Bali III

On our last day in Bali we still had the whole morning to add to our sunburns. But the coral reef and fish in there were too tempting for not to go in for a last glimpse. So did that as our Life in Amed routine, packed up, had lunch at Sails one more time and off we were. As our flight was late night we had time to explore some more on the way back to the airport. Our first stop was at Besakih temple. The driver had warned that it will be very busy because there was a special ceremony going on. And indeed it took us ages to get there but the road was spectacular - again winding up steep hills and some scary looks down into deep gorges, beautiful rice paddies, lush greenery. At one point we had 3 trucks in front of us and were creeping uphill at 5 km/h. But we made it finally. Balinese religion is hinduism but their temples and ceremonies are quite different from the traditional Indian ones. Besakih is considered the mother temple. It sits high up on the hills and the views are spectacular. It is also a bit cooler up there. It was very busy indeed. There were busloads coming down when we went up but still people arriving as well. The parking lots looked like rubbish tips and from there it was a good km uphill walk to get to the temple past people trying to sell us sarongs (you have to wear one to go inside), offering guided tours and motorbike rides uphill. There were people coming down and going up, all prettily dressed in traditional costumes, carrying bamboo boxes with fruit and other foodstuffs on their heads. People coming down still had the boxes, so they probably just have them blessed in a ritual and take back home instead of leaving at the temple as offering. The complex consists of 22 temples and there were thousands of people. Some wanted to take photos with our kids but the boys were too shy. It was quite a drive and quite a walk but so worth it. To see all this hustle and bustle, smell the incense burning, hear the sounds of bells, drums and chanting and enjoy the view down the rooftops of the temple and far away to the horizon was quite an experience.

From there we took a shortcut to one of the volcanoes and the biggest lakes on Bali - lake Batur and a volcano with the same name. We had great views as the road passed the lake high up on the hillsides. Also looked at the volcano from far away, could still see the lava on one side, it blew up last time only ca 40 years ago and apparently you can sometimes see smoke  coming up. None when we were there though, just clouds covering the sides. As the guidebook said the vendors up there were all quite fierce and aggressive, not very nice.

It got more and more busy on the way to town and airport. we wanted to look at some furniture but managed just one shop - probably the most expensive in Bali as the only other visitors apart from us were Russians. In general, just as in Vietnam there were a lot of Russian tourists especially in south Bali's expensive resorts. Didn't see any in Amed (too cheap for them!). Even signs in Russian and heard some indonesian tour guides speaking Russian too.