BALI, The Goddess Island {travel photo diary | part 1}

so..after so long, now finally...a travel photo diary post of my short holiday in Bali.

when i first stepped out of the arrival area in the airport, the first thing i noticed was the cool air that day. so unusual. so not Bali.
but i liked it that way. and we were lucky enough because the weather stayed the same until our last day there.
as soon as i left the airport, my mind automatically changed into the holiday mood. took pictures of everything. so touristy ;P

the first picture that i took with instagram when we just arrived in Denpasar, the capital of Bali. we rented a car along with the driver. it is the most convenient way to travel around in Bali with reasonable cost.

from the airport, we went straight to Jimbaran for dinner. for you who haven't been to Bali, Jimbaran is a gorgeous area with a lot of restaurants along the beach..where we can watch the beautiful sunset at the seashore, go all crazy eating deliciously cooked seafood (my whole family is a big fan of seafood!), listening to the street musicians singing, and looking at the waves at the same time...life at the fullest.

lobstersssss

 

oh..one thing, because the restaurants are always packed, so there's always a long queue for tables. we have to be patient, 'cause trust me, it's worth the wait. but to be honest, the wait didn't feel that long since we could play on the beach while waiting ;)

with the city and the sea as the background, this area looks best at evening..the lights of the city looks really pretty. we went to our hotel after dinner.

after few hours of sleep, we had to get up early in the next morning to a full packed schedule for the day. the first site that we visited was Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave). it is an ancient site and is considered holy. so when we go inside, we have to wear proper clothes, not showing too much skin, especially the legs part. it is to respect the spirits that live in the area, they said.

 

this is the cave, we can go inside to have a look around. and for the tourists who wear shorts, usually at the entrance they will lend you sarung, a wide piece of cloth to be worn to cover our legs part..wear them just like a long skirt (like in the photo above).

lunch time. it was one of many buffet restaurants in the mountain area. the design is half opened, so we can see the beautiful Mount Kintamani just right in front of our eyes while we are having our lunch. the food was average, not bad. but it was quite pricey. the popular dish is grilled fish with the special Balinese seasonings. yummeyy..

this is the mountain that i was talking about. Gunung Kintamani (Mount Kintamani). isn't it an amazing view? i love it!

next stop was Istana Tampak Siring (Tampak Siring Palace). this is the palace where our first Indonesian President used to live.

Pura Tirtha Empul, a holy area., still around the palace site.

 

 

this is the natural spring inside the Pura Tirtha Empul, which is believed as quite magical. people believe that if we bath in here, or drink from it while saying some prayers, all diseases in our body and the burden in our heart will heal. well, it's superstitious, but it doesn't hurt to do it. i did it for fun ;)

mother and daughter praying.

my younger sister and i.

 

now this is my favorite part. the traditional souvenir market. it's still located in the area. when you're done with the palace, there is a pathway that leads to this market and finally the exit.

handmade wooden sculptures

see.. heaps of amazing handmade stuff there. truly pretty! but for tourists, we need to be extra careful when shopping. they usually offer such a high price for their stuff, so we have to bargain. yes, we can bargain..sometimes until half of the price they offer. but i'm not the expert in bargaining, sometimes i feel bad, so i need my mom to help me :D and also, after you bargain a lot, you better buy the thing. if you just walk away, the shop owners will get upset and angry..lol. it never happened to me though..but our tour guide kept on reminding us before we got off the bus. DON'T BARGAIN UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED AND HAVE AN INTENTION TO BUY ;)

another younger sister. they're different people, but look like twins. and look nothing like me. xP

look at those beautiful things!!

even though it was the 4th time i visited Bali, but its beauty never fails to amaze me.
besides the incomparable beauty of the natures and ancient sites it has, i pay more attention to the strong culture of people there, their behavior and their strong beliefs in life.
they believe so much in karma and for them life is all about balance. the original Balinese people are very kind and always leave with peace. their belief is so strong that you can even see and feel it everywhere when you come there. the atmosphere is so different.
and in this modern life, that is one of the rare things to experience. Bali is where you can see the modern life and the strong superstitious traditional life combined perfectly.
we can still find crimes happen there, but most of the time it's started by the migrants from other islands..not from the original Bali people. it's become quite a big problem nowadays, it kind of destroys the reputation of Balinese, because the Balinese won't even dare to hurt animals..they are really really honest and kind. so yea..too bad. (to me, it kind of explains why some of the shop owners here are quite 'aggressive', lol).

...to be continued...