Day 3

We began our day visiting temple Taman Ayun at Mengwi. This temple has a different setting from the rest as it is surrounded by a moat and flowers/ferns. The clear skyline and traditional architecture provides very nice landscape feast for the eyes.
Our next stop is Bedugul, to visit yet another temple by Lake Bratan, Ulun danu. On our way up the mountain where the temple is located, we stopped by to visit their local fruits/vegetable market, Bukit Mungsu. We bought some of their local fruits, namely the snake skin fruit and the passion fruit from the market. Again, we have to pit our bargaining skills against the locals. We finally settled for IDR$10,000 for a kilo of each type of fruits. They are very tasty and sweet and I guess it could be attributed to the fertile soil of the mountains. At the temple, there appears to be a ceremony as local folks gathered in a shack playing music to entertain the visitors. Its pretty crowded for a normal weekday. The unusual overcast has cast a blur to the backdrop of the pictures, which surprisingly produces a very nice effect. No photoshop work here. It gets chilly as the wind blow inwards towards the temple from the lake. We had our buffet lunch (costs IDR$65,000 per pax) at a restaurant overlooking a padi field. The scenic view is simply fantastic and the weather is superb. Can't comment similarly on the food though as my favorite dish get replenished too slowly. Our next checkpoint on our itinerary is the famous rice terrace Jati Luwih. There is a booth at the entrance to the venue collecting fees to the tourist attraction. Official price per pax is IDR$10,000. We were dropped off one end of the road and expected to take a slow stroll up to meet Marco at the end of the road. Too bad for the cloudy sky, otherwise I can imagine the view to be spectacular. At the end point, we also spotted a few tourists admiring the marvelous view. Some adventurous ones actually tread down the muddy path to get more in-touch with nature. Careful of the dung there!Cows are spotted in the vicinity. Off to the next stop for us, Tanah Lot temple. The temple is built on a weathered cliff next to the ocean that is inaccessible when its high tide. We were greeted by endless rows of shops leading to the temple. Its awfully crowded here. By the time we were there, the tide has receded and we can marvel the structure from various angles on the coastline. A lot of kids peddlers / womenfolk can be seen selling pictures of the temple. Sunset here is known to provide a romantic atmosphere. We wished for the clouds to move away but it did not happen for us on this day. Soon it was dark and we are on our way, to a Seafood Dinner by the famous Jimbaran beach. We chose Segara Cafe to have our dinner (Our dinner consists of 1 kg of prawns and 1 kg worth of fish which costs us IDR$260,000). You have never truly experienced the romance of Bali if you did not pay this beach a visit. The moonlit beach is filled with candle-lighted tables facing the smooth crashing sound of the sea. I have to apologize for the poorly taken shot of the beach due to my shaky hands but I just have to show you pictorally what I have just described. There is also this roving band which can basically sing and play any songs you can name, internationally for a small token (We heard Japanese, Chinese, English and Korean songs being sung) . The sea food was only average to taste (be'coz we are not so much of seafood lovers) but the sauces are excellent. So much for the day. It is time to say good night to this eventful day.