We awoke early the next morning, and after a delicious breakfast we were on our way with Rai, our driver/tour guide. Our first stop (on what would be a very long and fun day) was the Barong Dance at Batubulan. The Barong dance is a very old and important dance in the Balinese Hindu culture which highlights the struggle between good (Barong) and evil (Rangda). It was full of amazing costumes, interesting music, and beautiful Balinese dancers. From the dance we made our way to several factories and workshops including a silver factory, a woodworking centre and a batik factory. We then made a quick pit stop to view the rice terraces at the side of the road.
Bali is famous for it’s terraced rice fields, and they were even more spectacular in person. After taking our photos, we made our way to Gunung Batur, which is a large volcano in the middle of Bali. We ate a great buffet lunch in a restaurant with an absolutely fantastic view of the volcano and the lake below. After lunch we went to a Balinese coffee plantation where we were able to try some local brews, including ginseng coffee, ginger tea, hot cocoa and luak coffee. From there we made our way to Pura Tirta Empul (the Holy Water Spring Temple), where we saw the bubbling geysers that draw in worshippers from all over the island.
The trip concluded at Pura Goa Gajah (The Elephant Cave Temple), which despite it’s name, has no elephants. In at all the temple stops we wore sarongs and we were able to grab a better glimpse into the lives of the Balinese people. It was a full day, and we made it back to our bungalow just as the sun had finished setting. That night, after a yummy meal and a few rounds of UNO, we made our way to bed in order to get a good sleep to be ready for when Rai would be back to pick us up in the morning and take us to our next destination.