Day 4: Bali - Mengwi & Bedugul (part 1)

Today was our 2nd day with Ketut. We requested for the tour to start ~10am. It was sweet not getting up early. Hubby has started to feel uneasy after breakfast. He might b coming down with something. But he did not say anything.

When we reached our 1st destination of the day, Pura Taman Ayun in Mengwi, hubby was getting very restless & did not want to walk. But I insist as it was a nice sunny day, not knowing a fever was slowly brewing.

In front of the entrance to the inner temple, beyond a split gate (candi bentar), is the Bale Kulkul.

And behind the Kulkul is this last & intricate gate...

The gate is the entrance to the holy courtyard of the temple in which the most important shrines are located, and as usual we are not allowed to enter it.

Our driver, Ketut is also a good photographer le...

Luckily we were allowed to walk around the temple & peep into them... the wall are rather low so I can take photos of these multi-roofed meru shrines... hubby has given me the camera & paid no attention whatever to the temple & wanted to get back to the car.

I find these multi tiered meru shrine very interesting, like something out of a Japanese Garden. There are no fewer than 27 buildings of varying size and function.

By then, hubby was feeling so unwell that he told the driver to stop somewhere to get Panadol. Only by then did I realize that he was HOT, literally HOT with a full blown fever. Hubby tried to sleep after popping the pill, while I enjoyed the scenery on the way to Bedugul. It was a cool up hill ride.

We had reached Bedugul before noon & poor hubby was not feeling any better... so I suggested that he stayed in the car & sleep while I go exploring "another" temple... as hubby put it, c 1 = c all.

Guess this is trumpet flower as it looks like 1 hahahah...

The Pura Ulun Danau at Bratan Lake, a temple which seems to rise out of the lake.

A slightly closer view... with the heavy clouds above...

Noticed a man rowing a rustic looking boat...

It was a cloudy day. No view of the mountain...

A boy trying to catch something from the lake

Can you spot the froggy??How about now?Hi Mister Froggy!

Flowers, my love.

Another??!! multi-tiered meru, getting bored already.

The view from another side...

Trying to be artistic, but failing....

Saw some bamboo & putting it to good use...

Another split gate... With me in charged of the camera means I can snapped away like there's no tomorrow kakaka...

Colorful boats... I do them no justice with my crappy photo taking...

I took my sweet time just standing by the lake & enjoying the cool breeze. Walked slowly looking at people. Absorbing the scenery of the lake, the temple, the mountain. Hopefully hubby's medicine has kicked in by the time I went to wake him up. And thank god, he was indeed feeling much better.

So off we went to the market area as Bedugul is known for the quality of its fruits , vegetables and flowers...

These are the local durians... so super ultra tiny small durian, not bigger than my palm.

oh oh oh... seterobeli... bought 2 box for Rp10000 (Rm3.40)

Waaaa.... Keng!

Ketut was still eating lunch when we finished exploring the market. We joined him for a drink...

On the way down, I spotted this Strawberry Hill Restaurant & ask Ketut to stop. I was thinking of havin some seterobeli cakes or ice-cream or yogurt, but unfortunately they offered none of those.

Bye bye Bedugul!

Day 3: Bali Memorial & Poppies (part 4)

After a dip in the pool to refresh our self after a full day of adventure, we headed out looking for food. I suggested taking a taxi as I was not sure how far was the restaurant. But hubby insist we walk & take in the sight along the way... sigh... so lazy lor...

After ~10 minutes of walking, we arrived at the memorial built in the place opposite to the bombing place. The memorial has a marble plaque bearing the names and nationalities of all those 202 killed in the October 2002 bombings, including 88 Australians.

We continued walking for some time, and hubby saw a small sign "Poppies" pointing to such a small & dark alley. I was scared walking that dark alley until finally it was bright again and immediately saw the entrance to Poppies Restaurant... ngai ti... can they find a more remote location?The restaurant had a garden setting with crawling vines overhead... with fountain & sound of waterfall... it has a relaxing & smoothing ambient... soli... had to turn my face into a painting as it was too oily & ugly to be posted...The bar area of the restaurant...

Cozy & nice lighting...

Poppies Restaurant serves Indonesian and western food. As usual, I focused on Indonesian dishes and from the various travel blog I read, some recommended the dish called "Rijsttafel" (Rice Table) Rp175000. And that's what I ordered, just right for 2 persons.

Hubby ordered the Bintang Beer (his daily dose in Bali) while I requested for Poppies Special Iced Coffee (with ice cream) Rp16000, which by the way was great. While in the airport, I manage to grab a brochure that offered FREE Drinks if we ordered a main dish, so the above 2 drinks were absolutely FREE... wohooo..."RIJSTTAFEL" a truly magnificent feast of small tasty portions of Indonesian delights from all around the East Indies. This was the colonial Dutch way to sample the best food of Indonesia. Rijsttafel is basically a super-combo with 9 small dishes consist of prawn, fish, squid, pork, beef, lamb, chicken, vegetable and potato, all cooked differently, with chili sambal and sauces in the middle

Besides that, we were served with Chicken, Pork & Beef Satay also. It was yummylicious... Notice the lemongrass, a nice touch eh?

If you thinks that was all, u r wrong, as it also come with one bowl of white rice and one bowl of fried rice. The portion was big, can feed more than 2 persons le. The food was quite delicious and I'm totally gonna recommend this place to my frens. I loved the lamb stew... And if again u thought that was all, u r dead wrong again as complimentary dessert "Black Rice Pudding" (Rp. 19000) were served once we finished with the main dish...It is a delicious local dish, sweetened with palm sugar and served with coconut milk & a few slices of banana. The only downside at Poppies is the TAX. 15% is quite a lot le. So by adding in the tax, we had to pay Rp201250 (RM68.20) not Rp175000 (RM60) as stated on the menu. But with all the freebies, it's quite worth it lor. So remember to get the brochure at the Airport for free drinks.

After the satisfying dinner, I wanna go grab some drinks from the nearest mall. I stopped a taxi & told him Matahari, he just looked at me & laugh, and told me it's just at the corner... hahaha... embarrassed I quickly got off the taxi.

I found SUPER CHEAP strawberries at Rp10000 per box (RM3.40) & also found out that Bintang Beer is actually very CHEAP too. Hubby had been drinking Bintang Beer at restaurant which was overcharged. I got myself a Bintang Zero which has ZERO alcohol content.

The strawberries are not that sweet but nevertheless, I still like it... And I like it better with Ice-cream, that's where the Room Service comes in handy. Just a ring and the 3 scoops of ice-cream is send to our room...Ah........End of Day 3.