Trying Freedom

You may remember from a couple of posts ago that I met a guide who offered to take me to a temple on a tour, well today was the day for it. From my research I had decided that I was going to visit Tirta Empul as it features in most of the guides I’d seen on YouTube, but one of the perks of having a guide means that he suggested a place which was equally as beautiful without the touristy feel, Pura Gunung Kawi Sebatu.

Having little to no idea what the tour was going to be like but basing my decision to do it of the fact he seemed like a fun guy doesn’t sound the smartest idea now I’m writing it down but he didn’t disappoint. Gede took the time to walk me through how local people would visit the temple, including buying our own offerings and providing a sarong which is required to enter, and then explaining the meanings of all of the buildings and sculptures around us, something which made the experience infinitely better than just having a look around yourself.

I only saw 4 other tourists when we were there that had came without a guide but soon joined in and listened after they had heard Gede’s explanations. On top of that it turns out that he was also a Master Ceremony for the area, which means he was able to hold a ceremony for both myself and one of the other people who we had met, I’ve got some videos of this I need to put together but in general it was a great experience which I’d highly recommend.

This was all I had expected from the day and had no other plans so Gede had suggested some other options which we continued on to. We started with the I Made Ada Gallery, which displayed a huge amount of wooden hand carved sculptures as it is the common trade for people in that area.

There were some incredible statues there which had taken so many years to build and we also got to meet a student who was learning the craft from the masters. It was nice to have visited the temple first as many of the references found throughout were also featured in the sculptures.

Quick break for lunch at d’Alas warung with an amazing view, highly recommend the crispy duck!

Given that most of the sculptures we saw earlier are either priceless or worth millions we then headed off to Dewa Malen Wood Carving which had some souvenirs which were more in my price range, specifically a small elephant I now own, and many things which weren’t such as pieces that had been commissioned by the artists there who you could see working on them, again I’ve got some footage of this when I get around to going through the GoPro.

I’d gone slightly into autopilot here and just followed on from the last place having no idea where we were off to, turned out to be the Tegenungan Waterfall, no complaints here it was a great end to the tour but if you’re looking for somewhere a bit quieter and you’ve got the time, Nungnung waterfall is still winning so far.

We headed back to Ubud and I managed to get a quick lap in of the Campuhan ridge walk before the sun went down and some crispy belly pork at the white orchid, again, highly recommend.

All in all it was a very good day, well worth getting yourself a guide and happy to pass over Gede’s number if you need a recommendation!