Tegalalang Rice Terrace - Ubud & Bali

Stopping in Bali without visiting Tegalalang paddy fields is a not-so-clever thing to do. It's only about a few minutes drive from UBUD MARKET if the traffic is flowing smoothly and it's worth to stop there for a few minutes to have a glance at the beauty of the this well known rice terrace. It took us around 40 minutes to arrive due to the congested traffic.

It was in January when we went to Bali and I wondered why didn't I see the ripened paddy.. It was all still growing. Even though no golden grains to greet us but we were welcomed by the picturesque view from the top. Most importantly, we don't get charged watching this greenery plants.

Apart from eye-soothing views, the surrounding is also packed with people selling goods and souvenirs such as woodwork, scarves, paintings as in below and etc. Bear in mind that you would be swarmed by the sellers.. not one, not two but half a dozen or even more asking you to buy , buy and buy.

By the way, most of the tourists driven there by guides would be taken to restaurants of their choice. The reason being is they get free meals in exchange for business. So, we were taken to this Warung Ceking Babi Guling ( babi guling stands for roast pork ).

I don't know if it was our taste buds or there had been discounts on salt.. The entire meal was salty and unfortunately we did not enjoy the food. Sorry buddies. Maybe you should try some other restaurants??

I went to Japan!

On the 5th-15th of September 2012, I went to Japan. It was one of my best trip ever and I shall blog about it in a later time. We arrived to Osaka and proceed almost directly to Kyoto for 2 nights. Then we went to Tokyo for a night and to Morioka the next day for a night as well. Yudanaka was our next destination before heading to Hiroshima and lastly back to Osaka. We spent two nights in Hiroshima as well as in Osaka. If one is to spend more than a week in Japan and is planning to go around Japan, it's best to get yourself a Japan Rail Pass. It costs 28,300yen for a week and it allows us to travel the whole Japan on most of its Shinkansen (bullet train). One can go as far as Sapporo with this rail pass too. By the way, August and September is not the best time to visit Japan from my own experience. It is very hot and humid, we got very sticky and drained within a matter of minutes. We at first thought it was Autumn in September but it isn't. Go in the month of March if you want to witness the beauty of Sakura , the month of July if you want to see the lavender, visit in the month of October if you want to see the beautiful autumn colours and the month of December if you would like to touch the snow and experience the cold weather.