The Terrific3 travel blog

My day began at 1245am when Z came into my room and bed due to “bad dreams,” which seems to be a bit more of a trend lately. It meant he slept well in the comfort of mama, but mama got kicked most of the night. Oh well, these days are short.

We planned to tour East Bali with our driver Wayan who had driven us into Ubud and was recommended by several mama docs. He sent me a list of things to see and told me that Lempuyang temple, which is famous for Instagram photos of its “gates to heaven” would be a 2-3 hour line. I told him to cross off anything that would be like that as no photo is worth a 3 hour wait for me, with or without kids. I had read about Taman Ujung water palace and suggested we add it, and he was game.

We started at Tirta Gangga, a water palace built in 1948, destroyed by the eruption of Mt Agung in 1963, and then restored. My facts are from Wikipedia. Though our guide/driver was good, he was not an encyclopedia of facts like our Untouched Thailand former monks. I really miss Thailand and especially the degree of education and intellectualism amongst its population, given that most men go through the monastery there. But, I digress. Here are some photos from the water palace, which was peaceful and gorgeous, and also included a temple, which was closed to the public, hence we could not access.

Next stop was another water palace, Taman Ujung. This was built in 1909, and the architects were Dutch and Chinese, which actually gave it a real unique flavor. It is vast and wasn’t too crowded and there was definitely a peaceful vibe emanating. Generally, East Bali was more countryside, less city, less traffic, more laid back, and more peaceful than Ubud. I could definitely spend a few days in this kind of place. Below are more Taman Ujung photos.

Our next stop was lunch (star pizza) and then we were headed to the Candidada Lotus Lagoon, about 8km away. It took us over an hour to get there due to gridlocked traffic from a mass cremation. Wayan told me that each village buries their dead in a temporary grave, and then depending on land space, every 3-5 years there is a mass cremation. I found the whole thing utterly fascinating.

We finally got to the lagoon and walked around a bit but by now, it was already 3pm and I was concerned we were going to get back after witching hour.

We then headed to Kanto Lampo waterfall (we were to go to another, but it was getting late and this was more on the way). We went down, I let the kids swim for 20 minutes. I felt bad rushing then out, but again, knew the end of the day was quickly approaching and we needed to be home by 5pm so I could get dinner in bellies.

We got home, and the kids were already fighting, I could tell the day had been a bit much for S, and he had just finished 2 slices of pizza, so I asked him if he just wanted to chill at home. He did, and z and I went out for Indian food, and then I made S a grilled cheese a bit later. Win win for all, as S won’t eat Indian, and it’s a vacation for me to only have 1 kid.

Tomorrow, I have the nanny for a good portion of the day, the kids will chill and I’ll hopefully run and do yoga and not parent much….