To Lake Beratan

It's been many years since we've been to the Lake Beratan area in North Bali. Haruko had been more recently but she was happy to go with us yesterday as we headed north of Ubud, an hour and a half's drive, towards the township of Bedugal and the site of one of Bali's most photogenic temples - Pura Ulun Danu Beratan - the beautiful Temple on the Lake.

The 400 year old temple is now a major tourist attraction in Bali - and it shows (unfortunately). We joined the throngs and posed for our own set of cheesy pics against this most beautiful backdrop. 

At least the crowds, paying their 75000 IDR entry, ensure the gardens around the temple, and the temple itself, are beautifully maintained and managed - but we couldn't help but compare the experience to our last visit all those years ago when there were few tourists and it was the site of colourful Balinese traditional temple ceremonies and hundreds of locals in ceremonial dress (and we sailed (rowed) out on the lake in a traditional canoe).

 

Next stop was the nearby Bali Botanic Gardens. We'd been here a long time ago too but the gardens had developed a lot since then - and in a good way too. Haruko breathed a sigh of relief to be in amongst so many trees and so much grass - after the constant crowding and pollution of living in Jakarta. 

We walked as far as the orchid house - there is an extensive collection there - but very few were in flower for our visit ... It would be very worthwhile timing a visit for that event - it would be spectacular.

The cactus garden was interesting to visit .........

Our lovely driver Nyoman got quite animated in the cactus garden identifying plants for us - he grows a few of them himself........

The gardens, overlooking Lake Beratan, are a popular picnic site for the locals, although the resident monkeys create a few hazards for those groups setting up their lunches too close to the forest canopy.

We visited the Bedugal fresh food market afterwards. There were lots of samples offered, of tropical fruits and nuts etc, but there was a lot of pressure to buy buy buy unfortunately too.

Haruko did the bargaining in her excellent Bahasa for our purchase of some cashews grown in Karangasem over in the east of Bali.

Our favourite stop was this colourful plant shop...........

The owner specialised in orchids and she went to a lot of trouble to explain the different types and how they were propagated - with no pressure to buy either!

Nyoman drove a lot of backroads today so the trip north and then back to Ubud was so interesting for us, through small villages and markets, rice fields and then the fertile farmlands around Bedugal - such a relaxing way to see a more rural part of Bali! We ended off our lovely day with another delicious meal at Three Monkeys Cafe and an(other) icecream from the Gelato Factory conveniently located on the laneway to Haruko's villa - perfect!