Year-end Bali holiday - Instalment 4

Day 6 in Bali was our last day of exploring the island as we had planned to spend the last day doing absolutely nothing. Now this is something of a tall order for me as I'm not good at relaxing, whether it's at home on a weekend or on a hard-earned foreign vacation. But more on that later.

We were going to see more of East Bali, which is slightly less popular than the southern part of the island but coming into it's own now as a surfing destination. It is gorgeous, the beaches are pristine and not as over-run with tourists and if I went back to Bali again, I'd skip South Bali and just stay here. S and I also thought that the landscape in the eastern part was very reminiscent of Hawaii, so to those who've been there, that should give an idea of how lovely it was :)

A scenic drive through these vistas.............

That's Mount Agung at the back. It's an active volcano that dominates the landscape in this part of Bali. It last erupted 50 years ago.

..............brought us to the Tirtagangga Water Palace. It was a hot dry and sunny day so the sun blinded us, we were dehydrated and atleast I couldn't wait to get into some shade. But it was also the kind of day that brought out the loveliness of sparkling waters under a blue sky dotted with white fluffs of cloud. 

Entering Tirtagangga

Lots of fun for kids and dad alike :) Stepping stones to success :)

A boar fountain

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I hadn't ever seen such large lotus leaves

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See what I mean? :)

After roaming around the palace, we were exhausted (the heat helped) and ready for some chow. It was a little surreal to sit there and be served some excellent Italian food, but then Bali has a lot of un-Indonesian food options (Italian predominates). Lunch over, we headed to another water palace - Taman Ujung. Not as pretty as Tirtagangga IMHO. The blazing sun was getting to me at this point so I elected to plop down on the shady patch with the kids while S wandered around.

That's me with my inseparable backpack and the kids :)

Next stop. Some R&R at the Pasir Putih white sand beach near Candidasa. A bumpy ride on a steep non-road brought us to the parking lot where the kids and S promptly stripped down to their swimwear and jumped into the water. It turned out to be a lot of fun but the Indian Ocean was a little scary with huge waves so after a few minutes, Y was sent back to me while S and Ads continued frolicking.

Candidasa's black sand beach was next - a little rocky so we didn't venture into the water but opted to enjoy it while digging into some gelato.

Our driver-cum-guide's enthusiasm was unstoppable but Ads and I were pooped by this point. S and Y visited the Pura Goa Lawah - Bat Cave temple - but I sat slumped in the car seat while Ads snoozed obliviously beside me :) Thus ended our last busy day in Bali.

The next day was our last in the country and we did nothing other than swim in and snooze by the pool. Of course, I also indulged in my habitual end-of-vacation moping and depression :) Bali is a place everyone  must visit atleast once. What we realized after going there was that there were so many other unique places in Indonesia - in Java and Lombok especially. Some day, I'd love to go to these places and get to know this beautiful archipelago a little better.