Upon waking today I was slightly concerned that I’d got the dreaded Bali Belly, I had my hydration salts, my probiotics and some anti-pooping tablet I got for South Africa that I’ve never used and hope for the best! You will be all pleased to know that I survived the day π€ͺπ€ͺ.
I was picked up at 7.30 by Parid, my driver for the day. For the first part of the day we were heading for the waterfalls. It took just over an hour to get to the first stop, Kanto Lampo. This waterfall was pretty spectacular and you had the option of doing some sort of goddess pose on the rocks, alas I refrained as a) the queue was huge and b) I’m not sure I fancied posing like a mermaid in front of loads of people π€ͺ. I learnt however Parid was quite the photographer.
We then continued on to two more waterfalls, Timbumana and Taman Sari. Now all of these waterfalls were done about 200 steps and not just your normal step, one that needs a giant leap to get up. You can imagine in the humidity of the jungle, the extra water from the waterfall, the fact that it was about to piss it down and the general heat of being near the equator, every time I walked back up the steps I felt like I had been in a shower!
We then headed for lunch at this point the heavens opened! It poured down. The location for lunch was connected to a coffee place. Prior to coming to Bali, Dom had proudly told me that the coffee in Bali is from the poo of civets (a nocturnal animal) so as you can imagine I was a tad apprehensive to trying this, particularly when your not quite sure what’s happening inside your own body – but hey it can only get worse π€·π»ββοΈ. I ended up trying 14coffees and teas and then a cup of the Luwak coffee. I also ended up buying a bag of turmeric tea, Bali coffee and some Luwak coffee. The science department are going to get a treat on Monday.
After my lunch of chicken sate, we headed to the Pura Tirta Empul, a Hindu Balinese Water Temple famous for its holy spring water, where Balinese Hindus go to for a ritual purification called Melukat. Whilst here the heavens opened again, but it was good to learn about the culture of the Balinese people.
I now want to make reference to the photo below. As you can see it is an image of a Swastika. In the western world it is associated with Nazi Germany, and the horrors of world wars. However, in Hinduism, the right-facing symbol (clockwise) (ε) is called swastika, symbolizing surya (‘sun’), prosperity and good luck. While the left-facing symbol (counter-clockwise) (ε) is called sauvastika, symbolising night or tantric aspects of Kali – a goddess primarily associated with time, death and destruction.
From the temple we headed to the Tegallalang Rice Terrace, I could’ve opted to zip wire across, or sit on a swing to get a photo. I opted for a gin in the terrace bar – absorbing my surroundings, the teacher in me told me the risk assessment probably wasn’t comprehensive and health and safety wouldn’t be a thing over here, I’d seen the roads and electrics, not sure a zip wire across the rice fields would be high on the agenda.
From here we headed back to Kuta. It took over 2 hours to travel the 30 miles back, as previously mentioned traffic in Bali was crazy.
I headed for the seafood bbq in the evening, the grilled Ikan Tenggiri a mackerel like fish along with the grilled prawns. The bbq also had a tamed down version of the dances from the Saturday night – hence the lack of photos π€ͺ.
Flying Solo 