Rice Fields

My tour started by going to the rice fields. This was awesome. I believe my tour guide/driver and I had a small misunderstanding but it was for the best. I believe he had a plan for the day like hitting certain places including the rice fields. But he had asked me on the drive up what I was looking for. And I told him, besides the tourist spots it would be nice to also see certain things, non necessarily normal tourist would see. And now that I think of it, may be he did understand me.

So the rice fields were amazing, but we walked deeper in. I thought we would just see it and he joked as an exercise this early in the morning we would just keep on walking. And I was in agreement but didn’t realize, we were going to climb the rice terraces. This was the part that tourists wouldn’t necessarily see. I knew this because we were pretty much the only ones climbing up. It was muddy and slippery. I felt bad too cause he had nice church-type shoes on. Those shoes weren’t made to walk up muddy rice terraces in the morning. But he insisted and that it was no problem. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I got a sweat from it. I even saw a local farm lady come out of her house and another offered us coconut too. I think I saw the side of the rice terrace that many tourists don’t normally see. And I appreciated it greatly.

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Gunung Kawi

(11th century)

King Anak Wungsu is thought to be buried here with his Queen and his concubines. May be also his family members. Guide mentioned something like even though his Queen was buried there, his favorite concubine was actually the one next to him.

Here my guide told me that before stepping through that split gates or “candi bentar”, you must get rid or release any negative thoughts or feelings before entering. Sounded like good advice for entering any location.

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Tirta Empul “Holy Spring”

(926 AD)

Fresh water and source of the Pakerisan River.

Guide mentioned a story where it’s believed that King Mayadenawa became evil from all his power. So a Hindu priest, Mpu Kulputih, prayed at Besakih Temple (“Mother Temple”) to ask for help and was told to go to India. Then the god Indra, sent his troops to fight King Mayadenawa who poisoned the water to fight back against Indra’s troops. Indra with a rod, struck the ground and created the fresh water spring, Tirta Empul. The troops chased King Mayadwnawa away while he transformed himself into different creatures and his path became the towns/village names. He finally turned himself into a rock and God Indra shot him down with an arrow and his blood splattered creating the Petanu River which was cursed for 1000 years. The victory is celebrated as a victory for good versus evil, “Galungan”.

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 Kintamani

Here we stopped by for me to have lunch across from this volcano. It was an amazing view and pretty yummy Chinese/Balinese food.

Pura Besakih

It started to rain after we left Kintamani. And the drive was about 45minutes to an hour and I was hoping by the time I got to Pura Besakih also known as the “Mother Temple” that the rain would stop. Little did I know, it was a foreshadowing of what the temple and the people running it were like. My guide warned me. And I believed I would be okay with it.

The first was a fee for us driving in.

I put on a sarong before I headed towards the entrance. There was a booth and they wanted me to get a guide for another fee. My tour guide told me that I didn’t need one if I didn’t want one. I was also bullied for a “donation” in which the guy inside the booth pointed towards his notebook at how much the other tourists were so generous. You could see different amounts of money. But you can also see that some of the hand writing wasn’t consistent. So if I had put down $10, they would add extra zeroes after I had left. That’s the kind of scheme they were running.

After I got a scowl and attitude from the attendant, I headed towards the temple. I was followed by a kid who “accompanied” me while I went around. He told me stuff and even showed me how to pray. I also had to donate money there too but that I didn’t mind.

Once we got to the exit, he took my photo. I also gave him money hoping he gets it and not the other people who tried bullying me to “donate”. The temple was awesome but the people around were just rude and unfriendly. I would recommend skipping this temple next time.

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Klungkung Palace

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Pura Saraswati

Even though I had already had a long day on my Day Tour, I ventured to find this on my way to grab dinner. I knew it was on one of the main streets but I didn’t realize it was right behind the Starbucks. I’m glad I found it.