Kopi Luwak and Tanah Lot

On our way to Tanah Lot temple, our driver took us to a Luwak Coffee Farm.

This is a civet (luwak).

You can read about how civet poop is made into coffee here. It involves coffee leaves being digested by the animal, and it's poop being made into coffee. Kopi luwak is apparently the most expensive coffee in the world, which is rather interesting,

the farm also produces tea and other coffee of sorts; from vanilla coffee to ginseng tea. If you liked them, you could purchase them in cups or sachets

My kopi luwak. What did it taste like? Black coffee, really. I like my coffee black, so it was good for me. Nothing so special.

Kopi luwak 101

We sat by a paddy farm(?) and had our coffee and tea! It was a very serene experience :)

On our way out, there is a store that sells all the tea and coffee we had for tasting, as well as Kopi Luwak. I didn't buy any kopi luwak, which I wish I did now!

After that, we continued our journey to Tanah Lot.

Bali Tanah Lot temple is a Hindu temple in Bali Indonesia that has a stunning natural beauty, it stands on solid sea rock and Tanah Lot Bali or (Pura Tanah Lot) is one the very famous temples in Bali and became one of the top places in Bali to watch the sunset.

Tanah Lot temple is one of the very sacred temples in Bali island, and according to the legend, Tanah Lot Temple Bali is protected by holy sea snakes which was formed from the scarves of its founder. Tanah Lot Bali is a romantic place to visit while enjoying the sun goes down when spending the holidays in Bali Indonesia.

Tanah Lot is derived from the word "Tanah" means land and "Lot (lod / laut)" which means the sea, because it is situated on a rock in the sea and resembles a small island floating on the sea, so the people call it TANAH LOT, Tanah Lot temple is located at Beraban village, Kediri district, Tabanan regency, on the south coast of Bali island, approximately 25 kilometers from Denpasar city. extracted from http://www.baliglory.com/2015/04/tanah-lot-temple.html

It was quite rainy when we were there and the tides were strong. It actually only stopped pouring when we were walking in to the temple. That is the view of the temple from the other side.

group picture!

It was rainy, that's why my friend was in a hoodie and looking incredibly out of place.

We also had a photographer with a dslr take our picture for only 20k each (B$2) in a frame that says Bali, which is a nice souvenir.

time-lapse of the high tide

After that we made our way to the temple.
The journey to the temple is around 45min- 1 hour from our villa in Seminyak.

Here's to us!

Our sweet driver followed us in and helped us take a gazillion photographs because we kept getting photo-bombed by Chinese tourists everywhere!

Here being photo-bombed by a crazy tide The wind was strong!

After that, Wendy and I went to that little "island" for blessings. We could make a small donation (any amount you wish), drink and wash your face from the holy water and receive blessings.

The tide was high and the ground was rocky, full of pebbles so it was important we took caution while making our way through.

We did not go to the top because its meant for serious worshipers. Tourists usually just stop where we stopped for blessings. 

There was also a holy snake which we did not stop for.

Wendy and I. We were both given a flower each and rice bits on our forehead but mine all flew/fell before I could take a photo :(

There are a lot of people selling these flower clips/ head bands so I got a bunch for my colleagues and we got a bunch for ourselves too. Can't say you've been to Bali without wearing a flower on your hair (like San Francisco)

OH! And it is also this temple where legend has it that if young couples who are not married who go to this temple, they will break up. This is called the Bali Breakup Island Curse. It is a real thing that I am not making up. You can read about it here: 7 Ways to Avoid the Deadly Bali Breakup Island Curse

In brief:

The story has it that a Prince and a Princess from the Brahman caste, the highest one in the Hindu order, came to visit Bali from the neighbor island of Java. While visiting Bali and watching a romantic sunset at the famous Tanah Lot temple, the unmarried couple had sex (“became intimate” as the legend goes). Sadly, one the Prince had taken the Princess’s flower, he left her and refused to marry. Devastated and ashamed, the Princess became so enraged that she threw a curse on all unmarried couples visiting Tanah Lot: Should come here, then they would break up within 6 months. Thunder. Lightning. Fear.

I personally don't know if it is true but my friend said it did happen for two of her friends. A friend of mine went last year and is now married, so maybe it isn't that much of a truth, but I guess just better to be safe than sorry, I will go back here with my significant other only after we are married :-D

Om suastiastu!

Om suastiastu!

(At least I hope that's correct. I got it off Google for "saying hi in Balinese")

(If it wasn't, the thought was there)

(It is the thought that counts, right?)

(Right)

I just got back from Bali less than 2 weeks ago with 5 of my girlfriends, because two of them are getting hitched! So it was a short get-together hen's trip. It was 5 days, but technically and factually it was only 3 because we flew to Bali at 9pm on 11th, and back 7am on 15th.

Royal Brunei.... Take this as a public plea to amend the timings of flights to Bali, please?

So we booked a villa through airbnb in Seminyak, and it had 4 rooms which could cater up to 8 pax. They were 6 of us so it fit us comfortably. The villa came with airport transfer at 240K rupiah for 2 cars, due to our luggage which couldn't fit into one. We arrived to the drivers waiting for us with signboards, which was a first for me. Haha. Also, one thing we had the distaste to experience was a man coming out of nowhere "helping" us to carry our luggage only to later demand payment for his services. It stunned us because we thought they came with the drivers. He asked for 500K rupiah, of which we gave him 400K which he accepted reluctantly. We were later told by the local drivers that these "helpers" are always there and that he are not inclined to tell them to go away because its not a good thing for them to do.

Okay, anyway.
Our villa was acceptable, I suppose, but I expected something more which I am not sure why because I was there when we made the decision to choose that villa. We chose it over a few shortlisted ones because it had the biggest pool, and that meant a lot to many of us.

The villa is old, the cracks are visible on the walls, and the villa is not as clean as we would've liked; the floors felt sticky. The pillows in our rooms did not have pillow cases on them and we were unable to use any of the safe deposit boxed because they seemed to be jammed shut. A dragonfly died on Day 1 and there it stayed for the remaining days, with its new-found ant friends.

However, we had a "live-in" helper who was there to help make breakfast (they actually lived in a small house outside the villa). We could tell her what we wanted a day before and she would return with the groceries and a receipt for you to pay off. The pool was nice too, but it was very deep (I'm 5' and the pool was at least 6' and it is the same depth entirely). Location-wise, it was okay. We got a personal driver taking us around so location was not a big problem for us. We had a driver for 600K/day for 6 pax, which is not expensive at all. He was also very helpful in guiding us (aka take pics for us) and was very friendly, and he could speak English well.

Overall the villa was acceptable, but I would not return.

The pool

Just be my the pool

We took a gazillion photos by the pool, in the pool, next to the pool, outside the pool- you name it. We also rented floaties (because what else is more insta-worthy?) from an Instagram account for 2 days. They delivered it to us and collected it when we were done.

We basically had the watermelon, pizza slice, clam and donut floaties.

We spent a lot of time taking photos on these floaties because it was not easy to position them. You literally just float away on a slice of pizza, which is really most people's dreams but it did not do photo-taking any favors at all. However, the floaties kept me afloat in the (deep) pool so thank you for that, floaties!

Different swimsuits because they were taken on different days. We spent a lot of time in the pool (aka taking photos).

Yours truly livin da life

I really don't know how many bottles we devoured on that short trip! haha

Breakfast!

The last supper

Will blog about our excursions around Bali in my upcoming posts!

Bye!