Indo - Bkk 2015 Day 6: Bali, Indonesia

DAY 6: 20 MAY 2015

Today, we planned a day trip to Ubud!

Our driver was the one who suggested the itinerary for the day, and it has already

included the places which we were interested in visiting.

We met with our driver at 8am as we wanted to end our day early to prepare for

tomorrow's morning flight.

The first thing on our itinerary was to visit a place famous for batik painting.

We got to see artists at work and were given a short introduction of the entire 

process of batik painting.

We took a look at their retail shop as well.

Although their batik items were really pretty and intricate, the prices were steep.

As we were not interested in wood carving and paintings, we decided to head 

straight to the centre of Ubud.

We visited the Ubud palace and the Ubud market, which were located within

close proximity between one another.

Ubud palace

The admission to the Ubud palace is free, 

but the entry to some parts of the palace were restricted.

After walking around the palace for a short while, we walked to the Ubud market.

The ubud market is huge and it is definitely the place to get souvenirs.

Similar to Jalan Poppies lane, you will need to learn how to bargain for a better price,

as the prices are usually really high.

I managed to get some lovely coasters made up of colourful glass tiles,

dreamcatchers and most importantly, postcards to add to my growing collection!

After shopping at Ubud market, we met up with our driver and he brought us to our

next destination, Tegalalang rice terrace.

The entrance fee was about Rp10,000 per person if I remembered clearly.

Amanda wasn't feeling well and I explored the rice terrace on my own.

The rice terraces are open all year round.

To walk on the terraces, you will need to pay Rp5,000 to the rice terrace owners.

Tegalalang rice terrace

I almost went to the top, but decided to go back down as I was worried for Amanda.

But I was contented with my little exploration on the rice terraces!

Next, we headed to a restaurant with a view of Mt. Batur for lunch.

It was a 30 minutes drive to the restaurant, and it was actually a buffet restaurant

which was reasonably priced.

It costs Rp80,000 per person to dine there.

For the view and the spread, it was definitely reasonably priced.

 After lunch, we headed to a coffee and tea plantation which was famous for

Luwak coffee, the world's most expensive coffee!

A civet cat, also known as Luwak, will consume the coffee beans and poop it out.

Then, the locals will collect the coffee beans it poops out and carry out certain routines

to clean the beans and transform them into coffee powder and brewed coffee.

Luwak

We got to see the different preparation stages of the Luwak coffee and we got to try

pounding the coffee beans and frying the beans as well.

The last part of the tour was a free tasting session of a variety of tea and coffee.

There were about 6 different types of tea for us to try, and I liked the lemongrass tea best.

I bought a box of lemongrass tea for myself in the end (;

The Luwak coffee is not included during the tasting session and you will have to pay for it.

A small cup of Luwak coffee costs Rp50,000 and this is due to the fact that the 

entire process is really tedious.

But for the coffee lovers, you should definitely try it if you happen to be in Bali!

We headed to the holy water temple, Pura Tirta Empul.

The entrance fee was Rp30,000 per person, and it includes free rentals of sarong.

This temple is actually open 24/7 and there will be a monk stationed in the temple

for night duty every night.

Our driver was our guide as well, as he explained to us about how this temple originated

and the history of Hinduism in Bali.

 There is a section in the temple where people can enter the waters and seek for blessing.

There is a certain procedure to go about, and you will need to pray at 

every fountain except for the marked ones.

 After our visit to the holy water temple, we decided to call it a day and headed back

to our hotel.

If you are interested in getting a driver in Bali, I would definitely recommend Mr. Wijaya.

Mr. Agung Wijaya

Tel: + 62 81 353 085 225

agung_wijaya25@yahoo.com

As it was late and both of us were feeling tired, we decided to call for room service.

There was a variety of food options and they were all reasonably priced and good!

That's the end of our adventures in Bali!