Hotel Grad Zuri, Kuta
Started the
day with a breakfast buffet and luckily they had reasonable veggie options.
Really liked a dish with fried soyabeans called Tempeh and had it with fried rice. Now it was time to figure out a
transport which we could use for sightseeing today, we planned to visit Ubud
and neighboring areas. Hotel transport desk was not very helpful and insisted
on specific itinerary to be picked but we wanted to just hire a cab where we
can decide on the go. Finally, we ended up hiring Mr Mede (xxxxx) as our driver
after chatting with on WhatsApp and negotiating to 500k for full day hire.
We started
on our way to Ubud with Mr Mede with a brief halt at Sanur to check our options
for travel to Nusa Lemboghan next day. More on Nusa Lemboghan transport options
later. As we headed to Ubud, we did not know what to expect and just relied on
our driver to show us around. We realized while talking to him that Sarong
(dhoti/lungi) and headgear was identification of Bali hindus and it was
interesting to see that almost everyone around was dressed like that. On way to
Ubud, we stopped at a temple where we had to hire Sarongs to enter but there
was not much worth seeing so we left pretty quickly. Then we headed to famous Monkey
Forest of Ubud and we were pretty curious about what kind of Forest we are
headed into. There is an entry fee of IDR 100,000 per person and we felt it was
a loot for just seeing Monkeys!! Heading inside the forest we did feel a bit
awkward as we were heading unguarded into Monkey area and I was really freaked
out to have monkeys moving around freely without having a place to hide if they
attack!
As we
headed deeper into Forest, Monkeys became merely a distraction and actual
forest was so dense and beautiful with Banayan trees and small stream flowing.
There were couple of bridges over the stream which made place look like a scene
straight out of treasure hunt movies. Eventually we came out of Forest feeling
happy and fresh but wondering if Ubud has anything better to offer for us. It
was nearly 4.30 PM and we wanted to maximize our fun from rest of evening.
Tanah Lot –
we asked our driver to take us to us Tanah Lot and he was a little surprised as
most other tourists spend a lot of time in Ubud and its temples. He felt it
will be too late by the time we reach Tanah Lot but we asked to him to take
that chance. We wanted to reach there before sunset which meant we had little
over 2 hours to reach there and headed out in hope that traffic god with help
us get there.
Finally,
when we reached Tanah lot, it was just 5 minutes before sunset and we literally
ran from Parking to sea shore and there was a crowd of hundreds waiting there
for sunset. Place is large enough to accommodate big crowd and it was fun to
stand amongst so many people watching the beauty of nature. People started
going away after sunset and crowd was much lesser. We stayed back for another
hour watching waves crash into big rocks among the cool beach breeze. It is a
beautiful spot and very peaceful. We headed back as it was getting dark and
alley leading to sea shore is full of shops. As we were late most shops were
closed but there were some restaurants open and we have a hearty meal at one of
them before heading back to our Hotel in Kuta.
Some
tips from Day-1: #TravellerTips
-
Check
out spots around Kuta that would interest you. Beaches of Kuta, Legian and
Seminayak are all one after another part of single long beach. It keeps getting
posh as you head towards Seminayak. So, pick your beach to have good fun. We
reserved it for last day of trip when we come back to this area
-
Temples
around Ubud may not interest Indians as they are mostly old buildings with not
much activity. Good for quick photo-ops from outside.
-
Tanah
Lot is a must visit spot – Sunset is beautiful, check the sunset timing upfront
and be there on time.
-
Travelling
takes more time than good maps would tell, distances are small but roads are
narrow but good. So, average speed is around 30 Kmph.
