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Day 112 – Temple scam

A far away glance of Mount Agung

A far away glance of Mount Agung

Our bungalow was nice for the night but got rather hot in the morning. No one could be found when we wanted to order breakfast…which Flo took with a fir of hangryness. So we packed up, ready to leave. By the time we had put everything on the bike, the lady was there and we even got our breakfast.

So we ride to Pura Besakih, known as the “mother temple”, sitting halfway up one of the high mountains. Being 1000m above sea level gives you great views. The road there was quite enjoyable. As soon as it started to go up, we were stopped though: Tickets needed to be bought. It was 15k per person and a random 5000 for the bike. Okay.

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Day 110 – Indiana Jones and the temple of the holy spring

Toasted sandwich and yummy muesli with fruit and yoghurt

Toasted sandwich and yummy muesli with fruit and yoghurt

We had an oddball of a day today. After a good night’s sleep and an incredibly tasty breakfast at Cafe Smorgas, we left Sanur in direction of Ubud. This was our planned lunch stop and then we wanted to continue around the east coast and sleep in Amed. Thus the plan.

It took us ages to get out of Sanur. Traffic wasn’t too bad but we stopped ever 10 meters to check on an ATM and a supermarket. Every single ATM we tried would limit the amount you can withdraw to $150 which seems so little if you keep in mind that we pay a $6 fee for every withdrawal. To round off this slow start, it was about 40 degrees at 11am already.

Failing at getting out money and sweating quite profoundly, we made it to the Big trees chocolate factory that I had read about only to find it closed on a Saturday. *meh* Guess we have to come back on a non-weekend day. So we turned around two corners and tried the next ATM before looking for a lunch place. It was 12.30 by this point.

Chocolate factory made out of bamboo...we'll be back!

Chocolate factory made out of bamboo…we’ll be back!

Flo went inside, did some things, talked to the staff and then poked his head outside again. “Take off the gear, we will be here for a while. The ATM just swallowed my card.” Oh fun. The ATM had a mechanical defect with the card slot and was unable to return it…so it just kept it. Talking to the company was rather painful as they insisted that the card either was destroyed already or would be destroyed when they found it. Flo managed to get to the point where they will look for his card on Monday and then inform him to pick it up.

Leaving without Flo’s credit card felt odd but we still have about 5 credit cards left so will still be able to get to our money. Now looking urgently for food, we found the next odd thing: Warungs on this stretch of Bali’s roads are strictly non-vegetarian. We tried three warungs, I said my helpful sentences to convey my vegetarian request and they all waved me away with “tidak sayur, all beef/pork”. That’s new. We finally found a very cheap roadside place that could offer me rice, an omelette and a corn fritter. Starving, we took the greasy offer.

Close-up of a bridge guardian

Close-up of a bridge guardian

Ubud was only a couple of kilometers further and full of tourists. Which helped us as we found the much sought after ATM with a higher limit. However, it also made Flo itch to get away again. Stopping at a square with a row of shops and cafes, he at least agreed to check in the lonely planet what one should do in Ubud. One of the suggested sights was an “Indiana Jones style temple in a forest full of monkeys”. That was a sight that had to be seen.

Driving through the streets full of shops and tourists, I spotted a lot of things I would have liked to check out. Flo still hated the sight. Coming close to the temple, the amount of monkeys wandering around increased. It cost a bit of an entrance fee to get into the area but the whole thing was quite amazing once you managed to get away from the worst crowds. There were monkeys in

Close-up of an ongoing flea treatment

Close-up of an ongoing flea treatment

abundance, also willing to jump on you if you held up food which we didn’t as we’re not big fans of overly friendly monkeys. The statues, temple parts and walkways were awesome for an afternoon stroll and we felt very much like in an Indiana Jones set. Again, a tele might have been nice but these monkeys let you get close anyway.

It was getting late for my taste and I also still wanted to check out the tourists shops so I convinced Flo to stay the night in Ubud. We found a lovely, big room for a very reasonable price tugged away behind a temple. Flo even got Rocinante in the little pathway at the back so it could be behind a gate at night.

For dinner, we found a vegetarian warung (also a novelty for me) before I went on my evening stroll through the shops.