Bismillah,
Finally, Alhamdulillah, Ayah had finished his meetings and conference. So, we've got to spend the whole day together. Just the six of us. I have to skip the breakfast part cause it's kinda same. Okay. Today we are heading to the north of the island. First, Pak Putu took us to watch Barong & Kris Dance at Sari Wisata Budaya at Denpasar. Just about 10 minutes from our hotel. Basically, it is a play which about an eternal fight between good and evil spirit. Barong (a mythological animal) represents the good spirit and Rangda, represents the evil one. It's like a folktale.
Then, we went up to Gianyar again. But this time, the area covered is the painting gallery since Ayah wanted to buy some painting to hang it in our house. So, here we are at Dewa Putu Toris, studio of Artist Painting. As usual, I was amazed by the carving at the entrance door. So, Mr DSLR help me captured it.
Entering the galerry, MasyaAllah, these people are truly artistic. Every pieces are brilliant. I bet Ayah having a hard time choosing which painting to bring home.heee. A piece of advise here, no camera allowed in there. However I managed to snapped a few photos inside. Thanks to I-don't-know-that-camera-is-not-allowed-at-the-first-place! =p
Then, we continued our journey to the volcano. Along the journey, I noticed that, there is a lot of Japanese car on the road especially Toyota. And I don't see any Malaysian car.
Sila berusaha lagi ye, Malaysia.Malaysia kan Boleh!
After about one hour, Pak Putu announced that we are already at the foot of the mountain. So, he let the car window open wide and we enjoyed the cool breeze from the outside. The cool wind did woke my sister from her sleep. Terkejut agaknye tiba tiba angin sejuk dan kencang ;)
Before we reach to the summit, we dropped by at a local coffee plantation along the way. Santi Agrowisata. The attraction of this place is that they show us the process of making coffee luwak. As in Malay, luwak here means 'luah'. It is basically letting fox or civet (musang) eat the coffee berries. This animal eats the softer outer part of the coffee berry but does not digest the inner beans, instead excreting them still covered in some inner layers of the cherry.
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| The cage |
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| Two sleepy foxes |
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| coffee berries |
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| Tadaaa! Meet the poo |
Then, the locals will gather it, do a thorough washing, sun drying and roasting...
the coffee bean will turn out like this!
Eheww. My apology, but I don't drink coffee. Not that I disgust the process okay. :)
Well, besides coffee, they also sell Bali cocoa, lemon grass tea, ginger tea, Bali Ginseng tea and Rosela tea (Roselle hibiscus). They let us taste every one of them. Since it was drizzling at that time, and the astmosphere is cold, those hot drinks were really a contentment.
We left the place and heading straight to the volcano, Mount Batur. Subhanallah! I can hardly breathe. See for yourself.
Pak Putu took us to restaurant where they have this balcony that allows you to have your meal facing the mountain. Cool! But we did not eat at that restaurant since they serve buffet and we are not that hungry. Well, it is expensive when you want to eat less but pay more. So, we decided to find another restaurant. But Pak Putu is nowhere in sight. Where could that man be? Seven minutes later, Ayah found him eating at the lower ground level of the restaurant with the other taxi and mini van drivers. You see, those drivers, they will receive benefits of free food and some cash if they successfully brought people to a certain restaurants. So, we learned that the drivers also have their interest. Okay. Without him, we walked to the next door restaurant which is smaller and less crowded.
Done eating, took pictures again. Don't blame me, blame the beautiful volcano. =P
We left Mount Batur, went down the hill and heading to Ubud, an art villages. You will go crazy because there are like thousands of art shop there. Home deco from glass, beautiful stones, wood carving, and more painting! We didn't stop long there because we had to rush to Tanah Lot to pray. According to Pak Putu, Muslims are not allowed to pray in Ubud since it is royal area as for Hindu. So, don't plan on performing your prayer in Ubud okay. Lesson learned.
We reach Tanah Lot about 40 minutes before sundown. Found a musolla (surau), Alhamdulillah. Done praying, we rushed to the seashore to watch sundown. Unfortunately, it was raining. So, we couldn't see much of the sun. It's okay. At least we made it to Tanah Lot which is very famous. The view is still great with the dim light from sun. We enjoyed it while it lasts.
The final destination tonight is the spa. We already booked it yesterday at
BEL-AIR Spa which is owned by a Japanese. As usual, recommended by Pak Putu. It really is a nice place and with sweet and pleasant floral odor. :) All of us, (exclude Ayah laa) went for a facial spa which cost us $40 per head per hour. Emak said that it is cheaper than in Malaysia.
Went back to hotel and rest. The journey continued tomorrow.
