Travel Day 657 – Driving on Bali by Scooter, INDONESIA
02/09 Kuta via Pura Tanah Lot Rock Temple to Balian Beach
The day had finally come to pack up all belongings, dump everything in storage and jump on the scooter to cruise around Bali for a while…
Pura Tanah Lot Rock Temple on Bali, Indonesia
Well, it still took all morning to get the daypack ready, do some errands and get a bite to eat before I could finally leave Kuta behind. Actually deciding on what to bring along on the scooter took the longest time, but once I was driving out of the city, everything went smooth and the roads were easy to find. It even appeared to be a good decision not to buy the expensive road map since the roads shown in the guide-book really seemed to be the only roads that existed on Bali. On top of that all the road signs were pointing towards Pura Tanah Lot anyway…
Unfortunately after a while of driving on the scooter, the realization came that all the tourist buses taking me over, were also going to the same temple. So it came to no surprise that then when I arrived at Pura Tanah Lot, I found myself in complete tourist madness. From where the tickets were sold, the line of street vendors selling souvenirs was so incredibly long that it was impossible to even guess where the temple was located…
Palm Trees and Green Fields on the Way to Balian Beach, Bali, Indonesia
Luckily I managed to find Pura Tanah Lot and when I first saw this pilgrimage temple, set on a steep rock formation, it was completely surrounded by water. Only very few dare devils or impatient devotees tried to cross over through the waist deep water without getting swept away by the waves. But since the tide was going down and all the masses were waiting to eventually cross over, I decided to make good use of my height and walk through the still quite deep waters to get my blessing at a cave underneath the temple…
Pura Tanah Lot itself was unfortunately closed to foreigners and so the best thing to do seemed to wander around and enjoy the views along the coast. There were actually a few smaller temples around like Pura Batu Balong, also set on a rock but still attached to the main land by a natural bridge. Spending time there was great, but at some point it became obvious that making it all the way up north to Candikuning, as initially intended was absolutely impossible…
Hindu Temple during the Drive to Balian Beach on Bali, Indonesia
Instead it seemed to make more sense to opt out for a ride along the coast towards a popular surfer spot called Balian Beach. This beach not only appeared to be within close reach, but it also had some accommodation to offer. Also the idea was quite appealing to stay at a beach, even if the drive was a little bit out-of-the-way from where I wanted to go tomorrow. But to my great surprise, the ride was quite enjoyable, not only taking me along some nice green rice fields, but also a lot of local Hindu temples…
In the end I managed to spend so much time stopping and looking at all the temples along the way that it got finally dark on me before I even arrived in Balian Beach. But it was all good. Finding a nice home-stay was easy, delicious food was readily available on a local market and a little stroll down to the beach made the perfect ending of a wonderful first full day of driving on Bali…
Find all Pura Tanah Lot – Balian Beach and Kuta to Balian Beach photos here.
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