Bali (Indonesia): Taman Ayun Temple, Ulun Danu Beratan Temple & Leke Leke Waterfall

We take advantage of our Ubud – Lovina drive to make a few stops along the way. We’re going with the driver who took us to Mount Batur, but 20 minutes before departure, he calls to say another driver will replace him. The reason: a member of the community has passed away. In Asia, you don’t lie about deaths because it brings bad luck, so we take his word for it, but he could have let us know the day before instead of dropping it on us at the last minute.

Luckily, the new driver is friendly and drives carefully.

Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Journal

Pura Taman Ayun

Our first stop. This temple is quite large and surrounded by huge moats (I didn’t take any photos). Entrance costs 30,000 rupiah.

The central part, with several merus, is closed to the public. You can only walk around and admire their beauty. Sorry I can’t tell you more about the architecture, the meaning, which god this temple is dedicated to, etc. I’m absolutely not in a state to be interested in anything; I don’t feel well in Bali.

There are very few tourists here, and I love the calm and all this greenery. At the end of the visit, there’s a documentary to watch.

In Bali, temple gates always have this shape: two triangles spaced about 50 cm apart. Unfortunately, they’ve all had to add an iron gate in between to open and close the temples, which slightly ruins the overall look.

Leke Leke Waterfall

On the way to Leke Leke Waterfall, someone stops us and makes us understand that the road accessible to cars is badly damaged, and we’ll need to take a mototaxi. At first, we thought it was an organized scam, but when we heard the prices: 10 or 15,000 rupiah per person, we felt better about it. In fact, the villagers have banded together to organize these rides; someone handles the accounts, collecting the money and carefully writing everything down in a notebook.

In the end, it’s the most enjoyable and authentic ride of our entire stay in Bali.

We pass through villages & rice paddies where locals aren’t used to seeing foreigners. Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at us and smile. They seem very happy and proud of this mototaxi idea. At one point, we pass by a beautiful rice paddy, and JB’s driver tells him it’s his wife working there.

My driver has a less powerful motorbike, and we struggle a bit going uphill, which is why he picked me—lighter to carry.

Once there, we have to pay, if I remember correctly, 20,000 rupiah (??) for entry. We then have to walk a long way through the forest. It’s slippery in places; some tourists have bamboo sticks (beware, there seem to be scams with these bamboo stick stories) which allow them to go much faster.

The sound of water grows louder, and we finally spot a magnificent waterfall behind the trees.

Unfortunately, once there, Instagrammers abound. There’s a rock that everyone climbs onto for a photo. The “photographer” usually stands far away, on another rock at the top of the steps. We had to wait 20 minutes for a woman who kept posing. Given that people rarely post photos from the same spot multiple times, it’s way too much effort for one photo, honestly, I can’t.

If we had our own wheels, we could have continued and visited another waterfall.

Lunch

After all that physical effort, we ask the driver to drop us somewhere for lunch. We pass by a strawberry farm overlooking a beautiful valley…

…before ending up at a tourist trap with outrageous prices (120,000 rupiah per dish). The driver is surely getting a good commission, but he’s forgiven because it’s the best local meal I’ve had in Bali. The fish is super fresh and the spicy sauce just right. I loved it, loved it!

Be careful, we’re going up in altitude, so it’s a bit cool; bring a cardigan.

The view from the restaurant isn’t exceptional, but it’s pretty anyway.

Ulun Danu Beratan Temple

This is the temple you see on all Bali brochures. Honestly, given the entrance fee (50,000 rupiah), it feels more like Disneyland than spiritual. You get access to a kind of park with lots of activities for kids and photo spots, before seeing two small temples, not that impressive. If you manage to choose your angle well, you get this:

Otherwise, you get this instead:

There was a ceremony when we passed by. It was lovely to see (with tons of offerings).

We could have chosen to eat here; it would have been cheaper, but also more basic (burger, fries…).

Handara Bali Gate

We quickly pass by this famous “Instagram/Pinterest” gate to see what it looks like in real life. Here, you can see there’s no iron grate because it’s not an actual gate to a temple, it’s just a gate created by a luxury golf club. Hahaha. But honestly, it’s photogenic, with two flowering trees nearby and a backdrop of mountains as far as the eye can see (when there are no clouds). Before Covid, you had to wait 2 hours for a photo, but now I’d say 30 minutes. You have to pay to take a photo.

Bali seems to attract tourists with a lot of time to waste just for a photo.

That’s not us, so we only stop for 2 minutes (it’s on the way). It is, honestly, the most beautiful gate of this kind we’ve seen so far.

Part 2: Practical Tips

I won’t name our driver, as we weren’t all that happy with his service, but just so you know, we paid 600,000 rupiah for a private 7-seater car between Ubud and Lovina (well, our hotel nearby).

Other attractions cost between 10,000 and 50,000 rupiah, so bring some cash.