Bali: from rice terraces to temple and waterfall
As there were so many things to see, but so little time, a schedule for the second one-day trip was quite tight. Distances between places weren’t large, but we didn’t know that an average speed in Bali is about 40 km/h. Moreover, a whole situation was complicated by the fact, that our local driver got lost a few times. But at least, he could ask locals for directions.
We reached our first destination, rice terraces in Jatiluwih, without any difficulties as it is a popular tourist destination and there were heaps of people around. The terraces were located at the foot of a mountain and spread to the coastline which enabled great views. Just an entrance fee which Balinese tried to get from photo-eager tourists was a bit exaggerated.
On the other hand, the way to our next stop, Luhur Batukaru Temple, was a tough proposition for our driver. However, as a reward, we had a chance to visited a solitary temple surrounded by tropical forest. The temple complex also included a vast garden, but as the rain season was not yet to come, everything looked a bit dry. The one thing we were surprised about was that even a sacred site like this was quite dirty with the garbage thrown all around.
On the way to Botanic Garden, our driver was trying to find a shortcut. Eventually, we were driving along a road which looked more like a tank training area than anything else. And yes, I forgot to mention, that we probably had to pay off a little kid to tell us the right way to get there.
The garden itself was huge with a plenty of open areas where Balinese families were enjoying their free afternoon while having picnics and playing sports games. We visited a big glasshouse with a cactus collection and walked through Begonia garden. However, the most beautiful was an orchids section with its gazebo covered by an ocean of greenery. In the garden, they’ve been specialising in collecting wild Indonesian orchids species, mainly from mountain forests.
Nevertheless, a mission of the day was searching for a waterfall located around a little village of Munduk. Even when our driver figured out, that using his GPS might be quite useful (after a few unsuccessful attempts of finding right location), it took us ages to get there. Even with advice from locals. Or maybe just because of them.
Eventually, the waterfall was none too astonishing, but we had to appreciate our driver’s effort, anyway. We took that guy back to our accommodation about 10pm and he probably did his best to fit our schedule.