Bali 2013 - Day 3

Finally have time to blog about my Bali Day 3 -

Half of Day 3 was for Water Rafting while the other half was to visit Tanah Lot Temple for the sunset. After some search for such an itinerary, we stumbled upon this wesbite. It catered for what we wanted and was reasonably priced. Most of all, it was a private tour where we had our own tour guide and driver to bring us through the day. "Why not?" went through our thoughts. However, we were disappointed with the whole service provided by the tour guide. Though, I had to say, it really brought us to the places we wanted, the tour guide was not performing. He was busy talking to the driver, or busy with his phone and most importantly, at every stop, he would tell us to proceed on without bringing us to the places and giving us some background or history of the places. In this case, why would we need a guide? We could simply just go for a driver instead. Nonetheless, the water rafting was fun and the sunset at Tanah Lot was beautiful. We had no regrets to the activities but were just disappointed at the service. 

Water Rafting:

We were picked up at our hotel at 8am and we were brought to the Ayung River. We were joined by other tourists for this event. To get to the start point, we had to walk down a long route through the jungle. A tiring start of the trip but worth the effort. The crew gave very clear instructions on his comments, ensuring that we knew how to react at each of his comments. This was very important to ensure that the raft would not capsized due to the wrong execution of his comments. 

There was a break in between the rafting where we could purchase some drinks. Not sure how things worked, but the shop owner asked us to pay for the drinks for the crew - seems compulsory but well, the crew deserved it though. 

The 10 km White water rafting lasted for around two hours. For the two hours, we were welcomed by amazing nature - Greens was really appalling. There was also a wall sculpture that we stopped for photo taking. It was said to be the story of Bali's version of Romeo and Juliet. 

After the rafting, we had to walk up steps (this was tiring) to get to the top where we walked to a restaurant. There, we were able to bath and change into fresh clothing. Then, there was this Indonesia buffet awaiting us. Disappointment came for the tour guide. He did not even notice that we had arrived and the driver had to inform him. He did not bother to come up to us to ask about the rafting. He continued to play with his phone while we had our lunch. Well, nothing fantastic about the buffet especially when we compared it to the lunch on Day 2. 

Start of the White Water Rafting

After the lunch, we were supposed to visit Kintamani but we had been there on Day 2. With this, the tour guide made arrangement for us to visit a art gallery. He told us that we were be able to view the artist painting and learnt more about the art industry in Bali. Crap... he brought us to the art gallery where we viewed the painting that are on sales. I reckon if we had bought something, he would have earned some commission. 

Next up, we reached Ubud Monkey forest. There, the tour guide brought us to a stairs and told us to walk down to take a look without really explaining to us about the place and what to expect at the bottom. Totally ridiculous. We went on our own and were quite lost until we saw a group of tourists and decided to tag along. We did not really catch what the guide was talking but we went brought to a small holy temple. 

Monkey Forrest

Then we met up with our tour guide who was on his phone once again. He told us to take a walk around the town and to meet him half an hour later. What a service. 

Tanah Lot Sunset:
Well, same went for the service but my friends and I enjoyed ourselves at Tanah Lot. We reached the place relatively at 3pm and we strolled through the compound at our own pace, admiring the great Tanah Lot as well as the Pura Batu Balong. It was low tide at that time and we would go close to Tanah Lot though we could not enter the premise. We also donated some money just to see a holy snake.

Tanah Lot

Pura Batu Balong

Highlight of the day was definitely the sunset. Seeing the 'egg york' slowly moving down to the sea was simply calming and relaxing for me. Picture speaks a thousand words. Here some of the shots I took:

Sunset from top to right, bottom to right... 

Dinner was back at Kafe Betawi. We simply loved this place. I had this fried rice with satay. Simply delicious. The fried rice was spicy but nice. 

Fried Rice with satay

This night, we slept early as to prepare ourselves for the hike. We needed to wake up at 1am to get ready for the guide to pick us up at 2am. Good night with Bintang Beer!