Time: April 10th - 21st, 2024
Place: Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi), Singapore, Indonesia (Bali)
Company: Wife & Daughter
Highlights:
Prelude: Daughter's passport was expiring on Oct 26th, and hence we thought it would be ideal to visit a country before we renew the passport. Singapore is one country which I had visited which my wife had not, so that was on our radar since long. But considering the proximity of Singapore to neighbouring countries Malaysia and Indonesia, we thought it'd be better to club them together (IND-MLY-SIN-INDO-IND better than IND-MLY-IND, IND-SIN-IND, IND-INDO-IND). With this in mind, I went to Chat GPT and asked to give me an itinerary for these three countries for 8 days since my initial plan was from 13th till 21st. Chat GPT said it is not easy to cover 3 countries in 8 days! Then we started researching to find out top things to see in these three countries and started charting out itineraries looking at the flight availability. Tried BLR - MLY (LKW) - MLY (KL) - SIN - INDO - BLR (kind of North to south), tried reverse order, tried BLR - SIN - KL - INDO - BLR and various other combinations. Finally decided on BLR - MLY (KL) - MLY (LKW) - SIN - INDO - BLR, with 2 days in Kuala Lumpur, 1 full day in Lang Kawi, 2 days in SIN and 3 days in Bali. Add a day for travel here and there, so roughly 9 days in all. We booked the tickets. Visa was free for Malaysia for Indians as a promotion in 2024 and Visa on Arrival in Indonesia. So had to get it only for Singapore. Surprisingly, learnt that it has to be done only via agents. So, got it done by Atlys. It was relatively smooth although it took more than the promised time.
About few weeks before our trip start, got an email from Batik Airlines that our flight to KL was cancelled. Our initial departure date was 11th night. I had later come to know that 11th was actually Ramzan Holiday. Thanks to this flight cancellation, it gave us the opportunity to re-book a new flight on 10th night itself. Surprisingly, although near to our departure date, the flight rate was cheaper than the cancelled one! So, it was not a loss to us. I then completed all the hotel booking, wifey charted out a plan for the additional day in KL, and after some shopping for the vacay, we were all set for our next International trip, and the first one for 2024!
Day 0 - Apr 10th: BLR Airport!Our flight from BLR to KLIA was at 11:25 pm but it was delayed by about 2 hours. So technically it left on 11th early morning. This actually costed us the fountain show at Petronas but we did not realize it right then. It was just a 4+ hr flight, so we were red-eyed when we landed at KLIA. But we did have a nice time at the wonderful T2 of KIA, BLR!
Day 1 - Apr 11th: Batu, KL
I had seen about online reservation of bus booking from KLIA Airport to city but it had come with clause that if we miss the time slot, we lose it. So had not taken the chance. Good, because our flight was delayed by couple of hours. The express metro train was expensive, so bus was economical, and time taken was relatively same by both. We finished our morning yoga kriyas in the airport itself while waiting for the bus, and then took the long ride to KL Sentral where we had our hotel booked. It was still 11 am, so I was thinking we will not be able to check-in, however, the lady at the counter was kind of to check-in early. After a quick refresh, we left the room, went back to KL Sentral and understood how to go to Batu Caves via metro. It was a longish queue, slowish train with less AC, so not every convenient. Finally reached Batu Caves.
Our first stop was Rani Vilas Veg restaurant. It was ok-dokey, we were hungry, so had our fill. And then climbed the stairs to Batu Caves. Took a lot of snaps. It is fantastic to see the cave right in the middle of a hill, and then the opening of the cave even further up in the hill. The establishment of the temples within those caves is quite unbelievable. Abhisheka was going on for Lord Karthikeya, so we sat there and saw the proceedings for a long time. Then took more snaps of the surroundings of the cave and then made our way down the colorful stairs. There are couple more temples which we briefly visited at the base of the hill. It was way too hot, so had some nice tender coconuts. Finally took a train back to KL Sentral. It got dark and we were surprised to see that it was already 8 pm. We were thinking about visiting the Petronas too (if we had time) but since this train was not going via Petronas, we decided against it. Had dinner at an Indian Veg Restaurant close to our hotel, and retired for the night.
Day 2 - Apr 12th: Skymirror, Sekinchan, KL
So this was the additional day that we got due to the flight cancellation. Similar to the additional day we got during our Vietnam Vietnam trip where we got to see Ninh Binh, this extra day was a juicy bonus or free-hit-sixer for us, because this definitely should not have been missed in fact! Definitely we would have repented if we had not see this day's itinerary.
So there is something called Sky Mirror where tour operators take visitors to middle of the Ocean, wait until tide is low, make you get down on land and then take pictures such that your reflection comes on the land. Not much gimmicks, no great cameras, just our own mobile phones, and pictures instantly could be seen! Predictably, it only happens during certain days and certain time slots. For us, fortunately, it was open and timing was ideal too. With this in mind, we did a lot of research to see which tour operator was the best in terms of cost and popularity. We finalized on
https://funlifeskymirror.com/ and informed them that we were not interested in Eagle feeding but all other activities such as Sky Mirror, Fireflies and Blue Tears package. This communication happened with them on Whatsapp even before we departed. They arranged for cab to and fro KL also with additional charge and it all worked out very well indeed, better than any other group tour package from KL to see those same three things.
So, on 11th evening, we got details about the cab, driver details, etc. and on 12th morning, I quickly went to Gandhiji's restaurant to pack some Idlis for breakfast (which we consumed in the room itself) and at about 8:30 am, the driver was waiting for us right in front of the hotel. He was a great guy in fact, and we had a wonderful day with him the whole day. Our first stop was a Shakti temple on the way. It was quite remarkable indeed, the intricate carvings and a Hindu temple in the middle of Malaysia! We continue on and arrived at the jetty.
Got on board and the boat took us to the middle of Andaman Sea in Malacca Strait. The whole place was filled with water and we were wondering how on earth can there be a Sky Mirror. Then the boat stopped and we waited. There were a bunch of boats also waiting like us. Soon, within a few minutes, all the water started receding! It was like magic, and the land appeared. So we all got down. The tour operators quickly set up some props, cleaned the land area and asked us to pose and using our own mobile camera, they started clicking pictures. Sure, enough, the land acted like mirror and we could see the reflection. Whoever discovered this tide ebbing and photography to make it like Sky Mirror is an absolute genius! As a result, tourists crowd this place every single day when tide allows! I believe a similar place is in South America in
Bolivia, so having this closer to our home was a bonus! We took a bunch of snaps and then it was time to depart because the water was coming back now, and the land was once again getting submerged! We hopped on the boat and got back to the jetty.
The time was now about 1 pm and our next tour was only at 6:30 pm since we had opted out of the Eagle-feeding tour. So we asked the driver to take us to Sekinchan Paddy fields which was famous. It was nearby. The drive did better than what we asked him. He took us to a nice cafe which overlooked the paddy fields. So here we could sit, relax, look at the paddy fields under a shaded spot (for it was hot now), sip our juices, eat ice cream, etc.. We lazed for a really long time, almost 2 hours at this same spot, and once again clicked a bunch of photographs.
Then there was this airplane right in the middle of the paddy fields (god knows how) and took more pics in front of that. Then, driver took us to a nearby beach called Pantai Redang Sekinchan. There is a famous wishing tree in front of what appears to be a Chinese Temple where you wish for something and write it down on a ribbon and then throw that ribbon on the tree! Paavani did that and had great fun throwing multiple times until it got stuck on the tree!
The beach itself is ok-ok, not great waves but it was a good place to spend more time and hang out since we still had lot of time. Spent about half an hour with waves, pebbles, window shopping on beachfront stalls and then we felt we might as well head back since we could hit traffic on the way. Reached jetty pretty early, about 5:45ish and then we just walked around the place, it was deserted with no good cafes nor even place to walk about. Spent some time with random clicking of photos and then finally it was time again to don the life jackets and aboard the boat.
This tour comprised of fireflies and blue tears. Hence the timing was such that it had to get dark. Within few minutes, the boat took us to deep jungle-like marshlands where land and waterways get so intertwined that there does not seem to be way to get off the boat, and there is thick undergrowth of bushes. In that midst of bushes and darkness lies a plethora of fireflies. It was fascinating to see them. The boatman spent about 15-20 mins taking us to different parts of the marshland. There were number of such boats and it was great to see all of them coordinating with neither sound nor light.
This done, he moved towards the main ocean area, almost retracing the steps to the Sky Mirror which we had been to in the morning. However, midway he stopped and gave us all rods to touch the water. Sure enough, we could see the blue luminescence as we moved the rod to and fro on the sea water. Even when the boat moved slowly and softly, as we touched the water via the rod, we could see ripples of the blue light aka blue tears. Truly, it was a spectacle. We had gone in search of this Bioluminescence near Gokarna (Nirvana Beach) but had not been lucky. Then we had again missed it in Thailand because of our timings but finally Malaysia was the place where we got to see! Of course, we could not capture either the fireflies or the Blue tears in our cameras but it got etched into our minds forever!
Journey back to the hotel was eventless, and we got back by 10 pm. This time we went to Saravana Bhavan for dinner and then retired for the night.
Day 3 - Apr 13th: Petronas and to Langkawi
After checking out and keeping luggages at lobby, went for breakfast at MTR's and was fascinated by MTR's history, the wall hangings are truly must-read. In fact, did not know that this hotel I had chosen had so many Indian restaurants near by, it was indeed wonderful to have so many choices. Soon after, we got back to the hotel lobby and booked a grab-taxi to Petronas. It was just a short 10-min ride.
At Petronas, we went back-side to enjoy the fountain for some time, and while there clicked a number of pics of the Petronas Towers, which at one point, were the tallest towers of the World. This fountain, we learnt later, is famous for its lights in the night, but then we could not make it here on any of the nights that we spent in KL. Maybe we could have on the first night but since our flight was delayed and we spent too much time at Batu, we ran out of time. Anyways.
Beyond the fountain, was Children's Swimming pool and it was fantastic, with just knee-deep water. In the hot sun, this was a blessing. There was even small waterfalls where kids could stand underneath and in another place, could go behind. Although she did not get fully wet, Paavani did have a nice time in the water, getting splashed! For her, this was more enjoyable than the Towers. Also, per our research, we were supposed to go to KL-Ecopark. Once, Google Maps showed this itself as the Ecopark, and at some other time, it showed a slight distance off. When we checked with Security guard, he said this indeed was the Ecopark. So we were not sure. But later research revealed that where we wanted to go was actually called KL Forest Ecopark and it is near KL Tower. So that was one other thing which we wanted to go but missed.
Anyways, soon after, we went to the front-side of the Towers and took more pics. From here, the Towers did look different and Majestic! Due to the holiday season, there was no queue to get to the top of the Towers and there were no tickets being issued. We found out this too late, in fact, after we had booked all tickets of the trip, else we could have planned a different itinerary. So, big lesson for those who are reading this blog-post is that check in advance for Petronas Towers ticket availability before going to KL! Anyways, since we knew it already, we were past the disheartenment! Now, we had some time, so we thought we might as well go to the KL Tower where the Holiday season had not impacted Going-to-the-top! We checked with a cab guy and he seemed to be charging us an exorbitant fare. We then checked with security guard and guard said we can actually walk. So we started walking, however it was not a short walk. Midway through we realized that we would get late to airport if we continued. We caught sight of the KL Tower from a little distance away, and we took some clicks and decided that we were done with KL by then.
There was a mono rail station nearby. Hopped into the train after learning how to use the tickets/tokens and reached KL Sentral. Once again, lunch at Saravana Bhavan, then took our bags from hotel lobby, went to KL Sentral Bus station and caught our pre-booked bus back to airport. Reached airport at about 4 pm and then we checked-in to our next flight to Lang Kawi. It was a short flight, and soon we reached LK island. It is a small airport, and it is always a nice feeling walking on the tarmac!
We took a cab to our hotel and since the hotel was newly renovated, the cab drivers were not fully aware. So it took some time. It was extremely humid here, thanks to the proximity of the seashore. We checked in to the hotel, and it was just the basics. Not very cozy, but comfortable. We were on the beach road, so went out walking in search of dinner, alas we could not find anything Pure Veg. We went walking a long way indeed...
Finally came across a beach-side cafe where we thought we could have a sandwich. However, the queue was huge and it was taking a very long time. So we started walking back to the hotel on the beach sand itself, thinking we could eat some of our own packed snacks. On the beach, there were many shows with men dancing with fire. I guess this was famous in LK - fire dance shows. We saw a couple of them for about half an hour and then returned back to the room.
There seemed to be an issue with our room's lock and it was not budging open. The new owner of the hotel tried his best and after about another half hour's struggle, we were able to get in, and he moved us over to a different room since that lock needed some repair. We ate some of our own snacks and retired for the night.
Day 4 - Apr 14th: Seven Wells & Cable car, Langkawi
Morning too, we ate our own snacks for breakfast as none of the eateries were open at 8 am. Booked a Grab taxi to Seven Wells Waterfall trek area (Telaga Tujuh). It was a short ride. We commenced the trek uphill. It was a non-stop climb of several steps, maybe about a 1000. With the humid and summer heat, we were profusely sweating within a few minutes. However, it was well worth it. The small pools of water, called wells and water spilling from one pool to the other was a nice relaxation atop. We spent quite a lot of time at the top amidst the pools of water and rejuvenated. The trek goes further up to the Machinchang summit but that is unpaved and desolate. Maybe 2-3 hours more of uphill trekking. We chose not to and started our downward walk. Somewhere midway, we came across the trek which goes a little afar from the main stairs and takes us to the waterfall area. Since it was not rainy season, there was not a lot of water but it was still nice & refreshing.
Our next destination was the
Skybridge cable car & related attractions. We just walked the distance on road to get to that ticketing area after having refreshing tender coconut and an ice cream. In that span of time, the weather had changed drastically and it was cloudy. So there was an announcement that the Skybridge was temporarily closed but the cable car was on. So we took tickets just for the cable car hoping weather would ease up soon. We were snacking on some of our stuff when the weather did open up and Skybridge was opened up too.
Quickly we made our way to the cable car. It was a longish ride up the mountain. Got down in the middle at the Eagle's nest and soaked in the view. Again continued the cable car ride further up the journey and finally reached the summit. Then took the Skybridge ticket and did the small trek on the mountain towards the bridge (avoided the SkyGlide). The bridge connects the summits of two mountains, I guess, or maybe two summits of the same mountain. But there is glass bottom viewing points, and at a specific point on the bridge one can see the ocean on either side (Langkawi is an island). It is indeed a man-made wonder and one wonders why indeed man chose to work so hard for just tourism! Anyways, here we were as tourists, and read all the history about the mountains, how they were at some point super-natural living beings, a mythical story about wedding that went wrong, etc., etc.. On the bridge, we happened to meet brother-in-law's college senior accidentally just because we were talking in Kannada, quite a coincidence! Back on the original summit after the short trek back, we again climbed few more steps to be really, really on the summit. Took more clicks and it was time to head back down.
Then we had pizza lunch but then realized that the cable car tickets entailed us a number of other attractions, which we quickly covered - like 3D art museum, 6D Cinemotion ride, SkyDome show, etc. Literally had to run to cover all this since it was already closing time. In fact, the only thing perhaps we missed was the Petting zoo. All in all, just this one Western side of Langkawi needs one full day.
Got a cab ride back to our hotel, instead we went to the beach to view the sunset. The sun was covered by a mound of hillock but still it was nice to just be with Nature and waves and see the sun's hues. Finally did some shopping, had some mango juice, and retired for the night. Just prior to that, we communicated to the owner about our plans for the morrow and asked him to arrange an early morning taxi since Grab taxi drivers wouldn't usually be available.
Day 5 - Apr 15th: Sentosa, Singapore
At 5:30 am took the cab and reached airport at 5:45 am. Not a good idea. Unlike other airports where we need to be at the airport 3 hours prior to an International departure, Langkawi airport is an exception. Hardly anyone in the airport at that time! We were the very few people who had ventured inside so early apart from cleaners! So did our kriyas at airport itself. By then few more passengers had come. Finally time for us to board the flight to Singapore. It was a 2-3 hour eventless journey. Reached S'pore on time and immigration was smooth.
"Grab"bed one more taxi to our hotel as I couldn't find the right metro train to our hotel near Little India. If I had done more research, then I would have but it was kinda hard. Anyways, we didn't have much time, so taxi seemed ok. Our room was still getting cleaned but as soon as they opened it up, we just kept the luggages and had quick lunch at a nearby Indian restaurant on the neighbouring street. Then did more research on how to get to the Sentosa aquarium via metro, but, to my surprise it was all via contactless credit/debit cards. I only had two at that time and we were three. So decided to go via cab again.
Reached Aquarium and it was on similar lines to the ones which we have visited so far in Long Island, CA and Boston, MA. The tunnel-like walkways with sea animals roaming over us is quite an experience. So is the massive auditorium where you can just sit and view all the animals swimming like as if it is a theater screen. And the big cuboid full of water and fishes as well. Daughter and wifey enjoyed it a lot.
Our next destination was the fountain shows. Took the free metro train to final stop and alighted. There is one general fountain show that we saw. Then, roamed around the beach, the walkways, the lush greeneries, etc. and generally relaxed because we had some time. There was a place on local map called 'Southern most point', so we headed there but we were denied entry because it was already closing time. Only later we realized that it was the Southernmost point. In fact it was Palawan island. Anyways, we walked back to 'Wings of Time' show. The queue had lined up, we ate slight snacks and settled in for the show.
Personally, for me, the show was ok-ok, but family enjoyed it a lot. Definitely good pyrotechniques, and musical fountain to the best effect and story-telling. Quite entertaining. With that, we were pretty much done for the day. We had to just head back to our hotel. So we took it easy. Spent a lot of time on Sentosa itself, it was like a movie setting with all nice stuffs kept for photo-shoot! Took Sentosa free train for just one stop, and then walked all the way over the bridge on Singapore river (it is so forceful!) to the mall to catch metro to back home. This time, took a metro card for daughter, as it would come in handy for the next day too. Got down at Little India, went to A2B for dinner and retired for the night with little planning for the morrow. Was exhausted!
Day 6 - Apr 16th: Birthday @ Mandai Bird Park & Gardens by the Bay!
This was our (wifey and my) birthday, and we had planned the day to be amidst birds at Jurong. But research found out that Jurong was now closed (alas) only to be now open in Mandai (hurray!). I had researched how to go in the train now, and we had our breakfast at nearby A2B, packed our lunch also at A2B and were about to go to metro when wifey said we better visit a temple since it was our birthday. We walked towards a nearby Indian te
mple called Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. It seemed like a very powerful temple indeed because we felt drawn towards it, especially sitting in the complex and looking at some of the idols. Finally, we took the metro to the spot where we'd get the bus to Mandai Bird Sanctuary. On the way (it is far, btw), I realized we were running late for the first show of the day at 12:30 pm. So we ran into the complex, asked our way around and ran to the show.
It was well worth the effort running. I always love bird shows because it is quite mind-boggling how they can get the birds to act, to fly and to squeak around a huge crowd. I remember my last one in 2009 in Orlando, I guess, it was Seaworld and it was fascinating. This was the first time for Paavani and she enjoyed too. The MCs introduced us to a variety of birds which flew all around us. The show last for 20-30 minutes.
Once done, we started off with one section after the other. The area is very well connected and there are maps to show where we would be heading. Sections are divided based on types of birds, geographies, etc.. We covered about 2-3 sections and it was time for our second/last show of the day which was at 2:30 pm. This show, too, was equally good, and we had great fun watching different types of birds from across the world display their skills.
Then we had our lunch and continued with the sections such as Australian Outback, Lory Loft, Penguin Cove, etc. They have done a fantastic job getting so many birds, keeping the environment and ambience for such birds, etc. I personally felt this was 'worth' a visit when 'compared' to the aquarium - although one should not ideally be comparing! My reasoning is that here we could easily spend 4-5 hours whereas in Aquarium it is about 2-3 hours. At times, when we were roaming around the bird sanctuary, it was drizzling but it was not too bad. In addition to the birds, there are also annexes where there are shows of different types of birds, of breeding, etc. which is all very interesting. So, if one gets tired walking around, one can relax and yet to be partaking what Mandai has to offer!
I think we were the longest staying guests, spending almost 5 hrs inside the park premises! Finally, we exited, took the bus to the train and took the train to our next destination which was Gardens by the Bay. The sun was still setting, so we got glimpse of the Marina Bay Sands resort (a unique shaped building) both with and without the Sun rays on our way to the Gardens by the Bay. Previous night, we had decided on not opting for Flower Dome or Cloud Forest or Floral Fantasy or even the bridge-walk connecting the trees. We just wanted to experience seeing the giant man-made trees light up at night. We were spot-on when it comes to timing, since just as we arrived at the correct place and relaxed for a while on the ground, the lights around us went off and then came back highlighting the giant man-made trees that are the center of attraction in the Gardens by the Bay. The light show coupled with local music/song was soothing and definitely a must-see in Singapore. Be ready, for huge crowds, though!
We headed back once that was done and we soaked in the lights of Singapore night-life. Esp the Marina Bay Sands building again! On the metro station, there was piano kept where Paavani played for us the Happy Birthday tune! What better birthday gift than that!!
We thought we will experience something new cuisine for special birthday dinner but became wary because of outside food and non-veg influences. So decided back on our beloved A2B! Came back to the room and retired for the night.
Day 7 - Apr 17th: Merlion, and to Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.
Our last day in Singapore. Took the train to Merlion but had to walk a little distance inside a Mall. The weather was good, and we read about the history of Singapore along the canals - how Indians migrated to this country and assisted in the trade, similarly Chinese, Malaysians and Indonesians, how the canals used to be lined up with trees and children playing on them to how it is silent now, etc.. The Merlion was the only 'sight-seeing Singaporean' thing I saw when I was last here in 2007. But now, the Marina Bay Sands resort was visible from here too. We took quite a set of pics from all angles of the Merlion, and walked back to the Metro. Then lunch @ A2B and checked out of our hotel, and took the train to Changi airport.
Wifey had done some research on things to see in Changi. Esp the big waterfall inside the Jewel, a special mall made for the airport. It was in a terminal different from where we had to go to. Still, we had time and just to see this Jewel, we went to the different terminal in a train and it was well worth it indeed! The man-made waterfall inside the mall is fantastic, mesmerizing and one feels like keeping on looking at it. We did not have enough time else we could have gone down to it, but we had to be sufficed just by looking at it from far. But then the airport train goes right beside the falls inside the mall and that was one more 'wow' moment. What an architecture indeed!
Our terminal seemed to be the farthest of the lot, since we had to take both train and bus to reach it. Nevertheless, we were on time and had our lunch in the terminal itself. Spent more time at the airport looking at the books, shopping for chocolates, toys, etc. and had a minor incident (lost boarding passes, so went around searching for it but finally used the internet to get it from email!) due to which we were the last ones to board to our final country as part of this trip - Indonesia!
Reached Bali airport at about 7 pm and we had booked our hotel at Ubud which is about an hour and slightly more away. Inside airport itself, a guy approached me who seemed to be an official airport worker with badge, etc. and told me that he will arrange for cab, etc. and we decided on a rate. Later realized that I could have bought a sim, and 'Grab'bed a taxi as well. There are far too many options we could have chosen but anyways, we had chosen this guy and now we had to go through with him. The journey was long and to my dismay I realized that the hotel that I had booked was inside an alleyway, so we had to drag the luggage on cobbles. Anyways, we reached at about 9 pm, checked in and got some brochures to plan for the next few days in Indonesia. The hotel itself was nice, with local feeling - such as native carvings on stone and plants and trees everywhere inside. It was like we were in a native Indonesian bungalow (which it was apparently before becoming a hotel).
Day 8 - Apr 18th: Waterfalls and Tanah Lot
Breakfast at the hotel. Fruits and pancake. Not so great but sufficed. So we decided that instead of booking a cab, we will go on our own in a rental car. The cab guy was not willing to take us to all places where we wanted to go plus he was charging a lot. So, first thing we did was to get an international sim with data packages (I was managing with free wifi at hotels till now) so that I can use it for navigation. That took some time for activation. Next thing, was to get the car. While it was easy to get motor bikes, it is not easy to get cars. So more waiting. By the time we got the car, it was already 1 pm.
Driving in Indonesia is, I guess slightly difficult, even when compared to driving in India! But the roads are smooth and hardly any bumps or humps. The only thing is there is too much traffic, and two-wheelers who ride very, very fast. But I was ok considering how reasonable it was to rent than to take a cab unwilling to take us where we wanted to go! The next thing was to put the navigation for 'car' because Google maps took me inside a very small road meant only for two-wheelers. I had a hard time, reversing all the way back since there was no way for me to do a 3-point U-turn. That caused some concerns. Then, I had no idea how much fuel to put because I was not aware how much mileage I would get, if there were fuel stations at the remote locations where we had planned to go, etc.. Anyways, did an approximation and filled up the tank, although I could have gone little easy on that.
With all of this, our first destination was in fact a nearby waterfalls called Tegenungan. Ubud area is full of waterfalls - so its difficult to pick and choose which one to go to. And all waterfalls have steep climb which is tiring. But, our timing was good because one could venture into the falls unlike in Rainy season, when you cannot do that as the force will be too high and water will be muddy. This waterfalls is nice, there is a wooden pole bridge which you can walk upon the river using another pole as a handrail - and there is a puddle of freshwater which can be used like a swimming pool, etc. Just being beside the water is so rejuvenating. There are also some photo-shoot areas and ice cream cafes. We were done in quick 30 mins and headed back up.
Our next destination was Kanto Lampo Waterfalls. This one is amazing. Once more, huge steps to descend. At the end of it, there was a wonderful falls where we can stand right in front of. We will be smeared with the falls' mist, so it was awesome. Not really getting wet as how you would if you stand underneath the falls yet getting wet enough to enjoy the mist! There was one more queue to a bigger falls, where you could actually climb up some rocks and pose right under the falls. But we realized we did not have enough time, so we skipped it. Instead we went left towards a small cave. Even to get to the cave, we had to walk through the rushing stream, so that was quite an experience as well. The cave itself was not all that great but from here, we had a good view of the second bigger falls - right on top and right in front. With that, we headed back and we were done with the waterfalls for the day.
Our next destination was on the western most part of the island called Tanah Lot. But on the way, we stopped Taman Ayun temple as well. This is a complex consisting of many Pagodas, and we can walk across the borders of the rectangle complex. Not too big nor too small but kinda pricey entrance fees. We had to make it a short stopover since it was imperative we reached Tanah Lot for the sunset. So, we quickly moved on.
We reached TL and rushed into the complex. It was a big cliff-like walk, so while the sun was still there, we walked quickly to as far as we could to get a nice glimpse of the ocean and the temple on the ocean. The waves were mesmerising. Then, we came back to the shoreline and waded through the waves and crossed the ocean after walking a few distances, since it was low tide to the other part where there was another huge mound of land jutting straight like a tower on top of which was another temple constructed, but I guess no one was allowed on it. Either forever or because sun had almost set now, we were not sure. There also seemed to be a small cave under that tower where some prayers were going on.
Anyways, we got back to the main land but it was an enthralling experience, because in that space, there were waves coming from both left and right of us and we felt like we were in the middle of the ocean albeit standing/walking. By this time, the sun had set and with the light of the dusk, we once again went walking all through the premises of the Tanah Lot temple. There were multiple garden places to just sit and soak in the nature. And also coves on the cliff walk where one could feel that they were on the edge of the world because it was ocean all around. With lights on, it was a surreal spectacle indeed.
Thankfully, for us, there was a Satvik/Indian Jain restaurant right in the parking lot. Had wonderful dinner which was freshly prepared for us since we had it customized. And then, the drive back home was about an hour and it was slow and tedious since the roads were narrow and sometimes winding. Got back to the hotel and slept after planning for the next day.
Day 9 - Apr 19th: Waterfall and Ulun Danu Beratan
If previous day was West, this day was North (although not completely) - Ulun Danu Beratan. It was again, a long drive up north, and we headed right after breakfast. About half way through, we saw a signpost for a waterfall called Nungnung. When I was doing some research the previous night, I had seen this and it seemed great, so on the spot decided to head there even though it was about 5 kms deviation. Not ideal since our return journey would have been on the way anyways.
When we reached Nungnung parking spot, we started climbing down. Boy, was this steep. There were like 200 or 300 huge steps leading down to the waterfalls. But it was definitely worth it. The waterfalls is majestic and magnificent. Even at a distance, one can feel the mist easily. Here too there was a wooden bridge upon which we could walk past the stream and go even closer to the falls. Once we were done, it was a long tough walk back up! Almost like climbing a tree! Finally got back to road-level, and then went back on our way to Ulun Danu Beratan.
By the time, we reached it was almost raining. So we hurriedly went inside. UDB is really a vast space. The lake is so huge, and it looks like it is a high altitude lake, so it has that pristine quality. It almost looks like it will overflow into the land. The temple on the lake is elegant. In addition, there are some spots in the premises which was meant for taking photos, a pet-feeding place, etc.. We had a coffee and ice-cream at a nearby cafe and then it started drizzling. We made our way out after more clicks at different pagodas. Soon after, it started pouring!
Our next destination was Besakih Temple, which was quite a distance away. And, as I said, Nungnung was on the way actually! So we went past, and on the way, we came across Mount Batur viewpoint which is an active volcano. Truly a fantastic natural scenery where one can almost see how the volcano has spewed the lava. In fact, there are 3 am tours that take you up the Mount Batur, and we had half a mind to opt for it but did not since there were so many other places to see as well.
It was a race against time since it was getting dark and Besakih temple seemed to be very famous. Since I drove fast, daughter started getting motion-sick. For my chagrin, the temple entrance and car parking were in different places. So I dropped daughter and wife at the entrance, and went back in search of car parking. It was agonisingly very, very far, like almost a km away and one had to take a golf cart trip from parking spot till temple premises. And it was already getting dark. So I had to rush to the ticket counter (entry price was exorbitant, to be honest) and rushed the guides to get me to the temple entrance. Thankfully, wifey and daughter made it to the same place where I entered, else we had to go in search of one another.
The temple complex is on a hill, so one has to climb, see some pagodas, then climb some more and see more pagodas, and again the same. It goes on for some time like that. Primary attraction is the long flight of stairs at the beginning of the temple premises where photos are taken with a mirroring floor although we did not opt for that photography. Inside the temple premises, there is not much, just vast space and it looks like that is what is being prayed to, one of the 5 primary elements of Nature. Anyways, we stayed till our heart's content and felt there was nothing else to be seen, and we were probably the last visitors of the day.
It was a long journey back to our hotel, and done entirely in the dark. Thankfully, there was network available and we could use the phone for navigation, although it seemed to be one straight road from North to South and literally like a slope since I hardly had to use the accelerator. I knew we were driving through paddy fields which is one more thing Bali is famous for.
Thankfully, the drive back was smooth and we reached by about 9 pm. Once we got back, we realized there were quite a few other spots which we had planned to visit but could not like Theerth Empul, Goa Gajah, Ceking Rice Terrace, etc.. but the one that stood out was Tukad Cepung waterfall which we felt we should just not miss. Our last day's itinerary did not actually include any waterfall but looking at the reviews of this 'hidden gem', we felt we should not miss it, although we had come through the same road from Besakih. So we decided that we will get up early and visit this no matter the tiredness!
Day 10 - Apr 20th: Waterfall and Uluwatu
Got up at 5:30 am, quickly freshened up, did not do the morning Kriya Yogas (like how we do everyday), and headed straight to Tukad Cepung. It was about 45 to 60 mins journey. We were the first tourists for the day. Again, we had to climb down a flight of stairs but this was not too difficult. Along the route, we come across a fast-slowing small canal and it is wonderful to just walk beside it, put our feet inside and feel the rushing water. And then we get down one more flight of stairs and we get right down to the natural rushing stream, and this is even more invigorating! Since we were the only tourists, we did not know to go right or left, but we thought we could see something on the left, so we start walking inside the stream upstream, and the water was about knee deep. The stream then curved left and then right and we could now hear the roar of the falls.
This was like a deep gorge amidst thick jungle and with the roar of the falls. We then had to climb across some rocks to see the opening of a cave inside which seemed to be the falls. There was a board there to line up, and we guessed if we had come later, there would be a huge queue since it was a narrow opening to the cave. We walked towards the opening of the cave and then, lo and behold, the sight inside was mesmerizing! The waterfalls inside was indeed a 'hidden gem' and absolutely fantastic! A pure sheet of water falling from a great distance and the mist was getting generated was spewing out of the cave opening, as a result of which anyone who enters the cave would be drenched right when entering the cave!
One need not even go and stand under the falls, such was the power! The feeling was pure ecstatic indeed! We cried out in great joy in tune with the falls and we were the only ones to hear! We just stood right in front of the waterfalls, gaping at it, and out of all the ones we had visited so far (there seemed to be hundreds of them in Bali), this was our outright favorite! It was well worth the effort to drive back on the same road to Besakih, worth the effort to get up early despite being tired to visit this place.
After about an hour, we were well satisfied and made our way back. Few folks were now entering the place. There was a small place for worship too en route the stream, went there for few minutes and then we climbed back the stairs to the parking spot. Our next stop was inside Ubud itself - Goa Gajah. We hadn't really planned to visit this place in our original itinerary but since this was en route, and we had some time, we thought we might as well visit it. It is a nice enough place, again some stairs to climb down to see the temples, and in these, we have some idols of Hindu deities like Vishnu, Shiva and Ganesha. One could climb even further down to see the Goa Gajah waterfalls. We walked around the premises for about 15-20 minutes, and then headed back the stairs to the car. With that, we were done with the rental car in Indonesia. Parked it near our hotel, returned the keys to the rental agency and headed back to our room after little bit of shopping.
Spent some relaxing time at the room, daughter went swimming in the pool (which she wanted to do since day 1 of our stay!), we did our yoga kriyas and then light breakfast and checked out. We walked some distance to a nearby Indian restaurant and had our first good meal in Indonesia! All these days we were munching on something or the other and satisfying ourselves. The food was indeed good, post that we got back our luggages from the hotel, 'grab'bed a taxi to our next hotel near Uluwatu down south of airport.
Timing seemed to be right, since it took almost 1.5 to 2 hrs to get to our hotel. The same taxi guy dropped us off at Uluwatu as well. This is a very famous temple indeed, right on the cliff, with a special fire dance show every night. Temple premises itself is very huge, thanks to the cliff which spans almost a mile long and one can walk till the very edge, with wonderful views of the ocean. It is totally mesmerising! There seemed to be just one or two pagodas though, so it was more of the cliff-walk than anything else. There are lot of monkeys though and it grabs spectacles, mobile phones, food, etc.. So one had to be really careful here. We had quite a bit of time to spend for our fire dance show, so we managed to spend the time by clicking photos all through the cliff, and just soaking in all the wonderful scenery.
Finally it was time for the show. The show was about Ramayana especially the part about Hanuman going to Lanka and putting it on fire. It was wonderfully enacted, and the special part about it is that there are no musical instruments used. It is just human voices and hands which make up for the music and drums. I personally felt it was hyped and seemed very mediocre and not all that 'engaging' as it is advertised. Anyways, after about 1 hour, it was done, and we headed back to our hotel room via another grab taxi.
Day 11 - Apr 21st: Return to BLR, India
The final day of our trip. To my surprise, I had booked a 11 am flight whereas in my mind I had book 2 pm flight! When I was checking in, I realized, we had to wake up early even on the last day! But glad that I checked this previous night! So, morning we left early, one final 'grab' taxi and reached the airport in about 30 mins. The driver (and in fact, drivers) in Bali are very friendly, smiling and homely people. They like to talk about families and share their stories and very inviting indeed. This particular driver shared his story about his 2 wives and how they all live together with all children and grandchildren!
Our flight from Denpasar, Bali to KLIA was smooth, and we had a long layover at Kuala Lumpur. Had half a mind to re-enter KL and visit the downtown, maybe even see the musical fountain. But considering all the hassle that we had to go through (fill the immigration forms, book the airport shuttle to downtown and return, etc.) put us off and we decided to stay in the airport itself. Also it seemed like there would be a huge downpour since there were ominous clouds. The KLIA international waiting area is not a very good one. The food options are very minimal, and especially difficult for Vegetarians. Also hardly any good places to really rest and relax. Not very pleasing to the eye either. Thankfully we got some bread stuff, and we could manage with it for the duration of our wait time. Wife and daughter had a nice ROFL time playing with shawls making it like Rapunzel and there were clicks galore! Finally, got our flight to BLR. Rest of the journey home was uneventful. Reached airport on time, got our cab to home and we reached about midnight.
Epilogue: It was a packed trip once again. But the extra day we got due to flight cancellation was indeed a boon because we got to see Skymirror else we would have missed it. This trip was unique - Malaysia was a bit of both Man-made & Natural beauty, Singapore was mainly Man-made beauty and Indonesia was mainly Natural wonder! So we enjoyed all of it in these 11 days. Food was little bit of a challenge and we had to skip many a meal but thankfully what we had packed came in real handy. Also some of the really good Indian restaurants in places like Ubud and Singapore and KL.
In Indonesia it is indeed difficult for personal taxis to accept out itineraries in Ubud because somehow one cannot complete a great many places in a single day, maybe because the roads are narrow and there is traffic. Even though we felt we could have finished 7-8 places in a single day, we ended up finishing only 3-4 at the most, and I guess the drivers know this too well, so they were not keen to accept our itinerary. But the best part was that we got a rental car where we could drive ourselves and go where we wanted to go when we wanted, and for one third the rate. No wonder, Bali alone needs 7-10 days if one has to see everything that it has to offer!
This was the second time we were doing three countries in a single trip, previous was {Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam}. Not very relaxing, I must say, but considering the proximity, very much doable. There are, of course, far more places to see in each of these countries than what we could see, but then, is there any end to it? With this trip, both my wife and I have completed 26 countries whereas Paavani finished 24 countries - the two missing ones for her being Mauritius and Canada.
Special mention to this vacation was the festive season for this part of the world. It added that much more charm, and kept us saying 'Hari Raya' to one another even after our return to India!!
