Bali Route (2nd edition)

Dear Readers,

Sometime traveling abroad is the best way for losing stress after working hard all year. There are so many beautiful destination spread all over the world. One of these beautiful places is Bali – the island of God. This island so famous, even former president of USA, Bill Clinton has said, “Don’t die before you’ve visiting Bali”. Too bombastic? I don’t think so. Just give it a try.

If you don’t want to pay too much for travel agent, I’ve got some route that you can use as reference. Here they are:

1. Bali Route 1A (East Bali)

Kuta – Ubud (Monkey Forest) – Goa Gajah – Gunung Kawi – Tampak Siring (Tirta Empul) – Sukawati – Kuta

2. Bali Route 1B (East Bali)

Kuta – Goa Lawah – Pesinggahan – Tirta Gangga – Puri Taman Ujung (Floating Palace) – Lebih Beach – Mangrove Wooden Bridge – Kuta

3. Bali Route 1C (East Bali)

Kuta – Kintamani – Batur Lake – Trunyan – Besakih – Kuta

4. Bali Route 2 (Central to North Bali)

Kuta – Taman Ayun (Mengwi) – Bedugul Botanical Garden – Bedugul Lake – Gitgit Waterfall – Lovina Beach –Kuta

5. Bali Route 3 (West Bali)

Kuta – Tanah Lot – Alas Kedaton – Bali Barat National Park – Jaya Prana Grave Site –Menjangan Island – Kuta

6. Bali Route 4 (South Bali – Beach all day)

Kuta – Sangeh – Sanur – GWK – Dreamland – Padang-Padang/Impossible Beach – Jimbaran – Kuta

Let me explain all those routes one by one.

Bali Route 1A (East Bali)

Kuta – Ubud (Monkey Forest) – Goa Gajah – Gunung Kawi – Tampak Siring (Tirta Empul) – Sukawati – Kuta

Let me begin with Bali Route 1A. The journey start from Kuta to our first destination: Monkey Forest (Ubud). This forest is full with a creature which Darwin calls it as our ancestor and some temples. You can take a picture with those monkeys, but be careful, they are wild monkeys, so don’t be so close. You want to give them banana? There are many banana sales inside the forest, but I suggest you to buy bananas outside the area. If you go deeper, you could find fresh water source. Besides that, you also can see some deer at south part of the area.

Around this area there are so many small store, restaurant, merchandise, until used books. I suggest you to visit here in the morning to avoid traffic jam, and the air also still fresh. If you already satisfied, we can continue our journey to Goa Gajah.

From the name, Goa Gajah means cave of the elephants. But don’t expect that you’ll find many elephants here, it’s just a name. In this place you can find a cave, big enough. This cave looks like letter T. You can see a statue called Lingga and Yoni. From the stories, this cave was made as place to pray. On the back yard, there is a small waterfall, only 2-3 meters high. The water is still fresh, surrounding by broken statue. From here, we can continue the journey to Gunung Kawi.

‘Gunung Kawi’ is a complex temple. There are at least 8 big statues, which made right on very big wall beside the hill. If you see it, you wouldn’t believe it was made by human. This temple is sacred, please don’t do anything unnecessary at this place. After this, we can go to Tirta Empul, Tampak Siring.

Tirta Empul is a public bath place. The water came directly from earth water sources, you can drink it without boiled first. There are so many big golden fish here, but don’t try to catch it if you don’t want get kick out from this place. Tirta Empul located next to President Palace, called ‘Istana Tampak Siring’. But to enter it, you need a permit from the government, which can take months, so I suggest you to only take a picture from outside.

From Tirta Empul, you can go back to Kuta. On the way, you can visit Sukawati Market. You can find so many kind of merchandise here, from fabric, key holder, until big statue. So prepare your pocket, your merchandise shopping passion will satisfied here.

That’s all for now. Next time I would explain about Bali Route 1B.