Bali in June: Taman Ayun Royal Temple of Mengwi Empire

Yet another temple visit! Our 4th day in Bali was pretty much about visiting temples. There were three on the schedule: Ulun Danu Beratan Water Temple, Tanah Lot Temple (the most beautiful during sunset) and Taman Ayun Royal Temple which I am now going to take you on a virtual tour.

Bali in June: Ulun Danu Beratan Water Temple and Wild Animal Encounters

The Ulun Danu Beratan Water Temple is about 26.8 kilometres away from Lovina Beach, where our dolphin watching tour took place. After a not-so-appetizing breakfast, I reluctantly dragged my feet into the car and slept like a baby until the chilly air forced me awake. The climate was completely opposite to what we have experienced near the beach, very cold and refreshing.

Entrance fee: Rp 30,000 per person.

Bali in June: Dolphin Watching Tour at Lovina Beach

Having to have to wake up at 2 a.m in the morning was a little ruthless to our bodies that day. We barely rested enough with just a few hours of sleep. I had 3 and a half. Crashed like a pig after washing up and blow drying my hair.

Around 2.30 a.m, our tour guide came to pick us up from Villa Mimpi Manis. Everyone was looking so beat up including the driver (our tour guide), "Kicap" who drove us through two hours of steep and winding mountain roads covered in thick fog. A round of applause to the pro F1 racer and myself for still being alive. It's a celebration! Haha. Tthe drifts could have swallowed us whole, you know.

Okay guys, you'll be surprised by our adventurous ride of the day...

Bali in June: Tegallalang Rice Terrace and Bebek Tepi Sawah Restaurant

Growing up in a small town on the border of Thailand and Malaysia, it's not uncommon to see a sea of paddy fields on the sides of road in the Rice Bowl State.

When I was briefed about our schedule of visiting Tegalalang Rice Terrace on day 3, the picture that first came into my mind was mountains and mountains of terraced rice fields which I imagined would be spectacular to be looked at.

So after almost an hour drive from Tirta Empul Temple, we eventually reached Tegallalang Village located on the north of Ubud. It was a huge blessing to have a tour guide to drive us around in Bali, honestly speaking. The roads are so narrow and winding that it was exhausting to even just sit in the car doing nothing.

And in the end, we settled for a scenery not so spectacular yet nice enough to click some snaps.

Bali in June: Telaga Dewata White Water Rafting

Approximately 15 km.

Bali in June: Tirta Empul Temple

Tirta Empul Temple, better known as Pura Tirta Empul by the locals was built in 962 A.D. during the Warmadewa dynasty. Which was more than a thousand years ago, if you do the math. It's surprisingly well-maintained for a sacred place that old. Even more shocking to learn the fact that an enormous 80 percent of Balinese are Hindus, intensely religious Hindus.

Bali in June: Water Sports at Tanjung Benoa

So many "first time" in my first travel trip to Bali. First parasailing and white water rafting experience, first interaction with turtles and other wild lives, I even rode flying fish and banana boat for the first time of my life!

As mentioned in my Tanjung Benoa post, the water sports cost us US $105 in total with free soft drinks, mineral waters and plain loaves of bread provided. The weather was perfectly fine for beach activities that day, sunny but not too hot. We brought what's necessary like sunscreen, sunnies, towel, clothes to change, and enough cash to pay and donate on the turtle island.

Bali in June: Civet Coffee / Kopi Luwak at Sai Land Cafe Luwak

“猫屎咖啡” aka Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee doesn't sound appetizing at all just by hearing its name alone. I've always heard of it in the movies, the TV series, and people praising about it until our recent Kintamini Tour on the third day in Bali. We finally got a taste of this special coffee and it was eye opening.

Btw, that's our Kicap on my left in the background. "Kicap" literally means soy sauce in Indonesian or "tao eu" in Hokkien which has similar pronunciation as tour guide in Mandarin Chinese. We kinda nicknamed him and he liked it too, I presume. LOL.

Shout out to the kindest and friendliest tour guide in Bali! We missed ya, Kicap =)

Bali in June: Blue Ocean Seafood on Jimbaran Bay

Jimbaran Bay was mesmerizing. It was the most beautiful that we encountered in Bali thus far.

Initially, there were more places such as Nusa Dua Beach and Blue Point Bay to visit on the second day of our schedule, but it just seemed like mission impossible considering the average time we spent to travel from one place to another and the road and traffic conditions during this festive season.

We gave up the rest just to be here to witness the sunset that everyone claims to praise and one of the must-dos in Bali. The experience, nevertheless, was very much worth it.

Bali in June: GWK Cultural Park and Iiga Warung Special BBQ Ribs House

What our tour guide heard me grumble the most throughout the entire trip was, "Saya sudah lapar" literally means "I'm hungry". LOL. Can't blame me as most activities on our schedule were really energy-consuming. Even laughing burns calories, let alone the continuous partake of several water sports and beach actitivies in Tanjung Benoa.

Bali in June: Tanjung Benoa and Deluang Sari Turtle Farm

Hello, guys! My 5D4N Bali trip was nothing but fun, fun, fun and more fun!!! Gotta say that although I'm physically back in Penang, but mentally, my mind is still far from where I am now. Just a few more days or perhaps weeks, for it to crawl back into my head. LOL.

I've been suffering from severe lack of sleep since day 1 of our trip. There were seven of us who took midnight bus down to KL. As crazy as it sounds, we arrived KL Sentral around 5-ish, had breakfast and napped in McDonald's at the bus station, then hopped on the bus again (roughly an hour plus journey) to KLIA 2.

I napped in the bus, napped in Starbucks at the airport, napped wherever and whenever possible. It was plain EXHAUSTING not being able to have a good night sleep! Like a walking dead I was before catching the afternoon flight to Bali. Thank God I slept well in the plane.

At nightfall, we touched down at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali to be picked up by Pasek (our friendly tour guide), followed by yummilicous dinner at Ayam Tulang Lunak Malioboro (the chicken was fried to crispy so you could eat the bones and all), checked-in to our cozy villa, and that's pretty much it about day 1.