Indonesia Trip: Ogoh-Ogoh Museum and Taman Ayun

Before ending our Bali trip, we managed to visit Ogoh-Ogoh Museum and Taman Ayun. This two places are located close to each other, so you only need to park your car once and then you can walk to visit these two tourist attractions.

The first one is Ogoh-Ogoh Museum. Every year there's a festival name Ogoh-Ogoh which is held prior to Nyepi eve. For that parade, every region prepare their Ogoh-Ogoh, a huge puppet which looks like monster, which made from styrofoam. Even though the Ogoh-Ogoh seems scary, but i honestly amaze with how good these people made the Ogoh-Ogoh and how creative they are to make these 3D version which looks very real. The parade itself have purpose to hinder human from negative element that can disturb human's life. 

Ogoh-Ogoh

the other Ogoh-Ogoh

During the parade, the owner of Ogoh-Ogoh Museum observed the best Ogoh-Ogoh and then he offered to buy the Ogoh-Ogoh and put it in his Museum. Every Ogoh-Ogoh has story and most story coming from the Ramayana and Mahabarat stories. Since the museum owner really loves Ogoh-Ogoh, i can see his excitement when explained us about the story of each Ogoh-Ogoh. 

dad with the museum owner (left)

Besides Ogoh-Ogoh, there's also a huge litter that usually used for Ngaben Ceremony (Funeral Ceremony in Bali).

with the litter for Ngaben ceremony

Museum Ogoh-Ogoh view from Taman Ayun

Finished with Ogoh-Ogoh Museum, we continued our trip to Taman Ayun. Honestly i don't know the connection between the name and the place. Ayun means "swing", so i wondered what things that was swinging in this place. Nevertheless, this place is beautiful, it's like a temple complex, but we can't see it clearly since it covered by wall. All i can do is climbed a stair and see the full view of the complex from there. 

Taman Ayun entrance gate

the door to the temple complex

inside the complex (taken from behind the walls)

another view of the complex

me with the complex as background. I had to climb stairs to get this view.

One of my favourite in here was seeing eggs craft. I believe it wasn't real egg, only wood or stone that was being shaped like egg and then painted in beautiful colors and pattern. The seller said that the price for one egg was IDR100k, well that's quite pricey in my opinion, especially when i brought limited cash at that time :(

the creative eggs

Nearby the exit gate, there was some statues representing "adu ayam" or chicken fight. I believe this was one of the local peoples' favorite show.

chicken fight statues

Finally we've reached the end of my family trip to Bali. It was short but fun. When we're leaving Taman Ayun, we saw a long row of women walking while bringing basket on their head. It's nice to have a chance to see this rare scene :)

XOXO, 

The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Danau Bratan Floating Temple

On the last day in Bali, I wanted to go to a place that I've been curious since i was a kid. This place often appear in the local tv when i was a kid, the place name is Danau Bratan or Bratan Lake It also well known for its floating temple, since the big temple is located in the lake, so it looks like as if its floating on the water.

Danau Bratan is located in Bedugul, which takes about 80 minutes from Kuta beach (in where our hotel's located). Even though it is a lake, but it's located on a hill so the road to Bedugul is ascending and circling the hill. Off course the weather is cooler in here due to its uphill location.

After paying for the entrance ticket amounted IDR10k, we entered the location. The garden for this place is quite big, and after we followed the walking path to the edge of the lake, we can see the temple clearly. 

the view of the garden

the floating temple

it looks as if it floats, isn't it?

The temple's door was closed at that time, I guess only certain people who can enter to that temple. Near the temple, we can see a vast green field, my sister was so happy to see the place and asked me to take her a picture in that green field.

the vast green field

Besides temple, there's also a Buddhist temple in the same area. The existence of this Buddhist temple is unique since the floating temple is a place for Hindu people praying. 

the Buddhist temple

After finished walking around Bratan Lake, then we continue our journey to the other tourist attraction nearby.

XOXO, 

The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Holy Bath Place in Tirta Empul

At the second day in Bali, we visited the holy bath place named Tirta Empul temple located in Gianyar. Our driver said that the it is the place for the Hindu people to do purification.

in front of the signage

At that time, my sister and I was wearing shorts, since it was a holy place, so we were asked to use these cloths. Since my hair was long, the local required me to tie my hair, because you have to look neat when entering the praying place.

When entering the temple, there were two giant ponds with lots of water showers. The source of the water was from the water spring in the higher ground near the praying place. A local guide said, if you're taking a bath there, you should not use the most right water spray in each pool because it's usually used for funeral ceremony.

one of the ponds

After visiting the ponds, we walked to the praying place. During our walk, we could see Tampak Siring Palace besides Tirta Empul temple. Tampak Siring Palace the Indonesian President Palace whenever he visited Bali.

the palace is above there

When arriving at the praying place, I saw a family just arrived at the place and then they prepared for praying. They're all looked matching with the white Bali traditional outfit. Since the place has already become a tourist attraction, there was a line to separate the praying place, so the tourists won't disturb the holy atmosphere of the Hindu peoples who're praying there.

the family were praying together

Finished with the sightseeing, we walked to the exit door of the temple. And just like other famous temple in Indonesia, you had to walked through the long souvenir stalls before you can really exit the place. But since I needed to find a Bali Magnet to be hanged on my office cubicles, then I spent a little time there.

the souvenir stalls

The funny thing was, some of the sellers think that me and my sister came from Malaysia, so they offered us accessories in Malaysian Ringgit. We just laughed and then left with smile.


XOXO,
The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Waiting Sunset at Rock Bar in Ayana Hotel

After visiting Pandawa beach, my sister wanted to us to visit Rock Bar in Ayana Hotel. I've heard about this Rock Bar many times before. Some people said that this bar has stunning sunset view. Ayana Hotel located in Jimbaran, not far from the Pecatu where the Pandawa beach's located.

The Ayana Hotel complex was so vast, therefore going to Rock Bar location from the entrance gate can be quite tricky. After taking some wrong ways, finally we made it to the Rock Bar. From the lobby, we can see the beautiful view of the hotel's swimming pool and garden.

view from the lobby

Even though its kindy tacky, but me and my family couldn't hold ourselves from taking picture since the view of the hotel was so beautiful.

with the hotel's garden as my background

After done with the photo, we went to Rock Bar entrance gate. There were a long queue at the gate. The Rock Bar crew told us it was the queue to the elevator that will bring costumer downstairs where the Rock Bar is located. She also told us to take the stairs if we wanted to arrived faster. Then we chose to take the stairs. From the stairs, we can see the stunning view of the Rock Bar.

the view while walking from the elevator queue line to the stairs

Rock Bar view from the stairs

We finally arrived at the Rock Bar and directly took the best seat that we can get. When we saw the menu, we found out that there was no main course here, there were only appetizers and desserts. So we chose sushi roll and chocolate mousse. The cheapest drink in there was its ice tea, which cost me IDR 90k.

we got nice seats actually

view from our seat

Sushi Roll

Chocolate Mousse and Blueberry Sauce

the famous pricey ice tea

The taste of the Sushi roll and Chocolate Mousse were good, but not great. I guessed they're pricey because Rock Bar's stunning view. Well, you know, good view usually comes with the price.

When the sun was almost set, we saw the raining cloud was coming toward Rock Bar from far away. So we quickly asked for our bill. Right after we paid the bill, the rain poured to Rock Bar which made most visitor run away avoiding the rain. And yes, we didn't catch the sunset :(


XOXO,
The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Pandawa Beach, Bali

Last January, me and my family had a short trip to Bali. My sister plan all the itinerary, so I just enjoyed what she has planned. It's been a long time for us since the last time we visited Bali. Nowadays, Bali has more malls and shopping center. I am not sure if Bali goes more modern or just more crowded.

The first destination was Pandawa beach which is located in Pecatu, on the south of Bali island. The driver said that this beach is newly opened and become a new tourist attraction in Bali. From Kuta to Pandawa beach was not quite far, it took us about an 30 to 45 minutes. When we almost arrived there, we saw a limestone hill was excavated to create a road to the beach.

the view of the hill from the parking lot

The road was declining from the limestone hill to the beach. When we arrived at the parking lot, we can see from below how much part of the hill that was excavated. Then we walk to the beach. At first I though the beach will be quite and peaceful, but the reality was different. It was Saturday, so the beach was crowded and honestly I could not really enjoy it.

yes, it was packed with people

another view of the beach

Even though I didn't interested with the beach, but I was really attracted by huge statues that were craved in the limestone hill. There were six statues actually, but the main statues was only five. They are the statues from Five Pandawa story, which consists of Arjuna, Bima, Dewi Kunti, Nakula, and Sahadewa statues.

five pandawa statues

me and my sister in front of Bima statue

The view of the beach from the statue's location was great. There were also a parking lot in here for people who wanted enjoyed the beach from higher perspective.

we can see the beach from here

view of Pandawa beach from the higher parking lot

XOXO,
The Tourist