Ubud > Munduk (58km by car)

Today we are going to visit the mountains of Bali. The roads are getting narrow and windy. The most astonished thing is the traffic; it’s like we never leave the city. Everywhere where there is a road “shops” are present. Like always if we had a scooter we could find a place to repair it every 5 minutes. There is shops specialized in offerings, Warung when we want something cheap to eat, tiny supermarkets, laundry. Balinese are really into services. It looks like they don’t own much stuff live mostly outside their homes. On our way up, we stopped to visit the water temple called “Pura Ulun Danu Beratan” which is the major one in this area.

Map.

When we were looking for an hotel yesterday night we crossed a bridge where the view was quite impressive. We did not have the time to stop obviously as we were driving and did not expected to see a place like this. This morning, this is our first visit.

That bridge is only dedicated to pedestrian (and maybe scooters ;-)

One side of the bridge.

The offerings.

Down the bridge, a temple is lost between the thick rain forest.

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On the road, we passed through a market and decided to stop for a moment. This looks definitely different than our market. There is stuff everywhere. People don’t seem to bother about the rubbish on the ground or in the water. They through things anywhere and think it’s normal when it’s shocking for us.

Let’s start going uphill and enjoying the nice rice fields again.

Up to the road, underneath the white kind of greenhouses, there is strawberries cultures.

The view to the valley.

Lot’s of houses in Bali have a temple and often I feel that’s more a house within a temple :-)

Here we are. The entrance of the Pura Ulun Danu Beratan was 30.000 IRD (3$ AUD).

People are getting ready for a ceremony apparently.

Here they are praying.

This is Pura Ulun Danu Beratan.

Strange statue. I don’t know if it’s part of the original temple or if they built that for the tourists.

(Source Wikipedia) Built in 1663, this temple is used for offerings ceremony to the Balinese water, lake and river goddess , due to the importance of Lake Bratan as a main source of irrigation in central Bali. The 11 stories of dedicated for and his consort . statue also present inside this temple.From Wikipedia Built in 1663, this temple is used for offerings ceremony to the Balinese water, lake and river goddess Dewi Danu, due to the importance of Lake Bratan as a main source of irrigation in central Bali. The 11 stories of pelinggih meru dedicated for Shiva and his consort Parvathi. Buddha statue also present inside this temple.

Lake Bratan is known as the Lake of Holy Mountain due to the fertility of this area. Located 1200 m above sea level, it has a cold tropical climate.

From another point of view.

Over there, through a door we can visit another part of the temple which looks much more natural.

We walk around.

Nice to see the lake and the clouds hiding the summit of the mountain.

Banana tree.

This place is quite big. This temple has a lot of part/section for what I don’t understand the meaning. It would be useful to have taken a guide this time.

A restaurant view.

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We are now continuing our ascension to Munduk. On our left side there is another lake called Dayan Buyan.

We did not visit the monkey forest in Ubud and that was a good idea because we should have to pay when here, along the road, monkeys are visiting us (Well, they are waiting for food).

Some women are selling some banana so we can feed the monkeys.

And we continue to climb higher and higher.

We have crossed the pass and we are now driving down the small windy road towards Munduk.

This is our hotel for the night. It looks good and expensive for me ;-)

The view from our terrace to the garden and the valley.

Panoramic view.

Let’s have a walk around the rice fields.

Spider!

Ouuuh this is very nice around here.

Even here, on those tiny roads, there is scooters overtaking us every 5 minutes. Balinese people don’t walk they drive everywhere. I’m wondering if they drive inside their own home to go from the leaving room to the bathroom haha, Crazy!

Rice grain.

Nice house (maybe an hotel) over there.

And we walk through the rice fields.

I guess those “sculptures” have been created to frighten the birds.

The area is very nice. We are walking through tiny villages. Everyone seems to live peacefully and smile to each other.

Has always, there is always a tiny shop where the locals can buy their food…

… and through the packaging in the local river.

Coming back to the main street in Munduk.

In Bali the bougainvillea is everywhere. We can find it in purple, orange, red, white…

The sunset over the valley and the rice fields.

Nearly done.

Nice colors :-)

It’s time for dinner, the hotel’s warung is waiting for us to come :-) Goodnight! (Salamat malam in Indonesian :-)