Last week was Grade 9’s expedition to Bali. This was my first expedition with the school, and it was a real eye-opener.
Day 1
Our flight landed at Denpasar just after midnight on Tuesday. We got to the Swiss Belinn Hotel in Seminyak at around half past one in the morning. After a well-deserved rest, we adjourned for breakfast and left the hotel at 7:30am.
The first stop was to a brahman’s place. It was a large compound, occupied by the priest, Bagus, and his extended family. The students were divided in four groups, where they immediately began to learn egg-painting, gamelan, the legong dance and the art of making offerings.
Lunch was at a nice restaurant, with a view of the river.
After lunch, the students were taken to a work site for community and service. They helped to carry stones and gravel in to build a bridge, and to help put up walls for chicken coops.
The last stop before dinner was Tanah Lot, where we got to watch the sun setting. We also managed to get a glimpse of the Underwater Temple, and the Holy Snake Grove.
As it had been a long, hot day, we were all glad to go to bed after a nice dinner.
Day 2
The second day began with Goa Gajah.
This was followed by a stop at the rice fields of Tegalalang. We did not manage to go into the rice terrace, as the road in was too narrow to accommodate our buses. But we did manage to get a nice view of the place!
Lunch was at Batur Lakeside. It was nice and cooling, and we REALLY did not want to leave.
After that, we visited the Holy Spring at Tampak Siring.
Ubud’s Monkey Forest was next on the list. We did want to visit the Ubud Palace as well, but the place was off limits due to road closures.
To top off the day, we managed to visit Pasar Oleh-Oleh, for some souvenir shopping, before moving on to Jimbayan for a seafood dinner.
Day 3
We all got up early. The rest of us got into the buses for a trek through the Mangrove Swamp.
This was followed by a trip to the Museum. There were a lot of artifacts, but photography was only allowed in two of the halls.
We then adjourned to the airport at 4pm, arriving in plenty of time to catch our flight back to Malaysia.