Tegallalang (chant that word a few times to yourself, it feels good doesn’t it?) is a small village and some rice fields, about 20 minutes north of Ubud. I don’t think that the rice terraces are at their best in early June. I’ve seen pictures where they are just bursting with green. Still, any photographer worth their salt would have to drive up, and try to get a good picture or two.


On my way back from trying to shoot a sunset at the rice terraces, I came across a city-wide celebration. This kind of thing is always happening in Bali. I was the only tourist there.





(above) I thought the modest little place here looked like a great place to spend a week with the family… You can rent it HERE. OK, so that might be kind of an expensive week.




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Tampaksiring is known as one of the most magnificent and ancient temple sights in Bali. Truth be told, I found it worth a visit, but it in no way blew me away.

The holy spring in the Tirta Empul temple complex is believed to have magical and/or cleansing powers. Everyone would say a prayer and dip their heads in one of the streams of water, moving down the line through every jet.


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Goa Gajah or Elephant Cave is a good place to visit first thing in the morning. Driving my rented scooter here, something in my helmet kept itching my ear. Though the persistent tickling drove me crazy, I rationalized that it must be an errant hair or perhaps a small feather, the kind that leak out of down pillows. Upon arriving at the empty parking lot, with the sun just coming up, I tore off my helmet. I didn’t see anything that would cause such pronounced ear-tickling, so I started taking the padding out of the helmet, only to quickly discover a feisty medium-sized cockroach. SMASH! Domestic violence educators will tell you it is our very hands that are truly the most deadly weapons in the world.





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Pleasant spot to take a few pictures, just before Starbucks opens in the morning. I don’t buy as many Starbucks City mugs as I used to, but I admit that a Bali one did come home with me.


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Right in the center of Ubud is an old market. Early in the morning, it’s packed with locals grabbing fruits, vegetables, fish and meat for the day. By about 9am, it completely switches over to a tourist market that sells the regular flotsam and jetsam of the tourist trail. I went at about 6:00, but I’ve heard that it’s even going at 4:00, which would also be cool to see.

















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I wish that I could say that we were visiting a remote village in Bali and randomly came across an only-performed-once-every-ten-years fire dance. Instead, we attended the monthly full moon dance at the Arma Museum. There is a scene from the movie Baraka, which features a version of this dance – Here. It’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time.










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by P-Lo
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