Bali, Indonesia: A Rainy Visit
Is Bali overrated? Is it a tourist trap destination?
Regardless of what some people claim, it cannot be denied that the island has plenty of things to offer - from the pristine turquoise waters to the scenic temples to the breathtaking nature wonders. You can satisfy your wanderlust craving in one destination. Besides, Bali will not be rated as one of the best island travel destinations in the world (take note "in the world") by several travel websites and magazines for no good reason.
Finally after years of dreaming of visiting the island, the time has finally come for me to discover why many people fell in love with Bali. But I made a huge mistake... I say "huge" because it affected the entire trip. I booked our travel in December, which I later regretted. Why is that? The rainy season in Bali occurs between November to March.😭 We prepared for this trip; we did quite a lot of research except for the best/worst time to visit! 😂
We stayed in Bali for 3 days (2 full days) and 3 nights (2 full nights) at The Sankara Suites & Villas by Pramana, and yes, it was almost raining during this entire stay. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the trip and were able to relax. Here are some of the things during our visit.
Day 1 - First Full Day
Bali Swing
Going to Bali is never complete without trying the popular swing. It is the number 1 must-try activity when visiting the island. Our tour guide/driver asked which swing we wanted to go, I didn't know there were many options! 😂 I just said any swing as long as the background is the rice terraces. And so he took us to Tegallalang Village which is famous for its beautiful scenes of rice paddies. Tegallalang Rice Terrace received a UNESCO World Heritage listing.
While the staff prepared the swing, it started to drizzle. 😆 Did we even consider canceling? Nope! Never! So they proceeded to attach the harness on us then started swinging. Was I nervous? Yes, which was why I was laughed at cuz I have done skydiving in Australia and yet I was nervous while swinging on the edge of the hill. 😂😂
The view of the rice terraces was indeed spectacular - the lush green scenery exudes tranquil feeling. I didn't want to stop, but the raindrops were getting bigger. Despite the rain, we decided to proceed with our itinerary.
Tirta Empul Temple
Despite the pouring rain, we proceeded to our next destination, the Tirta Empul Temple. The entire area was quite huge and there are different parts that tourists can check out. There was an area where visitors could feed a lot of koi fishes in a pond - the koi fishes were so fat! 😁
We continued walking around until we reached the spot where people took part in the bathing ritual - it is believed that doing so can clean one's body and soul. Yes, non-Hindu visitors can experience this ritual without any issue. The temple visitors must adhere to the rules and regulations, including tying the hair if long and for women to avoid visiting the temple when they have their monthly period.
The rain continued pouring heavily like there is no tomorrow, so we opted to leave the temple. Our driver asked if we would still continue with our itinerary since all our plans were mostly outdoor - we wanted to explore those rice paddies. We pondered for a few minutes and decided to just call it a day, but we instructed the driver to swing by the shopping area in Ubud since we might not have enough time to shop the following day.
Tegallalang Handicrafts Village
Holding our umbrella, we started checking out the stretch of souvenir shops in Tegallalang handicrafts village. I am not so good at bargaining, but we did manage to get some items at a discounted rate. Tourists can find an array of items from different shops, including apparels, bags, hats, fridge magnets, postcards, and many others.
After around 30 minutes and almost ran out of cash, we headed back to the car and back to the hotel. It was around 4pm when we reached the hotel; we had nothing else to do since it was still raining, but we had a scheduled massage that night.
Balinese Massage
The hotel we stayed at offered a massage service which was perfect since we didn't have to travel far for the massage. Around 7pm we headed to the massage rooms near the river 😍. We savoured an amazing 1 hour of Balinese massage. It was super relaxing that we wanted to do the same thing the following night.
Right after our relaxing massage, we wanted to have a dinner and found out the hotel organised a simple event during dinnertime where there’ll be performers entertaining the diners, and they invited us to join in. It was such a fun experience.
Our itinerary the following day was quite far, so we needed to sleep early. Our call time was 5am! 😭
Day 2 - Final Full Day
At around 5am, we travelled to Pura Luhur Lempuyang, which was roughly 2 hours drive from Ubud. We needed to go as early as possible to avoid the crowd since it is one of the most visited destinations in Bali. All throughout the journey, we were just sleeping. 😂
Pura Lempuyang Temple (Gates Of Heaven Bali)
From the carpark, we needed to take a minibus to the temple on the slope of Mount Lempuyang; only these mini buses are allowed to go up to the temple which was understandable knowing the road going up was steep and narrow. No need to pay extra for the bus since it is already part of the 100,000 IDR entrance ticket. At the drop off, everyone is required to wear a sarong to cover the legs and shoulder. I highly recommend bringing your own for hygiene purposes. Visitors must trek up to 1,700 steps (on a sloppy road) to reach the temple itself.
The main temple rests 1,175 meters above sea level, up on the peak of Mount Lempuyang with a picturesque view of the Mount Agung volcano as the backdrop, if the weather is good.
Once we reached the temple, we were surprised to see a lot of tourists as early as 7am! Most of these visitors were sitting on the side, waiting for their turn for that epic photoshoot between the Candi Bentar – the gate with the reflection effect. Each ticket has a queue number assigned, so we just waited to be called....... 2 hours later, it was finally our turn. After 3 poses each and 3 poses together, the photoshoot was over - only took less than 10 minutes.😂
While we were doing the photoshoot, we could see the dark clouds slowly covering the blue sky. We were worried that the rain would hinder us from completing our itinerary for the day. And so we rushed to our next destination, Tirta Gangga, then it started to drizzle.
Tirta Gangga
A royal palace turned into beautiful gardens, the Tirta Gangga (literally means “water from the Ganges”) is believed to protect the Balinese people from bad luck, illness, and evil spirits. It features a grand water palace with steps to enter, along with a labyrinth of pools, ponds, and tiered fountains surrounded by lush gardens adorned with status and stone sculptures of mythical creatures spouting water into the pools.
My favourite part would be the ponds with plenty of koi. You can feed the fishes which is a perfect time to snap some photos. We didn’t spend much time, so after exploring the gardens and taking pictures, we headed to the next place in our itinerary.
But before driving to Taman Ujung, we dropped by a restaurant with a rice paddies view for a quick lunch. We were famished!
Taman Ujung
In contrast to the other places we’ve been, Taman Ujung welcomed us literally “warmly.” It was ‘effin hot when we reached it, and from the entrance I could already see how vast it was, meaning it was going to be a long walk under the heat of the sun.
Built in 1919, Taman Ujung water palace features three large pools. In the middle of the main pool, located at the centre, is the building called Gili Bale which is connected to the edge of the pool by a bridge. Aside from the various large pools, visitors can also enjoy historic structures set against a backdrop of Mount Agung and the eastern shorelines. Different flora and fauna can be found, but some involve climbing steep staircases. The heat drained our energy quickly, hence, we decided to leave the place after an hour or so.
Our final destination was supposedly a waterfall, but we decided to just go back to the hotel since it’ll be a long drive and we wanted to reach before the night fell. We made a few stops along the way for souvenirs.
Day 3 - Half Day
The following day was our flight back, however, before our driver picked us up at the hotel. Part of our hotel package was a complimentary photoshoot, and so we did it! 😂 A professional photographer came to the hotel and took us around the hotel for some poses. Geezzzzz we felt like celebrities!
And that wraps up our short but fun Bali getaway! For sure we will come back, and by this time, we will visit during good months.
See you again Bali!
*All photos are not edited or filtered except for the photoshoot. 😁
'Dec 2021