2nd day in ubud

quite a lot of walking and sitting in the car. so that means- another tiring day where we retired at the resort by 8p.m. totally no night life for us lah.  i guess that is the problem when you are trying to squeeze in as much as you can in a little time. it would be different if i were just in ubud for one whole week, then i would take things slowly and steadily.

the day started at 9a.m. when the driver picked us up and we headed to goa gajah, elephant cave.
visiting temples of hindu gods is a thing on the itinerary that one would not miss here on bali.....it is something you cannot avoid lah. so just go and see-see loh. i have not been to this cave so why not.

every tourist attraction that you go to here, there is definitely an entrance fee charged....well, maybe not to the beach. so we guys had a headache splitting up the charges, but in the end, decided to pool an amount of money for all these expenses and got one person in-charge. of course, that lucky person is me lah. so now i am handling my own money, and the group's shared bills. those thousands and hundred thousands are really giving me a headache. one is not supposed to do much thinking while on holidays!

we had to go down a slope...that means lots of stairs...my knees ;(

holy water place.....i guess this is where they got water for prayer last time.
every act of prayer is really sacred here.

entrance to lord ganesha's cave, that will be the name of the elephant god. we had to put on a sarong wrap after paying the entrance fee. luckily it was included in the ticket price....or else we would have to fork out extra to rent those wraps. women on menstruation are not allowed to enter the temple area as well. it was noted on signboards....so i guess it would be up to your own conscience to follow or not.

inside the cave:

statues of deities.

statue of lord ganesha.
and offerings left by devotees.

after the cave, we went further down on more steps and reached a stream.

first glance, you would think those boulders were just plain boulders, right? we thought so too until a middle-aged local man pointed out to us that those were ruins from the temple which had fallen into pieces due to earthquake. wow.....look carefully and you will see carvings of things related to temple on the stones.

next destination- tenggalalang to see terraced paddy fields.

that is what you can see.......i guess this is standard to visit place around ubud. i was here last time and this place was exactly where i stood to get my photo too. but of course now, across the fields, there are shops selling souvenir items. last time, it was just kids crowding you offering their items at one USdollar only!!!

photos taken and paddy terraced seen......next, mount batur and lake batur.

mount batur is still an active volcano and that dark spot you see, is where they have dug the fertile volcano soil to be used.
it was quite cooling up here but not cold. no wind was blowing, so it was just chill in my short skirt and singlet. phew. i don't want to catch a cold on a holiday.
but one of our travel companions had her sinus problem acting up and she even made a trip to the pharmacy to get flu pills.  she did not join us for our walk in ubud central later as she went back to the resort to get a rest.

ok.....volcano done, next up was temple of the holy water.

this is still a functioning temple now. many go there to bathe in the spring water and they have proper lockers and shower rooms here as well.

fish find their habitat in those pools where devotees bathe too. so can we call them holy fish??

another side of the holy water pool. they will say their prayers before dipping their heads under the streams of water and i think different outlets have different sorts of prayer functions.
nope, i did not get a dip.

prayer huts in the temple area.

people praying in a cordoned area of the temple only reserved for prayer purposes.

ok, another temple done....time to look for lunch. as we did not know what other attraction we wanted to go to, we decided to head off to bali and go to a place recommended by my friend in ubud itself.
the restaurant is called sari organik and it is situation right in the midst of paddy fields. i like.

cars could not go in so the driver parked where he could and we walked about 800 metres to the restaurant in a lane big enough for a motorcycle and a pedestrian.

these were the sort of views we got while walking to the restaurant. luckily it was cloudy so the walk was bearable. it was quite humid though and we were all sweaty and sticky by the time we got to the restaurant. imagine walking 800m under hot sun? totally unimaginable. it did not rain today despite the cloudy sky.

love the view above very much.

quack quack....ducks or bebek in local language. these ducks must be organik......too bad, they were not in the menu of the restaurant. i would have gone for it.

this is cafe pomegranate, a cafe recommended by my friend too. unluckily, our tummies could not fill in too much. i think this is operated by a japanese from the review i have read. the interior looks more comforting that the one at sari organik.

finally we reached sari organik after about 20 mins walk. i think we walked quite fast ya because we were really hungry. and true to its name, all things served here were organic.

but first, the view.....look out.....and you see paddy fields.

here are some of my zoomed shots of the farmers working harvesting the paddy.

we ordered fried noodles and fried rice and there is no meat at all in them. a lot of veges and tofu.

that's a glass of sangria. very strong taste of red wine, they really don't skimp on the ingredients.

a plate of papaya salad.......yummylicious especially with their peanut sauce. it is the best peanut sauce ever. totally out of this world. the salad is waaaay better than my fried noodles.

ordered this raw chocolate sesame ball for dessert. first time eating raw chocolate.....and i cannot get used to it. they have mixed cinnamon, raisins and nuts in the chocolate paste and make it into a ball. all of us said no-no to it. raw chocolate is quite popular in restaurants serving organic food around here due to its high antioxidant function. maybe i have yet to find one i like.

tummies filled, it was to ubud central now. only three of us dropped off here while one went back to the hotel. we have agreed to meet 3 hours later for dinner.
so three of us walked and walked and walked and checked out the souvenirs and shops along the streets. yeah, basically, these are the things you find here in central ubud. of course there were restaurants and spas and tattoo parlours along the street too.

ubud palace.....right at the ubud central's crossroads.

one of the streets we went to.

after walking a while, we had to rest for some young coconut drink.

well, they had young coconuts while i had a drink called jungle juju. gosh, the drink really made me think of something that came straight out of a jungle. it tasted really green and raw. it was a mixture of spirulina, celery, cucumber, passion fruit, ginger and one or two other fruits, but all i tasted were the first three ingredients. blek....but i still finished it. it is good for me right??

oh, this cafe we were sitting in, again served everything organic. the name is SOMA.

they have these little cards for us to play around with.....pull one and refer to a book to see the explanation.  a bit like tarot cards i guess. and guess what i got?

ta-da.....HARMONY. haha....i think it is very apt. kakaka.....read what it says in the book and tell me what you think. i think i have found inner peace and i feel sufficient in everything....which summarise what harmony is to a person.....i think.  i won't be greedy.

so 6.30p.m. arrived and we felt like having pizza. no more meat. so googled and found this place with good reviews.

mamma mia!

all pizzas here are cooked in a wood oven and it was good yeah. definitely thumbs up. drink was of course bintang beer. what else to drink when you are in bali?

we also found a good taco place opposite mamma mia but i was too full to try any. but that did not stop my friend from crossing the road and ordering one. i got a bite and it was heaven. in fact, we all agreed that the taco was better than the pizza. sob sob. can we eat there tomorrow??

that ended our day.