Bali: Day 2

We decided to take a half day tour on our second day in Ubud, since we anticipated sleeping in and waking up late hehe.  We spent the morning exploring hotel grounds and having a leisurely lunch in a random restaurant by the street.  

Discovered the second pool!

Lunch at the Tropical View Cafe...
sounds like somewhere in the PH too, eh?

Other activities included napping (like cats!) and watching a Taylor Swift special on cable haha.  Oh, we also visited nearby silver shops to ask if they did repairs...one of the brand-spanking new opal earrings broke after Jason wore it -__-  Long story short, our tour guides were able to accommodate our request to go back to the silver shop, & my earrings were promptly replaced. Huzzah!  Will keep my earrings out of husband's reach.

Our first stop was Taman Ayun temple, situated in sprawling grounds with a fountain, a landscaped garden, a cock fighting arena with seating, and the inner temple area.

Taman Ayun

I enjoyed our walk here, even overcoming my fear of heights and going up one of the viewing structures (okay fine, there were rails to hold on to but it was still a big deal for me).

Rails! So smart!

There was something spiritual about the place, and I felt it as I looked with wonder at the multi-storied roofs of the temple structure.  Admittedly, I did start referring to the buildings as "Edna Mode".

See the resemblance?

Interestingly, there was a sign outside that says menstruating women are not allowed to enter.  I wondered if there had been women who ignored this sign and still went in (after all, they weren't going to get bodily checked, right?), but of course it all boils down to respect for other people's culture and beliefs.  How awful though, travelling all the way to a new place only to be turned away!

Strickly!

After our temple tour, we were taken to a coffee tasting place, where we proceeded to try out drinks like Bali coffee, ginseng coffee, ginger tea, lemon grass tea, and coconut coffee among others (all for free!).  Visitors had the option of tasting Luwak coffee, but at a fee of IDR 50,000 (approximately Php 211).

Yoga and Buka...had to remind myself that "coffee" was in there somewhere

J & I are not coffee drinkers (although I would take the occasional cafe mocha) but we ended up leaving with their Coconut Coffee - it was a toss up between that or the Red Ginger Tea!  I wanted to get the Lemongrass Tea too, but J said it tasted like candy :-p

We ended the tour with sunset at Tanah Lot, a temple that sits on a rock formation in the ocean. 

Tanah Lot

At the base of the island, it is said that (poisonous!) holy snakes guard the temple from evil spirits.  We entered a shallow cave to view one of the holy snakes.

Small but terrible? And holy!

After the holy snake viewing, we proceeded to get ourselves blessed with holy water (avail!).  A man dressed in white robes touched a pestle (of mortar and pestle fame) dipped in holy water on my forehead, then placed a frangipani bloom behind my left ear while another man pressed bigas (rice) on the wet mark left by the pestle.  I'm not sure what the significance is but perhaps it has something to do with prosperity, which is what bigas is known for here in the Philippines?

I don't know this man but thank you for being my mowdel!

With frangipani in my hair and rice granules stuck to my forehead, I said a prayer of thanks to Papa G, for this wonderful new experience with J, my forever travel partner and love of my life.  What a birthday salubong!