Indonesia: Road trip around Bali (Part 1) Goa Gajah, Tampak Siring & luwak coffee

For my second day in Ubud, I decided to hire a vehicle for a road trip around Bali to get to the different temples and views. Unfortunately, there is no public transportation that will get you straight to the temples. But the good thing is that hiring a vehicle is not that expensive and is actually the best option if you want to see everything in a day.

I spent about Rp350,000 (roughly Php1,750) for an air-conditioned SUV with driver that took me to the various sites around the island. Make sure as well that you get a sarong which you will need to enter the temples. It's quite strict because the sites are holy to the Balinese and very much in use for daily worship. So don't expect to get to enter without one.


Our first stop for the day was Goa Gajah or Elephant Cave which dates back to the 9th century. The mouth of the cave is carved with menacing creatures and demons. The primary figure was mistakenly thought to be an elephant, which is why it is referred to as Elephant Cave. Although there is a statue of Ganesh inside the cave. Beside the cave is a bathing temple which was excavated only in the 1950s. Goa Gajah is in the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage List. Entrance to the temple is Rp15,000.



After Goa Gajah, we proceeded to Tampak Siring, also known as Tirta Empul or the Holy Spring Temple. One of the main features of this temple is a spring which the Balinese believe can heal various of diseases. Thus, it's visited regularly by the locals for rituals and to sanctify themselves. Entrance to the temple is Rp15,000.



Further inside Tampak Siring are more structures which also serve as a place for offerings and ceremonies. Before you enter, you will be asked to wear a yellow piece of cloth around your waist. I was lucky that as I was about to exit Tampak Siring, a Galungan Ceremony or Balinese temple offering was about to take place.



Before proceeding to Penelokan for a wonderful view of Gunung Batur and Danau Batur (Mt. Batur and Lake Batur), my driver brought me to a coffee plantation in Temen which is visited by tourists because of the luwak coffee (alamid or civet cat coffee).

The public area has a garden which shows the various crops in the plantation such as cacao, vanilla, and of course the coffee, both arabica and robusta. They also demonstrate the processing of coffee beans. And you could also try out the luwak coffee which is not cheap! From there, we were off to Penelokan.

Indonesia: Ubud Royal Palace, rice terraces, kecak dance and more from Ubud, Bali

Ubud is one of Bali's major centers for culture and the arts. I decided to make that two hour road trip from Kuta to Ubud to enable me to explore more of Bali.

As soon we entered Ubud, the first thing I noticed was row after row of art shops. Indeed, Ubud was a major arts center for Bali. At the drop off point, there were touts offering places to stay. While I usually avoid them, I realized they might be a viable option to find cheap accommodation. After asking the rates for the rooms which were much cheaper than Kuta, I decided to check out the place being offered. It was quite decent and worth the cost.


Anyway, the person who took me to the lodging also offered to take me around Ubud and its environs on his ojek. After negotiating the rates, we were off. Our first stop was the Ubud Royal Palace.

The Ubud Royal Palace or Puri Saren Agung was home to Tjokorda Gede Agung Sukawati, the last "king" of Ubud. The architecture is a showcase of what is truly Balinese with its intricately carved wooden pavilions and stone gates and demons.



We also got to visit the Ceking and Tegallalang Rice Terraces. The rice terraces in Ifugao are much more extensive than those in Bali. But because of accessibility, the rice terraces of Bali get more visitors. Our last stop was the Tegenungan Falls located in Gianyar before we proceeded to the Kecak Dance performance.



Having seen this in National Geographic and other television shows, I made sure to watch a Kecak performance. Kecak is a Balinese dance primarily performed by men wearing checkered cloth around their waists who form a circle of 100 or more performers chanting cak while throwing up their arms in a rhythmic display. Kecak is also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant.


Because this performance is highly-sought by tourists, there are several nightly performances of both the Kecak and Sanghyang Jaran (Fire Dance) which features a fire walk by a performer in a trance. When in Ubud, you just look for an ojek to take you to one which are usually in the outskirts of the town. I spent Rp80,000 for a ticket to the performance.


The good thing about this whole itinerary was that I was able to visit all these places in and around Ubud in less than half a day with the help of an ojek. For the next day, I had made arrangements to hire a vehicle for the next day to take me around Bali's other major attractions.

Indonesia: Kuta Beach in Bali

Since I'm on the topic of Indonesia, I realized I had not written about my trip to Bali last year. So hopefully, I finish that this week. Bali is a culturally exciting destination. The richness of its culture and heritage, so much different from the rest of Indonesia, is most definitely worth the trip.

It's also famous for Kuta Beach which is teeming with tourists, particularly surfers. Since my flight arrived quite late in the evening, I ended up having to rely on the taxi I rode to help me find a place to sleep. I told him Kuta when I should have said Legian which is where most of the cheaper accommodation can be found. Kuta is both a district and a village. Kuta District contains the villages of Kuta and Legian.

Anyway, the taxi took me into one of the small side streets where there were several hotels. I was expecting it to be cheap but unfortunately, the rooms were a bit pricey for budget travel. I ended up having to spend a lot for the room since it was late and I was too tired to look for one.

The next morning, I realized why even the rooms in the interior were pricey. I was in the high-end resort area of Kuta Village. After walking around the beach, I planned my next three days. I decided to take a van to Ubud, Bali's culture town, which would serve as my base as I explore the rest of the island.

Indonesia: Roti Tape Pisang Special at a warung kopi in Kelapa Gading

In a previous trip to Jakarta, I had a hawker food overload in Kelapa Gading. There was a lot of stuff I really enjoyed. So during this trip, after dinner with SSEAYP friends, I made sure to drop by again.

Unfortunately, on the way there, it started to rain really hard. So by the time we arrived in Wisma Gading, the warung were closing shop much earlier than schedule (it was a Friday night even) since the rains had prevented people from trooping over for yummy servings of warung food.


Good thing there was one warung open which served dessert roti. The warung kopi served roti panggang or grilled bread. Yes, you heard me right, grilled! It's the basic loaf bread sandwich with fillings that include chocolate, pineapple or strawberry jam, peanut butter, egg, corn or cheese or a combination of these. Then the sandwich is grilled to a toast over hot charcoal.


We chose the Roti Serikaya which is grilled coconut custard sandwich, and Roti Tape Pisang Spesial. Tape is fermented cassava while pisang is banana. They grill the tape and bananas first before placing them between the bread together with butter, cheese and chocolate sprinkles called meises (influence from the Dutch chocolade hagelslag). Then they grill the sandwich and slice it into bite-sized pieces.

It's damn good! And you could really taste the fermented tape. Eating tape is actually an acquired taste. So if you're not an adventurous eater, you're better off with the safer choices.


Anyway, since I was frustrated that we didn't get to binge on more warung food, we tried to look for hawker stall or food outlet that was still open. And we saw two across the street. One was a Chinese restaurant which served food very common in Medan. Contrary to popular belief, they do serve pork in Jakarta, particularly in areas where there is a high concentration of Chinese.


The restaurant is called Kaca Mata. We had a sampler plate which included Bebek Panggang Peking (grilled Peking duck), Siobak or Babi Panggang (roasted pork belly which tastes more like lechon kawali) and Chasio Garing Madu (honeyed barbecued pork which tastes like tocino) and Chasio Biasa. Cha sio or char siu is barbecued pork which is very popular in Medan.

Thanks to Ron Rada for this food adventure in Kelapa Gading and the previous one in 2007! For an even more comprehensive feature of food in Kelapa Gading, check out Indonesian food trip.

Indonesia: Sate overload at Jakarta's Jalan Sabang hawker street

Three years ago, when I first visited Jakarta, I was introduced to the sate stalls of Jalan Sabang, a popular hawker street in Jakarta. For the lack of a better way to describe the peanut sauce that accompanied the sate ayam (chicken skewers), it tasted like heaven! I have had a lot of sate in my various trips around Southeast Asia. And nothing comes close to the peanut sauce I had in Jalan Sabang.


So I made sure to visit Jalan Sabang again during this trip. Unfortunately, I could not remember which stall we ate at previously. So I picked two stalls, one recommended by my friends and the taxi driver himself at the street corner, and another along the street where I saw a lot of customers.

The sate ayam along the street costs Rp16000 for 10 sticks which includes glutinous rice called lontong (something like suman) which they cut up into small pieces and include with the sauce. It was really good. But I remember it being richer the last time I had it.



At the street corner of Jalan Sabang, I got ten more sticks of sate ayam at Rp14000, and ten sticks of sate kambing (mutton skewers) for Rp30000. They serve nasi putih (plain rice) here. But I decided to forgo on the extra carbs.

That was worth the trip. Unfortunately, food in Indonesia is surprisingly more expensive than in the Philippines. I spent Rp68000 for that street food meal which is about Php340. Well most things are.

Anyway, for an even more comprehensive feature of food in Java, Indonesia, check out my previous post Indonesian food trip.