +5

There are no excuses today. We did wake up early. More importantly, all by ourselves; got ready and headed for the breakfast. RM, who had joined us yesterday night from Singapore, were not in for the trip we had planned for today. Little confusion over the the taxi reservations, and soon we were heading towards the Besakih Temple, also know as the Mother Temple of Bali. Kintamani Volcano, or the Mt. Batur was next on the agenda, followed by evening at Luhur Temple at Uluwatu. Ketut was as usual our driver, guide and consultant for the trip. As we hurled out of the city limits and ventured into the hills, beautiful scenic landscapes ran throughout our journey till the temple. After paying up the entrance fee of 10k IDR per head and 5k for Cameras, you reach the parking lot. The temple association has had problems with locals from other areas of Bali over earnings from tourists, and thus do not allow anyone except them to be your guide to the temple. Going to the extent of telling you that you will not be allowed entrance at places inside the temple, they would give their best shot at negotiating their fees as well as a donation for the temple. Regardless of the fees, which is usually be around 50k IDR, it is a good option to hire a guide to explain you the history and parts in the temple, which otherwise is left to your homework on history lessons and relating it to the monument. We hired one. The donation is voluntary and we decided against it as the up-keep of the temple is covered by the government (as per our sources) and there is no shortage of funds.

Ketut had though well in advance for us and brought with him sarongs and belts that one needs to wear before entering the temple. He even helped us wearing them in the traditional style, which came out looking very funny on us indeed. The temple entrance looks grand - a flight of stairs running up to a huge gate - every inch has idols on either sides of the stairs - every one unique. A few steps on the stairs and you start realizing the beautiful view of the valley behind you, lush green and tantalizing your senses. Though I did not hear much of what the guide was narrating, but for sure the temple was complex, with many different sub-sections, different levels connected through stairs, each level with its own set of wonderful spires. Unique idols are spread all over the place - each adding a distinct attraction to the place. The main prayer area has three idols based on the Hindu mythology - Bhrama, Vishnu and Shiva - the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer. Recommended by the guide, we offered prayers in traditional style to the almighty, and took couple of shots of the place before proceeding. As you climb to the higher premises of the temple, the view keeps getting better and better. We saw a couple of more sub-sections of the temples before deciding to head to our next destination, rather quickly, as the it seems that the clouds had a big time plan to cover up Mt. Batur, and we did not want to delay things further and land up in the same situation as Tanah Lot temple letting the sun hide behind the clouds just at the time of the sunset!

Back on the interesting twisting road, up and down between the hills, and we were looking at the majestic Mt. Batur in no time. Clouds have achieved what they wanted, or what we feared; but we soon learnt that the it was not unusual for that place to receive a bit of rain during the day. The nature has molded the landscape in such a way that Mt. Batur on one side and a a continuous chain of small hills on the other side, separated by the Batur Lake in between, all form a kind of channel to drive in the clouds from one end and gather them up to do a fly-by over the cliff side restaurant - Lakeview - where we were standing right now - showering nice cold droplets all over. The restaurant serves only buffet lunch, no breakfasts, no snacks, no dinners. The food is Indonesian, and pretty good, though the service was a little slackly. The best part of Lakeview was the view of Mt. Batur and Batur Lake it offered from the open seating area - its right on a cliff standing on the Batur lake with Mt. Batur on one side and the chain of hills on the other - forming a closed end. The paths of the lava flow from the last time the volcano went active can be clearly seen as relatively darker areas than the surroundings. The crater was visible but not clear, even with our 300mm lens, due to very less ambient light from the ever-growing cloud cover. We gave our cameras another chance to shoot a couple more times at the mountain and the crater on our way to Luhur Temple at Uluwatu.

The drive was long, but beautiful and scenic - most of the times running through paddy plantations. We passed through the Seminyak town - from the glimpse it looked relatively posh than the rest of Bali - good branded shops on the roadside - also known for its stylish bars and legendary clubbing scenes. May be next time, we would put this town on our agenda too, for now lets rush to Uluwatu. The drive was made interesting by our cab driver Ketut, with information on the naming tradition of kids in the family. Balinese do not have a surname, and the first name is either Woyan (first child), Made (the second), Nyoman (third) or Ketut (the fourth). The second name is usually the given name; in Ketut's case, it was Suryawan - Surya referring to clouds, Awan means the clouds - since he was born on a cloudy day. He resides with his parents and wife and is blessed with twins - a boy and a gal - 8 months old now. We learnt couple of other day life things typical of Balinese culture from him too. And thanks to him, he did warn us to beware of Monkey Business at Uluwatu - a practice very common at the temple where the monkeys snatch any accessories you have - your hat, glasses, earrings, slings, etc., and a local helping you out in retrieving the same from them in return for some money. The arrived a bit late and hastily went in after paying up for the entry tickets and free sarongs n' belts which we needed to wears as a tradition in the temples. Sun was again behind the clouds, but the orange gleams piercing through the clouds in the background of the temple's silhouette was amazing sight.

The Luhur temple also features a Kecak dance, if I remember correctly, on all days, which is more like a very alive play of the Hindu scripture - Ramayana. Almost all the people who visit the temple gather around to see this performance by beautifully dressed local performers. There are separate tickets to enter the performance area, an open auditorium with multi-level seating arrangement all around the center stage. A handout is available along the tickets to read about and follow the sequence of events in the mythological story enacted by the performers. The performance was great - carried out in parts - each signifying an important part of the scripture. A fire-dance sequence is also a part of it and was done with live fire to give a very dramatic effect to the whole act. A must see if you are visiting that temple. It had gone dark by now, we roamed around a bit in the temple complex, before taking the cab back to the hotel.

While others headed to a dinner at Nusa Dua area, we headed straight back to our hotel. Asked Ketut to take us for the water sports tomorrow. A nice cold shower is such a relief after a long day. For the first time over our stay, we tried the local cuisine at our hotel itself with some good Mojito and Long Island Ice Tea. Both the food and the hospitality was great, so was the live musicians who played "I cant help falling in love" by our table side. Overall a well set evening, better than expected. Spent some more time talking a walk along the beach, couple of night shots, and dozed off dreaming of the wet sand under our feet, the touch of the sea waves and shimmering ocean under the moonlit sky..