THE UBUD COUNTRYSIDE
Recently, we talked as a family and agreed that we haven’t been seizing all of the opportunities that are available to us in every place that we visit. We promised each other that we would make more of an effort to “seize the day,” every day, and this day was the perfect day to do so! We explored the Balinese countryside to further immerse ourselves in the culture. We did a very hot walk, saw the most astoundingly beautiful tiered rice terraces, visited a temple, and swam in a waterfall.
Our first activity of the day was a walk along Campuhan Ridge. It was a short walk, only about 40 minutes, but a hard one. Most of it was uphill and it was hot. Like, everything-is-sticky-sweaty-and-hot HOT. Yeah, that type.
After our hike, we were all very thirsty, so we stopped at Karsa Kafe for much-needed refreshments! We sat underneath the fans and slurped down our mint-and-lemon juices while admiring the beautiful property that overlooked the breathtaking rice terraces and pink lily pads.
After cooling down, we were ready for our next exciting activity at the UNESCO site, Tegallalang rice terraces! These rice terraces are incredible. These tiers are carved into the mountainsides. Lush vegetation of palm and banana trees line the terraces, creating the most picturesque landscape. No wonder this is one of the most Instagrammable places!! (I don’t think that's actually a fact, unless it is. I just wrote that because there are numerous influencers walking along the rice terraces and they’re just annoyingggg!)
After we walked through the rice paddies, we did one last enthralling thing – we swung over the rice paddies! Now you may be thinking, okay. A swing. What’s so great about that? We soared over the rice terraces! Unfortunately, Reese was too short to do it, so only Harper and I enjoyed it. We both agreed that it was awesome!
Next, we went to an important Hindu Balinese water temple called the Pura Tirta Empul Temple. Tirta Empul can be translated to “water gushing from the earth.” This temple is dedicated to Vishnu, the god of water, and it is believed to be a holy spring.
At the temple, we participated in a ritual that takes place in three different pools of water. To be honest, the water was cold, VERY cold! So cold that Reese was carried by Mom the whole time! We dressed in a traditional sarong just for this ritual.
In the first pool of water, we cleansed ourselves of our sins. We splashed our face three times with the water coming from a spout, and then dunked our heads under the water. We repeated this routine in each spout within this pool, but skipped the two used for cremation ceremonies, because we weren’t dying that day.
In the second pool of water, we asked for forgiveness.
In the last pool of water, after confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness, we prayed for our blessing. We waited for our turn to dunk our heads under the holy water.
The holy ritual was an interesting one, and I’m glad I did it. As a bonus, it was a lovely way to cool down!
On our way home, we stopped at Taman Sari waterfall for a quick, refreshing dip!
Our day was super fun. We seized it!