Religiously Funky

This serious religious event held in one of temple north of Ubud as part of their temple celebration. Its called ‘ngerebeg’ and it is meant to be part of rituals to cleanse and neutralize demonic spirits.

Kids are painting their faces, even hair and bodies, trying to look like demons. They come to temple court yard and get fed together. After being fed then we walk around the village bringing ‘penjor’ and make a lot of noise. Let the pictures tell you the rest of the story.

Should you like these photos and wish to take shoot of its next time, please just drop me an email. We can have a religiously funky day together.

Posted in Bali Photography Tours | Leave a comment

Kintamani or Volcano Tour

This is probably the most common tours offered by all travel agencies in Bali. The day start by watching one hour Balinese dance performance then visits to art and craft village like Celuk for silver and gold jewelry, Batuan for painting, Mas village for wood carving.  Lunch usually serve overlooking the beautiful view of Lake and Mount Batur.   Some temples will be also included in the trip like Elephant Cave temple and Water Spring temple of Tirta Empul beside visiting coffee plantation,  rice terrace in Tegalalang. Ubud market and palace will usually end the trip.

Posted in Common Bali Sightseeing Tours, What to do in Bali | Leave a comment

The Rocky Temple of Gunung Kawi

In order to get to this archeological site, we need to walk down to the valley on a couple hundreds step. There are some shops along the way selling typical tourist stuff  although they also sell some unique handicrafts like coconut shell carving and bone carving. Bone carvings are indeed available all over Bali but  its originally from this village. Some of talented carver specializing in carving the bone or even ivory are coming from this area.

As you walk further down , your eyes will started to be pleased by the beautiful view of the valley. Rice terraces under the shadow of coconut tress located in both side of Pakerisan river. Rather wide  and not distracted view of the rice terrace, you can see as you getting closer to the site.  Do make a stop and snap the view with your camera before you walk on the steps between the wall of cut-ed rock. As you reach the bottom of the steps you will be greeted with a gate cut-ed from the same rock as the gate. Sprinkle the water provided in front of the gate to your head before you enter. This is a cleansing to anyone who wish to enter this sacred sanctuary. After passing the gate, you make a left and you can see the first group of ‘candi’ . Candi is man made carving  that shape like mountain and made out o carved out from rock. This side has four candi. As you look across of the river you can see other groups of candi. There are five candi at this wall.

You need to cross the cemented bridge to get to the other side of the river, where you then entering the main temple yard. On the outside  courtyard, there are two building serve as preparation hall and kitchen. While in the middle court yard it has three open building with wooden belt tower in the corner. Walk further in then you care in the inner part of the temple where the worship mainly done. On the north east corner of the inner yard there are steps that lead you to even more inner part of the temple. Please take of your shoes or sandal before entering. Inside again you will see candi. It is only one but much bigger then the other. It even has a small space inside look it  like a meditation room.

Posted in Temples, What to see in Bali | Leave a comment

Visiting Bali Main Sites in One Day

Should you have only one day and would like to see the main tourist sites in Bali here is an idea. Most visitors to Bali especially fist timer will like to see main places like Mount and Lake Batur (known as ‘volcano’ or Kintamani), temple of Lake Bratan , Tanah Lot and Ubud.

If this is your case and you stay either in Ubud, Sanur, Kuta or Seminyak, you can start by visiting one of craft village around Ubud (please don’t go to everyone of them and spent to much time) then to Tegalalang Rice terrace and off to Batur area for the caldera view. You can also visit Batur Temple , the second largest temple in this area. After Batur a long drive passing windy and scenic route  crossing  the longest bridge in Bali to Bedugul area. Beside the popular floating temple of Lake Bratan you can also can spend some time in Candi Kuning fruit and flower market before cruising down to the coast to Tanah Lot.

Posted in Bali Unique Tours | Leave a comment