So much water, and so many temples...

"Life is an experiment in which you may fail or succeed. Explore more, expect least"

-Santosh Kalwar

     On the third day of our trip we decided to see more of the island.  At first we thought about renting a scooter to drive around ourselves, but the owner of the house we rented offered to drive us around for $60 for the day.  Having a driver turned out to be the best choice as it poured rain part of the day.  Its also super nice to sit back, relax, and watch the scenery go by.  

     

This is Fried duck, apparently its a traditional dish from Bali.  It was ok but fried chicken is definitely better.  Also Beth and I were able to renew a love of rice.  Korean rice is very different from the rest of the world's.  Korean rice is very sticky and glutinous.  Balinese rice was delicious!

 My new found favorite souvenir to buy is textiles.  Unfortunately I could not find an awesome antique textile shop like I did in Vietnam but hey these are pretty.

We were so lucky with the weather.  Basically whenever we were inside it poured, and when we went outside it stopped.  This was awesome as most restaurants had beautiful outdoor seating.   This delightful treat is a deep fried banana with ice cream.  

Every night we had to be careful walking home not to step on these giant snails.

The first stop on our day trip was to the Tegallalang Rice Terraces.  These terraces were built in the 8th century and have complex irrigation systems.  Its interesting to know that these are owned by multiple families.  Imagine farmers in the US having to get along enough to build and maintain a working irrigation system.  Unfortunately it was pouring when we arrived so we just took photos from the top.

I took about 500 photos from the same spot but I will spare you and only share these two.  Just know this is one of the most beautiful and impressive places I have ever visited.

Right before we left this person with their red umbrella walked across the terraces.  This is one of the times I would love a camera with a giant lens.

After the rice terraces we went to two temples.  I have no idea what the names of these places are but they were beautiful.  

The rain just made all of the moss and ferns pop up on all of the stone.

This little goat (is it a goat?) thing is fantastic.

Because water is so important to rice farming and the people of Bali, it has deep religious significance.  So at the very bottom of these terraces was a really cool temple and was the second temple of the day. 

 We couldn't figure out what each of these little caves were for.  Apparently the giant cliff carvings are shrines and were built in the 11th century dedicated to a king.  There is a carving somewhere in here that says, "The king made a temple here"  Original I know.

These rice terraces were again beautiful.

This path was so slippery.  The rain mixed with the waterfalls falling across the path in different places made for an algae covered very slippery path.

After the Temple, the sun came out and we visited a coffee plantation.  We were first guided through the process of coffee roasting.

This was the woman roasting the coffee beans over the fire.  There is something so beautiful about her wrinkled face.

Just like in Vietnam Bali likes to advertise its Civet poop coffee.  We loved that they had a giant sign saying Cat Poo Chino, even though the animal is definitely not a cat.

 After going through the process of the coffee roasting we were given these cute sample cups.  Half the cups were different fruit teas and the other half was coffee, all were delicious.

Beth had never had the Civet poop coffee, so she splurged $5 and bought a cup.

Then we got to meet the adorable little civet.  This one was 2 months old and was not a fan of posing for pictures.

Our next stop on the tour was to visit Batur volcano and lake.  The volcano is still active.  See the black line near the bottom of the picture? That is the lava flow.  The last actual eruption was in 2000.

Beside the volcano is a beautiful lake.  Our driver had never been here and was almost as excited as we were.  He even asked us to take a picture to send to his girlfriend and said he had to bring her here.

Our last stop of the day was at another temple, the elephant cave temple.  The entrance to this cave was amazing! How cool would this be to be the entrance of your house?

The front was really the highlight.  Inside was this statue.

Everyday we were in Bali, there seemed to be some sort of religious ceremony.  I tried to ask if it was a special holy day but I think basically everyday is religiously significant in Bali.  Besides the cool cave mouth the other cool part of the temple was the part that was destroyed, I'm weird I know.  These moss covered stones used to be a temple on top of the cliff but after an earthquake the temple tumbled to the valley floor.

Also this tree was amazing.  

Amazingly we were exhausted after this day sitting in a vehicle so we ate dinner and went to bed.  It was such a good day and we saw so many cool things that we would not have if we stayed in Ubud.