Tanah Lot-Bali

We rented boats to take us out for a sunrise boat ride on our last day.

It was the perfect view of Agung Volcano

Our second hotel that we stayed at with a full breakfast served in the alcove to the left. It was a scuba diver's paradise with full service scuba training center and just a short walk to the beach for a dive.

Tanah Lot is claimed to be the work of the 15th century priest Nirartha. During his travels along the south coast he saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the balinese sea gods.

The Tanah Lot Temple was built and has been a part of balinese mythology for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples were established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western coast.

At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. A giant snake supposedly protects the temple, which was created from Nirartha’s scarf when he established the island.

At high tide you cannot see the strip of land connecting it to the mainland. It looks as though it is sitting in the middle of the water. 

 Pura Batu Balong, another temple in the same area. both temples are within eyesight of each other.

The Playboy Club Party at Vanquish!

Sometimes girls just want to have fun at The Playboy Club or at least a pop-up venue created to celebrate the launch of the new TV show on NBC. On Wednesday, some of Atlanta’s insiders turned out at the newly opened Vanquish Night Club to rub elbows with others paying homage to the golden age of the infamous 1960’s Chicago club.

The private event was presented by Rolling OUT gifting arriving guests with keys to the sexy night spot along with sample cocktails from Grey Goose Vodka or a simple glass of cranberry juice for those of us who are non-drinkers. There were also Playboy bunnies on hand to mingle and pose for pictures. But the best part of the evening… the atmosphere offered a perfect backdrop with a safari-theme allowing guests to relax and enjoy the music with their friends creating a seductive night to remember.

“The Playboy Club” airs September 19th on NBC… it’s going to be HAUTE!

Will you tune into "The Playboy Club?"

The Mother Temple of Bali

Over a thousand years old, Besakih temple is known as the "Mother Temple of Bali". Perched on the slopes of mount agung, at 1,000 metres (3,000 feet). besakih is the biggest and holiest of all the balinese temples. Named after the dragon god believed to inhabit the mountain, it's said to be the only temple where a hindu of any caste can worship.

The only original wall of the templeLake Batur. As the mountain grows through frequent, minor or not so minor eruptions, it gradually enlarges its base at the expense of the lake, which is slowly shrinking in consequence.

You can still see the lava flows that go right into the lake and the small roads that were carved out in the lava flow.

Temples Temples and More Temples

It was another full day. We started out with the driver at 11 am, after the boys had a chance to go scuba diving that morning.  

Our first stop was Kurtagosa, the former royal courts of justice in the town of Klung Kun. Kertagosa was the end of the line of the law system for serious crimes at that time in Bali. Criminals facing trial were kept in a building where the ceiling held gruesome murals depicting good vs evil and what happened to sinners.

 Some of the scenes depicting what might happen to the "sinners"

 Good to know

We met a group of boys that were hanging out inside the site. One boy was not shy about sharing his chocolate crepe with Jeremy.

After finishing at the palace we walked across the street to a market, which I doubt many westerners go to. We were met with gawking locals as we searched through the bolts of traditional indonesian batik fabric.

Our next stop was Goa Lawah bat cave. legend has it that the cave goes all the way to the mother temple, some 70km away. No one knows for sure if this is true because no one has ever been that deep into the cave. This is because the legend also says there is a large vicious dragon guarding the inside of the cave.

The temple at the entrance of the cave. If you were really wealthy, this is where you paid to have your funeral. Inside you could see bats covering every inch of the walls. It didn't smell the best.

When driving in the country side it is common to see students of the nearby schools marching. We were told that they did this on a regular basis. 

We arrived at our hotel on the north side of the island in Tulamben just before night fall. It is a tiny town in the middle of no where that has only a few restaurants on it’s ½ mile main road. It was exactly what we were looking for. Seclusion. We ate at one of the 3 local restaurants and for a main dish, appetizer and drinks for both of us it came out to about $12usd. Something I could definitely get used to. Another thing I loved about the city and being in the middle of no where were all the stars. With so much light pollution in Geoje, it’s a rarity to have such a clear sky that you can see the milky way.  

On the way to the hotel we passed one of the many lava flows that lead into the ocean from Mt. Agung volcano

Drinking Coffee from an Animal

We started early in the morning and rented a driver for the day to take us around. It’s a great and often cheaper way to be able to cover a lot of ground for one day. Plus they like to suggest local attractions along the way that you may not have been able to see or know about.

We stopped to have lunch over looking some rice paddies. Mixed in were fields containing different fruits. All throughout lunch we could see these ladies heading out to the field with empty baskets on their head. Within twenty minutes the baskets were full of watermelons and they were walking back to the pile to drop it off.Our next stop was to a coffee plantation. This is the pathway to the coffee shop at the back. All along the path were different chocolate and coffee plants.

Most of bali's coffee is microground so it can be drank just by adding water. We were also able to see how they make luwak coffee, some of the most expensive in the world. Long story short: a palm civet (the weasel looking animal above) eats only the best of red coffee beans. While inside the intestines, the beans undergo chemical changes. They then poop it out (tasty). The poop with the coffee beans is collected, roasted and stripped of the outer layer and cleaned, then finally ground into coffee.

 We had a taste test of lemon tea, bali coffee, cocoa coffee and ginseng coffee (our favorite)

Next up on the list was the Bali zoo which we picked mostly because you were able to get up close and personal with several different types of animals. 

Fruit bats. If you swung them back and forth they would open their wings and try to fly.

Me and Alissa trying to prove we were tough by holding an alligator. Tt was surprisingly squishy. Right after we gave it back the calming drugs that it had to be on seemed to be wearing off. Good thing if was after we held it!

Everyone makes fun of me for this but this is my dream car. vw thing. Just in case you were wondering what to get me for christmas this year.

 Our last stop of the day was the monkey forest sanctuary in the city of Ubud. You had to be careful not to wear anything shiny or have food on you. If you did, the monkeys would climb on you to find it and grab it.

 The temple had a lot of morbid sculptures of demons trying to eat babies

Rice paddies line every open area in bali. they make the most of the land they have by terracing all of the mountains and hills.