We again enjoyed breakfast at the open-air table
overlooking the rice fields—and no monkeys.
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| I'm going to miss the banana juice when we have to leave |
After a day in town yesterday, we wanted to get out and see some more
of Bali—and our primary destination was the Batur caldera. We requested a
driver for a four to five-hour round trip and set out promptly at 10 am.
Our driver, Dewa (the same as two days prior from the airport), took
us out the north side of Ubud and up past the very scenic rice fields and terraces
of Sebatu.
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| Views of the rice terraces |
From there, we climbed up toward the Batur
caldera, stopping first for some expansive views of Lake Batur and the cluster
of cones surrounding it from Penelokan village.
Based on our interests (mostly good scenery and
photos), Dewa then dropped us for a short walk on along a small road and trail
in the lava fields (also through the yard of someone’s home with naked children
on the porch) and then down at the harbor for a look at the lake. Afterward, we
climbed back up out of the caldera for a quick lunch—food okay, view fabulous.
Dewa had warned us of the aggressive locals hawking fruit, scarves,
woodcarvings and other items. Aside from that, it was a very enjoyable
experience. While it wasn’t a completely clear day, it was sunny, and we very
much enjoyed this excursion. We’ll let the photos do the talking from here:
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| View from Penelokan village |
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| Down at the lake |
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| Yes, this is a poinsettia tree...in June! |
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| Another view from our lunch stop |
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| A little light hiking in the lava field |
Our last
stop on the drive was at the Tirta Empul (holy water spring) temple at
Tampaksiring. The temple was fairly crowded, with a few visitors like us, and
many others who had come to bathe in the holy waters, including numerous groups
of school kids. Some of the kids looked to be treating this more like a trip to
the local swimming pool, with much splashing and laughing. Away from the
central attraction of the springs, it is a very quiet and picturesque site set
in a green valley.
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| At the temple |
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| Kids watching other kids splashing in the holy water springs |
By this
point, we had our first potential bout of stomach trouble on the trip (Allie), so we headed
back to our villa to take it easy by our pool (nothing wrong with that). At one
point, we walked over to the grocery store on Hanoman St. for a couple of bottles
of wine—and quickly learned that one does not want to walk back along the side
of the Monkey Forest holding grocery bags. They apparently can distinguish the
grocery bags from other sorts of bags, and on a couple of occasions, aggressive
monkeys charged toward us. Fortunately, the continual motorbike traffic through
the path interrupted their attacks, and we made it out of there with our bags
intact. But that is something we will not repeat!
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| Wise words! |
Dinner was a
low-key and quick one down the road at Laka Leke.
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