Bali on Film

With XiaoYu the Fisheye camera, and… I think it’s a roll of expired slide film.

 

 

 

Bali 2017: Street Shots

Taken around where we stayed, a quiet boutique hotel surrounded by some locals and their rice fields, complete with the crowing rooster at 5am.

 

And finally… probably the only shot I got of Ubud Central:

I’ve heard a lot about Ubud before coming, and friends who visited before largely told me that it’s spiritual place, probably something I’d like and find aligned to my tastes. My personal experience of Ubud is that while it does have its charm, my tourist radar could not stop going off during the trip and I just got the feeling that we were simply doing what every other tourist would do. In that sense the experience becomes lightly less authentic and unique to us.

Maybe that is the price to pay for Earth becoming a global village.

So that’s a wrap for Bali 2017:)

Bali 2017: Goa Gajah

Elephant Temple.

In other words, Ganesha.

Familiar yet different.

The temple cave itself was a simple space, but the grounds were really nice for exploring.

 

Bali 2017: Tegenungan Waterfall

167 steps up and down. Ouch.

It was worth it.

Bali 2017: Tanah Lot Temple

No shortage of tourists here, but what else can we expect with one of Bali’s most famous temples?

It was meant to be a sunset stop too, but given the amount cloud cover in the sky that day, and the earlier drizzles, the prognosis did not look good. And so we opted for an early return to Ubud instead. It was actually a relief to have a quiet dinner together after all that shoulder-brushing with people!

 

 

Bali 2017: Jatiluwih Rice Terraces

My favourite place on the trip, hands down.

 

 

Bali 2017: Ulun Danu Bratan Temple

I can only imagine how breathtaking it would be to catch the sunrise or sunset here, over the lake. Unfortunately with the mother’s well-being in mind I was not going to arrange for us to wake up at 3am. And so we reached at the rather reasonable, earthly hour of close-to-lunchtime. And of course there were other tourists. One simply makes the best of such situations 🙂

 

Bali 2017: Taman Ayun Temple

One of the temples I really enjoyed, simply because there were very little crowds. The structures themselves were quiet and unassuming despite their cultural importance and significance, which added to their beautiful majesty…

Bali 2017: Campuhan Ridge Walk

The light drizzle and cloud-covered sky was a little disappointing, camera-wise. But on the upside, it made the walk up less of a sweaty, sticky affair!

 

This would have been the highest point on the ridge, with that iconic coconut tree (Read: Instagram pictures).

Unfortunately it was getting too wet for our liking and so we turned back, towards the direction of where the car was parked. And looked forward to the spa we had booked for that afternoon 😀

Walking down the ridge I began to feel my knees hurting, signs of a not-so-healthy strain which would eventually lead to some swelling and discomfort. Sigh..

 

 

 

Bali 2017: Alchemy Cafe

Over the one week school break, Mum and I took a short trip to Indonesia, Bali – a place that has been on my list for some time. While I loved the padi fields and scenic views, most places we went to were probably too touristy for my liking. Still it was good quality time and a good getaway experience. Here are the stories.

On our first full day in Bali, I was really looking forward to visit some of their cafes. Wish granted when our driver managed to find this place – Alchemy! Serving only vegan and RAW food. It didn’t occur to me that RAW = cold food. Hence even the pizza we ordered was cold! Thankfully the mother quite liked it (or so she said) and we enjoyed some downtime in the cheerful, chill-vibes cafe.