Ubud and Touristing

Several months ago, after we bought our airfare, I started looking through the AirBnB experiences listed to see if there was anything offered that we might like to do for a day.  I found Bali Private Customized Full-Day Tours hosted by Jeko and yesterday we were not disappointed!

The day before our tour I received a text from our guide, Yande, saying that he wanted to pick us up half an hour earlier than our originally scheduled 5am because he was worried about the wait time at our first stop, Heaven's Gate at Lempuyang Temple.  Despite this meaning he would need to leave home around 3am to get to our villa to pick us up, it was clear from moment one that his priority was our total enjoyment for the day.

We got up at 4am and were on the road by about 4:40 (you know we can't ever be on time for anything!).  It's about a two and half hour drive from our villa out to where Heaven's Gate is.  This is one of the most famous sites for people to take pictures in Bali.  It is also a very sacred temple in the Hindu religion and it happens that starting on Tuesday there is a big Hindu festival here.  The drive was a great way for us to see the changing landscape of the island from coastal tourism to rural rice patties.

Sunrise over the fields

Just wanted to give a sense of how narrow many roads are here

Yande was so right.  Even though we'd left earlier than planned, by the time we got to Heaven's Gate we had to park at the bottom of a series of steep hills and walk up to the payment gate and then walk further still to the temple.  The line was already wrapped around several times and Yande estimated our wait would probably be about three hours.  He offered to wait in line for us while we explored the rest of the temple grounds and took photos. You'll notice we're wearing sarongs in all of the photos.  The temple is a sacred site and there are many regulations for visiting, including wearing a sarong at all times.  You also have to cover your back and shoulders, no yoga poses or anything that lifts your feet up high off the ground, and babies less than 105 days old are not allowed inside.

When we got back from taking photos about half an hour later and Yande had moved maybe about a third of the way through one of the wrap around lines we decided that we did not need the famous Heaven's Gate picture that badly.  Likely a mortal sin to those who are deep in the Instagram world, but I don't even have an Instagram account, so the pictures we took below were more than enough to show we were there.  I've included a stock photo of someone else so you can see what all the rave is about.  A missed opportunity, yes, but we would have spent more than half of our day here and likely missed out on one of the other fun activities we did later.

Stock photo of what we could have had

Because of the celebration starting this week the whole temple is decked out

After Heaven's Gate we got back into the car and drove for another good hour or two back to Ubud for ATV riding at Omahlembu Adventure.  When we arrived they outfitted us with "socks" aka plastic baggies tied around our feet and galoshes.  At first, I was terrified and very timid with the accelerator, but by the end I was racing through the tracks and flying over bumps and rocks in the trail.  Landry had forgotten to pack a second pair of clothes, so he was much more timid in his experience than I was.  By the time we finished I was covered in mud and water splashes.  The plastic bag socks then made so much sense!

The place that provided us with our ATV was kind of a one-stop shop for a variety of activities, but they also had a coffee and tea plantation, animals on display, and served us lunch.  After we were done riding our ATVs we were taken to a station to rinse off as much mud as we could and then we sat down at a table outside under a nice canopy of shade and we were offered an extensive coffee and tea tasting.  Pretty much everything was delicious.  Then we were served our lunch of rice and noodles by our host that sat with us and talked to us about her experience working at the center.

After a thoroughly enjoyable and adrenaline pumping morning (because at this point it was still only 12:30!) we headed to our next stop, the Bali Swing.  This was maybe one of the strangest places I've ever been in my life.  The concept behind the place is great.  There are 12 swings, a bunch of nests, and some other places to explore all on a cliff side overlooking a river and waterfall.  The strange part is that people come here fully dressed and made up to take a million Instagram photos.  They even have a shop where you can rent dresses, crowns of flowers, etc. to make your photos perfect and you can pay for a professional photographer to follow you around taking pictures for you.  The amount of time we watched people spend posing was almost comical.

Because Tuesday starts a big holiday week in Bali, there were larger than normal crowds at Heaven's Gate and also at the Bali Swing.  We decided to maximize our experience by getting in one good photo opp, waiting for the most thrilling swing ride, and then a double bed swing to do something together.  I think we were there for nearly two and a half hours just for that.  But in hindsight I'd say the experience was definitely worthwhile.  

My sole instagrammable photo

Our final stop of the day was the Pura Bukit Sari Sengeh, a temple within a monkey forest.  When we arrived just after four in the afternoon there were very few people there.  The monkeys were everywhere and they were very friendly.  Yande had picked up a bag of peanuts at a store on our way over and just the rustling of the bag brought them running.  They had no problem climbing up Yande's back to pull on his bag, which they knew held more peanuts.

Landry and I both fed a few monkeys, but I tried to keep my distance and they were very eager to climb up your body and make friends.  We'd been warned that if you freak out they'll scratch and I was pretty sure if a monkey climbed up my back I would freak out...lol.  All monkeys aside, the temple itself was beautiful and it was so incredibly quite and serene.  An excellent place for prayer and contemplation.

No pictures, please! No pictures!

Yande created the Heaven's Gate photo effect for us here since we missed it earlier in the day

We climbed back into Yande's car one last time and headed back to our villa in Kuta.  After we arrived home we ordered some take out, picked up some wine, and spent the evening enjoying our indoor/outdoor living space.  We've just had our breakfast this morning and are planning to spend the day exploring Seminyak, a neighborhood with lots of shops, restaurants, and bars.  I cannot believe its our last full day here!  Why does time always pass so quickly when you're enjoying yourself??