Right after we back to civilized road of Bali, we stayed in my fav district of all time: Ubud ~ trust me, it has an “asik” vibe #Top
Our hotel called Menzel Ubud owned by a German: Andreas Menzel who got married to a Balinese hahaha Irina is such a good news info. Nope this is not the reason why we choose it, rather Iri got a discount from Booking & free 30 min massage from Menzel #Sold!
The second must watch dance in Bali called Barong Dance. Barong (masked figure) represents good guy who fights against bad guy Rangda, spoiler alerts: no one wins. Shows a symbolic of an eternal fight between the good and the bad.
Once the performance finished, outside this building, there are many sellers like bracelet, Balinese stuff etc. I don’t really want to buy any of it until a very old grandpa approached me saying “please help me, no-one has bought from me so far, you can pay according to what you want” I took small smiley blue bracelet for 5K. Please preparar some small money like 5K – 10K just in case if you want to help them.
Iri looked at the beautiful building next to the Barong shows, I called it the Froggy! whereas she neglects the frog appearance haha turns out it’s a silver manufacture. I got myself a crown earrings! Always like to have some jewelry from place I visited. They also break the Indonesian Museum of Record for the longest dragon statue made out of silver.
The journey to Karangasem district took at least 2 hours, it could be almost 3 hours. I lost track of time, what do we do there? visit Lempuyang Temple and Tirta Gangga.
Unbeknownst to me, what is in the Lempuyang Temple? There are only 2 sides. First: The stairs which has doors at the top, to which you can’t enter. Remember, what happen behind closed door #Sounds sinister ~ is not for tourist, it’s a prayer area.
When we paid for entrance ticket after riding the shuttle bus, they gave me a number which written 410. Hearing what number it was then, knowing ours will not be up in any foreseeable hours, we went up to the stairs.
Second: this Instragammable Gate! As I said, our number is 410, how long do we wait? More than 2 hours, the lady on the shuttle ticket counter at the bottom told the que could take up to 3 hours. Read: we got give or take half hour schneller. Tried to take pictures in between each number, je mehr we wait desto besser we realized about the “reflection” thingy they put on each phone to make it looks mirroring each other.
We are literally thinking about which poses we would do, observing other people poses too. The setting was always like this: a group of max 4 people together, then each of the individual from the group, everyone got 4 poses. They tell “next pose, next pose” that’s why Preparada is important, there is simply no time to think, it won’t feel better anyway as whole bunch of people are waiting behind you.
There were a Russian couple, after they had their couple picture only the girl wants to do her individual pose, we were 100% sure she is a Gymnast, all her poses were perfectly on point! We saw many things during our almost 2,5 hours waiting, a biracial couple ~ white guy & Asian lady ~ who fights, we overheard them quarrelling, the guy said they agreed to not paid or wait for pictures. Well, who knows? just leave dude, don’t be such an Ass blaming her who obviously not Indonesian. Even if she is, I am Indonesian, I have no idea that this temple was just like that nor about the fee. I came for holiday, not for counting every pennies I should prepara to spend for which activities it was budgeted for pffff
I asked the lady who responsible for calling all the numbers, she said there is no time restrictions they will keep doing the photos until all guests are done. Only you won’t get the sunset behind you, when our turns arrived, we had just past it.
I had all personal poses in mind, the guy on our turn is nicer than before, he was newer, probably only 5 numbers before me so he gave me more poses opportunity 🙂
This is the real gate, by the way:
Then we went out, going down to the other side from the gate, Iri like this side more. There is one monk sitting, we didn’t feel to walk pass through him. Thus we just stayed below.
Next is Tirta Gangga sadly it’s all dark, we need to play with our flashlights to act as a lighting options. You can step on the stones, saw the fishes, you could also feed them had you arrive during day time.
Bonus Tipsss & honest review:
- Private tours with Oyke 950K for 9 hours.
- Barong dance 150K
- For Lempuyang Temple itself:
- Prepare 4 poses ahead your time. There are many guys offering you to do some pictures like on the swing etc. One bule ~ Indonesian word for foreigner ~ did it, he was so satisfied, he said it’s only took 2 minutes with scooter, cost like 100-150K. This guy could be an option while you wait for your turn with the gate.
- Take the shuttle 45K per person (back & forth), you can’t go 4km up to the temple. Entrance Lempuyang 70K for foreigners; 40 K for local. Bear in mind, it’s all for the pictures on the gate where 2 hours waiting is guaranteed. Bali first timers, better think twice.
- Like in every temple, dress modestly, take Sarung, can’t enter during your menstruation.
- If you want to go to Karangasem district, had I know it earlier, I would do the Tirta Gangga first. If you are not a picture person maybe skip this Lempuyang Temple? instead try to can catch sunset in the sunset point. These are literally all the main spots. Or have a better preparar by bring your own “reflection” thingy so you can do DIY on every gate 😀
- Entrace Tirta Gangga 70K for foreigners; 35K for local.
- If you stay at Ubud, it’s better to stay in a big road, choose some hotel which located at Jalan Pengosekan. It gives you better walking access. Menzel is a good hotel only it’s located inside small alley, you need to walk pass small rice field.
- Search for a Barong Dance option in Garuda Wisnu Kencana Park. It is a cultural park with Amphitheater for the dance. You visited one place but able to do many sightseeing, for example statue Wisnu, Garuda and the complete version of Wisnu on the Garuda. https://www.theungasan.com/blog/a-visit-to-garuda-wisnu-kencana-cultural-park/
