Canggu (bali)eve it?
After the first day of arriving at the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, getting settled at the Koa D'Surfer Hotel, and meeting my tour group I spent the next to days learning about the culture, touring temples, and getting a surf lesson in Canggu, Bali!
Day 2: Temple Run!
My second day of spring break I spent the day by exploring the culture of Bali as I headed to two of it's two most famous temples - Tanah Lot and the Royal Temple of Tamun Ayun. The first temple I saw was the Royal Temple of Tamun Ayun. Pura Taman Ayun is a compound of Balinese temple and garden with water features located in Mengwi subdistrict in Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia. Fun fact is that the temple garden was featured on the television program Around the World in 80 Gardens. While touring the temple I got to see the barong statue (a lion like creature), the main sanctum, the garuda shrine, the meru towers (pogoda-like shrines), the cockfighting pavilion, and the bale bedong, garden contemplating pavilion. After touring the Royal Temple of Tamun Ayun my tour and I drove to see the iconic Tanah Lot temple which is set on a rock formation on the sea. Tanah Lot is home to the pilgrimage temple Pura Tanah Lot. It's a very popular tourist and cultural icon for photography (and I got some amazing shots). To reach the temple, you have to walk through a set of Balinese market-format souvenir shops which cover each side of the path down to the sea. On the mainland clifftops, restaurants have also been provided for tourists. Pura Batu Bolong, another temple in the Tanah Lot area, is situated a short distance north of Pura Tanah Lot. I actually didn't get the chance to go inside the temple because to gain admittance you need to get blessed which usually requires some sort of donation. By the temple there was also a holy snake in a cave, which also required a donation to see. Holy snake is one of legend in Tanah Lot Temple. People believe, all snakes (sea snakes) in Tanah Lot Area with white and black relief were holy snakes that guard the Temple from the evil or bad things. I'm deathly afraid of snakes so this wasn't a huge priority for me. After the temples we went back to the hotel and I freshened up and went down to the local beach, Batu Bolong and watched the sunset and got to watch people release paper lanterns, which was a perfect ending to a great day.
Day 3: Surf's up!
The third day I hit the beach and had my second surf lesson! The day started at 10am with some local instructors on Kuta beach. I had already had my first surf lesson 2 months ago when I went to visit Byron Bay. My first time surfing was super hard and I was expecting the same from this lesson. I was fortunate enough to have smaller waves in Kuta Beach compared to the ones in Byron Bay and for some reason I seemed to pick up the surf technique a lot better the second time around. Surfing the second time around was more fun the the first time I did it. When you're surfing it doesn't even feel like you're out there for that long until you come out and you're starving and exhausted but, in a good way. If you ever have the chance to surf you should take advantage of it and make sure to have someone take pictures your first few times because you will end up with some really funny pictures. Surfing was a great wrap up to the time I spent in Canggu followed by a relaxing evening dinner at my hotel.
