Bali Runaway (Part 3-2) - Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, monkeys and a royal temple

The car was a cool respite after being toasted in the sun at Tanah Lot. We settled in to a long 1 1/2 drive to the shores of Danau Bratan up north. We are going to for a property exhibition. The Mengwi Royal Family's property exhibition,

Going to a temple located at 1239 meters, means lots of narrow and windy roads. It isn't as bad as the Cameron Highlands old roads because I did not get motion sickness. Yay! We asked Pak Made to turn the air-con off and wind the windows for the cooling winds. He was surprised that we preferred the air from outside than the air-con as he said many tourists firmly keep their windows shut. Well, they don't know what they are missing.

We stopped halfway up to have lunch at a restaurant located in Pacung, Baturiti. Pak Made said that the restaurant had views overlooking UNESCO certified subak rice fields. Coming from a land where paddy is cultivalted as far as the eye can see, the way the Balinese farmers terraced their fields is interesting. Paddy is grown in flooded fields. It's interesting that the hills can hold up here without erosion.

The restaurant at Pacung seemed to be a famous tour stop. There is a ala carte and buffet option available. The Western folk all opted for the ala carte Western meals, like salads, fish and chips, fires and burger. We Asians stuck with cooked local food. You never know how long where those chips refrigerated. It cost a little more than the ala carte but cold weather and hot local vegetable soup was super!

Views from the restaurant balcony

After lunch we continued driving upwards until we reached the overcast Lake Bratan. The lake is actually a crater of an ancient volcano.

We have arrived at Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, built by the Mengwi Royal Family circa 1633, dedicated to the lady/goddeess of the lake to ensure plentiful water and bountiful crops.

As usual most of the main complex is closed if there are no ceremonies going on. 

It's gold on 'em doors

Around the lake, if you can bear icy cold mountain waters, there is a selection of some water sports. However it feels sacrilegious to me. It's a place to pray yet, commercialized tourism turned it into a amusement park. You can take a slow paddle out if you want to enjoy the lake in their traditional boats or Jukung. 

Part of the temple complex seems to "float" on the water as it's built on the waterfront. You have to get just the right camera angel for that one. However throngs of tourist made it difficult to get a good shot. The day was pretty cloudy with strong winds, as well. So we decided to follow the paths.

Pura Teratai Bang

There were some workers who were cutting bamboo from a sacred bamboo grove in preparation of ceremonies. The bamboos were very tall and thick. I think it may be used to hand their ceremonial flags.

After touring the temple complex (which isn't very large), we went around the gardens. The manicured lawns invites a person to just sprawl and look up into the cloudy skies. There is a sideshow thing going on at the end of one of the gardens, where you can take photo with phytons, minature owls, barn owls, giant fruit bats etc. The owls are plenty cute but I just thought that forceably spreading the fruit bats wings were just a big N-O.

We headed back to the lowlands which a quick stop over at Candi Kuning Traditional Market. I would say that if you are not acquainted with Asian highland markets, it would be interesting. However coming from an Asian country where there there is a highland market at 1,450m above sea levels, it looks almost the same.

The vegetables did look fresh, but it's not like I'm going to cook lettuce during this trip . Ant and I, on hindsight realized that this market is great to pick up small souvenirs if you are on a whirlwind trip like ours.

As we drove back to town, Pak Made asked if we wanted to go a Monkey Forest before Pura Taman Ayun. There was still quite some time before sunset so we decided to let him lead the way. 
Rows of ladies in pink were waiting for tourist vans to pull up. At first, we thought they were assigned guides. We found out during our conversations that there are no guides for Alas Kedaton, the ladies in pink were shopkeepers who would bring the tourists around and the last stop of the tour is their shops.

Our "guide" was pretty nice all the same. She was quite knowledgeable as she gave us the run down about the history of the temple on the grounds, the area and 101 on monkey. There were macaque monkeys everywhere! She advised not to take the camera out as it could be snatched away so the camera went back into the bag. Alas Kedaton forests probably stretches quite a bit to the back but the human route could be finished in half an hour.

We made a stop at the temple, but as usual, the gates were locked. The Alas Kedaton temple, built 1178AD,  is one of the more unusual temples in the region where no incense or light could be used in certain ceremonies. It looked a little lonely out here in the dark forest.

We bought a pack of peanuts for IDR1,000 to feed the monkeys. Our guide hid the packet in her shirt as she said that the monkeys would grab the packet if we held it.Apparently the monkeys recognized the guides.

According to our guide, the monkeys here were tamer as they are used to humans and were fed by were the guides. She said that monkeys who were fed bananas are more aggressive so the guides keep the monkeys to a diet of fruits and peanuts. As she passed some peanuts to Ant, a monkey appeared out of nowhere and sat on his shoulder! She quickly told him not to panic while passing the peanut along. The monkey hopped off after getting the treat.

She told us that many years ago there were a few monkey forests such as Alas Kedaton but tourism dwindled. Alas Kedaton stayed open as the temple was housed within the monkey forest. Local businesses have been sponsoring the upkeep of the place.

We passed another giant fruit bat show on the way to the shops. She told us that the fruit bats were hand raised. The forest is home to thousands of bats. Sometimes the villagers come across baby bats on the forest floor and would take them home as pets. After picking up a couple of souvenirs from her shop, she walked us to our car.

Our last stop of the day was another temple by the Mengwi Royal Family - Pura Taman Ayun. It has the reputation of one of more attractive temples in Bali. The decendents of the Mengwi royal family still attends to this temple, which also serves as a clan temple. It's quite amazing that a UNESCO heritage site sits right here.

The temple grounds gave off a serene vibe. There weren't many people around since it was near closing time, but that added on to the charm of the place.

Main temple gates

The temple complex is closed but there visitors can walk around the moat to peer into the temple grounds. The temple was designed to symbolize the mythological home of the goods on Mt. Meru, floating in the sea of eternity.

The front courtyard

The area is very small compared to all the other temples we have visited. However it was the first place that actually felt like a place of worship.

The inner temples

There was a tower used by the astrologers on the grounds. I decided to go up for a better view.

The setting sun closed the day for us. It's off to dinner.

Restaurant at Pacung
Buffet Price IDR:150,000

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
Price: IDR30,000

Alas Kedaton
Price: IDR15,000

Pura Taman Ayun
Price:IDR15,000