You might have read the interview with me that Florian from Hi, I Am Traveling posted. I told him about my favorite travel memory: a magical night on a rooftop terrace in Bali. Telling him about this brought back all the great memories from Bali, so I decided to write a more elaborate blog post on it 🙂
I traveled to Indonesia with my boyfriend (now husband), and we spent around 2 weeks visiting Bali and Gili. We decided beforehand what sights we wanted to visit, and booked accomodation nearby for a couple of days.
Tanah Lot temple
One of the places that was on our ‘must-see’ list, was Pura Tanah Lot, a temple complex dedicated to the guardian spirits of the sea. The most well-known temple is located on a huge rock in the ocean. Tourists cannot visit the actual temples, but the views on the temples are enough reason to visit this place.
We visited during the temple anniversary, which lasts for 3 days. During these days, Hindu people from all over Bali come to the temple to pray and attend ceremonies, from early in the morning until nighttime. Due to the anniversary, it was very busy at the temple, but it was beautiful to see everyone visiting the temple with their families – dressed mostly in white – and carrying their offerings.
As you could see in the first picture, the views on the temples here during daytime are beautiful already. However, at sunset the views get really hard to beat.
A magical night at our rooftop terrace
The memory that I described to Florian though, was not about the temple: it was about one of the quiet nights we spent staying at our bungalow near the temple. We booked a bungalow with an amazing rooftop terrace in a small holiday complex, consisting of around 6 bungalows, a small pool and a small restaurant. (By the way, the restaurant served the best mie goreng ever!). The bungalow was located near the ocean, in the middle of the ricefields and we were the only guests at the time. Sounds expensive, you say? We too were surprised to find we could easily afford this place even though we were students back then. If you want to know the name of this place, send me a message and I’ll be happy to tell you.
One of the evenings we sat on our rooftop terrace to watch the sunset. It was such a special night: we heard only the sounds of crickets in the ricefields, the sound of the ocean, and occasionally some sounds from ceremonies performed at the temple further away. After the sun had set, the sky was so clear and many stars were visible. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the sunset – and I cannot share the sounds of the place, obviously. However, I’m hoping the pictures below will give you an impression of how quiet and beautiful this place was.
Of course we visited many more places during our time in Indonesia, but I’ll save those memories for another blog post. Feel free to leave a comment!
26 Days To Travel 