The Terrific3 travel blog

We had another Wayan day today. I’m super fond of him—he is so gentle and patient with my kids, and just a great calm presence. We did a tour of 3 temples near Ubud to start. I’m definitely “templed out” by now. I never got templed out in Thailand though I thought I would because those temples were beyond gorgeous. The Bali temples are very pretty in a different way—many are ancient and carved from stone, have beautiful gardens and surrounded by water and nature. They are truly lovely, but not the same extreme works of art Thai temples are; also, though I feel some feeling of peace, it’s not the same overwhelming calm I felt in Thailand. First, Goa Gajah, the “elephant cave.” There was also an ancient Buddhist temple here. The garden and nature was gorgeous.

Next, Tebing Gunung Kawu. This temple had what felt like a thousand steps down. I was thinking today that Bali would be an impossible place to travel to if you had any kind of physical disability.

Next was Tirta Empul. This one was gorgeous and crowded and there were people bathing in the spring water and getting blessed after. The president of indonesia also has a large vacation house overlooking this temple. All the temples here give women sarongs to wear. Whether men or boys have to wear them is variable from temple to temple.

Our next stop was lunch, at a place Wayan recommended (as his previous clientes liked) called Milk and Madu. It was western style food, with lots of delicious options. It was crowded but service and food was good, and location was right next to the Art Market, which we really wanted to visit.

The Art Market, honestly, was a disappointment. Much like the Sunday night Chiang Mai market, it was mostly a tourist trap with tourist pricing rather than real artists displaying their works. There was silver, wood carving, lots of clothes, coffee, etc. None of us found anything we wanted, and it was overwhelming (I’m a woman who hates shopping) so we were done in about 45 minutes. Wayan picked us up and next stop was monkey Forest Ubud.

We were excited to go with him as he had worked there for 10 years, until 2021. He said he stopped so he could have more flexibility with his kids as they were 9 hour days daily, but he does miss his colleagues and the monkeys. It was fun to see him in his element, he taught the kids more about the monkeys, and we took a bunch more photos. I think I could take my kids to the monkey Forest Ubud every day and they would never tire of the place.

Z requested Indian food for dinner and he wanted pool time. So we are waiting for delivery using the Grab app (it’s taking a while…more than an hour since we ordered) as the kids are happily splashing in the pool. I made S a grilled cheese sandwich as he won’t eat the Indian food.

Tomorrow….batik Painting class in the morning, and it’s a big day for Bali. It’s a big religious celebration. The streets and houses are all decorated in anticipation, and I was told this festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil. We will take photos of festivities if we see them.