Bali Off The Beaten Path Tips by kyoub

Water Palace

Tirtagangga, meaning “holy water of the Ganges” in Balinese, is one of the world's most romantic and timeless gardens. Gushing springs flowing from beneath an ancient Banyan tree and holy temple fill the myriad reflecting and swimming pools that grace the Water Palace. The prominent 11-tiered lotus fountain has become the symbol for Tirtagangga since its creation by the late Raja of Karangasem in 1948.

After a tour of the Versailles Palace in France, the Raja was inspired to create this, his second Water Palace in the mountains overlooking his kingdom. The waters of the holy spring have been praised by island healers for their healing and youth giving powers. Thus the Raja named them after the holy river Ganges in India which is famous for these qualities. It is said that if one bathes in the waters of Tirtagangga on the full moon one is blessed with lasting youth and all illnesses will be healed. Tirtagangga is the "Fountain of Youth" of Bali.
A guide will show you around the grounds and explain how it was almost distroyed by the melting lava from the volcano.

Drying salt

To make salt, the Balinese gather wet sand from the sea and spread it along sand banks on the beach. After drying, the sand is dumped into large vats, Slowley the water rain through the sand. They get in the vats and stomp it ,something like they do grapes for wine. The residue is then dumped into large bamboo throughs to evaporate in the sun, leaving sea salt.
We seen this process on the eastside of Bali.
They can only do this in dry season so these people don't make much money.

Hot springs

Air Panas Banjar, these hot springs are beautifully landscaped with lush tropical plants. First you have to get past all the vendors set up beside the walkway. They really are not pushy like some places that we visited.
Eight carved stone naga spew from a natural hot spring into the first bath which overflows into the second, larger pool. In a third pool water pours from 3m high spouts to give you a massage.The water is sulpurous but not unpleasantly so.
There is a nice restaurant that serves local food.
The springs are located west of lovina.

Hilltop Temple

Pura Lempuyang is one of Bali's nine directional temples. It is perched on a hilltop at 768m. you can climb the 1700 steps from Kemuda to the temple or you can take the winding road. Bus loads of Balinese come up here daily. It is off the beaten path so you don't see many tourists up here. The only vendors are those selling drinks or snacks.
There is a very nice view of the mountain from here.

Beautiful flowers

Bali's Botanical gardens cover over 120 hectares on the slopes of Gunung Pohen.
The gardens are very scenic, cool, shady, and usually uncrowded. There are several beautiful flowers, a large collection of trees, and
interesting statues.

Exotic Birds

Bali Bird Park is a place where visitors can see exotic wildlife at close range. Over 1,000 birds are in the park, many are in large aviaries. Besides the birds there are more than 300 trees aaand plants in a beautiful setting.

Birding

Bali Bird Walks start from Beggar's Bush Pub at 9 am.
It is best to go the day before you actually want to go to let them know.
The three hour walk through the rice paddy fields is very interesting and we saw several birds and a lot of ducks.
After the walk we all went to lunch .
Our guide was great and very knowledgeable.

Phone: (0361) 975 009

Palace

KLUNG KLUNG PALACE is beautifully laid out within a moat. A must see for the paintings on the ceiling and walls.
Klung Klung holds a special place in the island's history and culture. It is a very interesting town so have a look around.

Amed

On the east coast of Bali is a little place called Amed.
Stay at the Blue Moon Villas and get away from the crowd.
Relax at the pool and watch the fishing boats go by.
Our suite was at the top of these stairs.
The view from there was fantastic.

Website: http://www.bluemoonvillas.com