On one of the days, Nic & I were contemplating either going for a trip to the Bali Safari & Marine Park, or going for a day’s tour. As usual, Trip Advisor was our good friend! Haha! Thank goodness we decided to data-roam, as the supposedly “free” wifi at the hotel was unstable at best. I checked my trusty iPad, and saw great reviews for the Safari. But at US$35 for each adult or kid, it would work out to US$140 for the four of us! A little steep, considering the Singapore Zoo (which I personally adore) is only S$20. Furthermore, we figured we had already planned to bring Jay to the Zoo in two weeks’ time, and so we decided on the full day tour.
But that was the beginning of sifting through MANY MANY brochures and trying to figure out which gave the best value for our money! In the end, we opted for Bali Traditional Tours, impressed by their professional-looking website, rave reviews on TA as well as an affordable package price, charging us US$90 or Rp. 820,000 for the entire car, which can sit up to 6 people. If you are going in a bigger group, we’d definitely recommend you book this company!
Wayan, our tour guide, was a proficient driver, and spoke English relatively well. Of course, as we brought along our Indonesian domestic helper for this trip, she also helped to do translation on our behalf, especially when we asked for something above and beyond the itinerary (such as requesting for our drop off point to be at Jimbaran Bay rather than our hotel, which he gladly obliged!)
We opted for the Kintamani Tour, which brought us to two different temples, a tour around a coffee and spice plantation and gorgeous views of a volcano and rice terraces.
Nic chose this tour for the views that it would afford us, and it sure didn’t disappoint!
Our first stop: Goa Gajah Temple. We had to wear sarongs to enter this temple (totally UNglam, I tell you, which is why the photos here will be censored. Haha!)
But it was a gorgeous place, with sprawling grounds, and we had to trek down several flights of steps to get the the bottom. Going down was easy. On our way up, I was panting for dear breath!
Then we made our way to the second temple, the temple of the holy water. As you can see, Jay was VERY taken with…
the huge banyan tree on the temple grounds!
Loads of visitors around, but the temple was so huge, it didn’t feel very crowded at all.
Jay even had the chance to feed some very hungry kois!
The takeaway from these two temple tours? A giraffe magnet for him!
By this time, we were perspiring from the relentless Bali sun, and feeling tired, so we made our way to the next stop: a coffee and spice plantation! Check it out in my next blog entry tomorrow!
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