Holiday - Bali (II)

Day 3 : 4th November 2007
Map of the places we went to

The next day, we were off to Ubud and Kintamani. Took our breakfast at the hotel, and the driver came to pick us up at 9am. We managed to get this driver through the tour agent who dealt with us. So happen, his wife is a Balinese, thus, the driver is her relative. If you need the contact, please email me. He is a very learned man, speaks English soooo fluently. Even better than some of us here. Most of the drivers also work as a tour guide, thus, they pick up these languages, depending on which group of tourists they're taking care off. So far, I've heard tour guides speaking in fluent French and Japanese. And some, Korean. And, they can even read & write in that language. Sigh. Put me to shame. Mandarin also can't talk, what more, read & write. Haha.
On the way there, our first stop was at the Batik "factory". They were doing the waxing, which reminded me when I was in Form Two, and we did that for art. Also, we saw them weaving the songket. I never knew how it was done, but it's cool. The thread already comes with the pattern, and they just weaved the thread one-by-one to make it into a pattern. Coolness.

Ladies doing the waxing using "canting"

Next, we went to Celuk famous for its silver and gold "factory". There, you can see a few of the workers, intricately fixing the silver ornaments, be it earrings, or pendants, or necklaces. First, they use the flux to stick the silver to it, after that, it's soldered or baked in the oven. Reminds me of solder ball attach. The balls are almost the same size too. Ahh.. I miss Assembly process!

Sticking some balls to the ornaments

After that, we dropped by Mas, famous for its wood carvings. It's pretty amazing how they can carve things out of a single block of wood. We saw three monkeys with the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil. But it was rather expensive. I guess, it's a tourist attraction, that's why the tourist price. :)

A guy carving a nice shape :)

We went to the taste some coffee after that, at Tampaksiring. The place is nice, they make it in such a way they plant as many kinds of trees as possible in one place, easy for our viewing. The famous one is the Bali Coffee. It smelled so fragrant when the lady was roasting it. They even have vanilla tree, yeah, it looked like long beans hanging! Also, they grew ginseng, beatle leaf (sirih), cocoa. And the freshly brewed coffee smelled so nice, and sitting on the bench, over-looking the mountains/jungle was such a sight. Not to mention, cooling too, opposite of Kuta.

Jason and his coffee
Next, we headed straight for Kintamani. This is a semi-active volcanic mountain. But you're able to see people living on the outer side of the volcano. The dark and black area, still has no one staying on it. Our driver told us that behind the volcano, you can see more houses. But, it's weird. The volcano still has gases and what not in it, and the last it erupted was in 1963. Imagine how fertile the black soil is there. But another risk would be, would the people have enough time to run to safety if it ever erupts again? I doubt so.

Kintamani on the background

On the way down from Kintamani, we stopped by along the way to catch the beautiful view of rice terraces. It was such a lovely site. We took panaroma pics of the mountain and also the rice terrace. But, it wasn't as green as it should be because it's nearing to harvesting time. So you can see it, in yellowish green. But whatever, it's such a nice scenery. There's a sense of calmness and serenity there. One thing I'm amazed is at the irrigation system of the rice terrace. Where do the water come from? From the rainforest above it. Cool right? I think you can see lots of these in Phillipines too. We took a few pics there, enjoying the cool climate, and quickly packed because it was really cloudy.

Rice terrace. Beautiful if can see all around.

Next, we were on the way to Ubud Village. The driver stopped us along the Monkey Forest Road, and we walked all the way to the Central Market which is at the end of the road. There are so many shops along the road, mostly selling paintings. Nice. Better quality. After that, we dropped by the TukMak restaurant to say hi to a friend's dad. But he wasn't around. Ubud is famous for babi guling (suckling pig) . But we didn't try it, and Jason regretted for not trying it.
We moved on to the Central market. And my, it was a lovely sight! There are lots of colors in the things sold there. Didn't managed to get anything, as we were kind of in a rush. It drizzled when we left. Ahhh.. But Jason & I both left with a nice feeling. We love Ubud. It's slow-paced, something like Malacca. And scenery is nice. Our driver, from Ubud told us the next time we come, should spend more time in Ubud. Can rent bicyles and cycle along the rice terrace, and visit the monkey forest, or market! We could do white river water rafting too. So, next trip to Bali will just be in Ubud, and covering northern Bali, Lovina. :) Anyone want to join us? eWic!?

Nice colors eh?

Hotel pool at night. Very nice!

More pics on Multiply.

Posted in: , on 14 November 2007 at at 7:12 pm  

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