Pandawa Beach: A Jewel in The Rough

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It's like I'll never stop making a post about beach. I love beach! Sitting on the sand under the sunlight, listening to the water riffles just like Earth is whispering, wondering what kind of mysteries lay beneath the sea and stare at perfectly clear horizon. That's awesome! So, beach is like an escape for me when I feel down, bad mood or angry to the world.

Well, that's too much.

Still, like Suluban beach (that was being the pitstop at The Amazing Race season 22 leg 4, yes I'm a big fan of that TV show!) & Uluwatu temple, Pandawa beach is located at southern part of Bali, precisely at Desa Kutuh (desa means village). It used to be called as Secret beach because it lies behind hill and it was hard to find this place. Then, the government of Badung regency was aware of its potential to attract not only local , but also international tourist, so the government built roads and another public facilities to promote this beach. They also put some statues on the rock wall, each of them represents Pandava (or in my country spelled as Pandawa) character on Mahabharata legend. Too bad, I forgot to take some pics of those statues. Shoot!

The long and winding road :p

It's kinda slippery because of the sand..
I actually went there with my friends few months ago. From Nusa Dua, it takes about 20-30 minutes to get there by car. There's no public transportation heading directly to the beach. Yeah, poor Bali. I mean it's like no public transportation at all beside those on the city. But, usually, nearby hotels provide free shuttle to this beach. If you stay in Nusa Dua, Kuta, Seminyak or Denpasar, it is better if you rent a car or motorbike. It's okay taking a cab but, geez, it will be so expensive.

It was 4 pm when me and my friends got there, because we skipped our lunch, we were then going to buy some chicken satay (for only IDR 20,000), grilled corn (IDR 5000) and juice (IDR 5,000-15,000) at a local warung. Fair price for a place like this. There're also a restaurant, souvenir shops, art and craft shop, body massage booth, various warungs and public toilet near the parking lot. Beside, from parking lot, you can watch some peoples doing paragliding down from the hill.

"Look, Mum! I'm flying without wings!"

After enjoying our meals, we headed to the beach that was only less than 50 m in distance, and holyfrig, this beach was so beautiful! The sand was white, the waves were rather calm, the sky was vibrant blue!

Pandawa beach #1

Pandawa beach #2
Pandawa beach wasn't as crowded as Kuta beach, that's what I like the most. It was also quite clean and no annoying sellers who push people to buy her goods. Or, at least I didn't meet them. Just like another Balinese, locals were warm welcoming. Oh, I almost forgot that cellphone's signals were very poor in there. Even, I use provider 3 and I did't get any. But it's okay, who'll need it anyway if you were in a beautiful place like this?

p.s.
Sorry for low-quality pictures. I forgot where I stored the RAW files :'(

Journey to the South Part of Bali

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Whoaa, it's been a month I didn't write anything in here! I can't say that I am busy, I just do another stuff I like. So yeah, I almost forget that I have a blog too : )

Well, few days ago my parents were having a trip in Bali with their friends, so my boyfriend and I kidnapped them for a day, rent a car and hanging out with them (along with my boyfriend's fams too). And guess what, I  nominated myself as their guy-who-take-their-pics.

My favorite place in Bali is along the south part of this island. Although it's fairly hard to be reached, like we have to drive up to the hill, but when we finally arrive there we can stand at the edge of the cliff and look at the uncontaminated blue ocean—a very large one for sure, inhale a very fresh oxygen and see a bright puffy cloud! So, yeah, the rest of us went to Uluwatu temple (we called it 'Pura Uluwatu' in here) which is located at Desa Pecatu, Kuta—south part of Bali. Uluwatu temple isn't so far from Suluban beach as I write in this post. The transportation to get there is pretty much the same, car or motorbike and there's no public transportation heading there. To enter Uluwatu temple, we have to buy ticket, I forget how much it is, but I'm sure it's very cheap, less than IDR 10k. This place is built right above the edge of coral cliff and it is ± 97 above sea level.
This is a view from the left part...
Big puffy cloud..

According to Balinese, Uluwatu temple is one of 4 main temples in Bali. It is built since 11 century by Mpu Kunturan. At that time, this temple was used by peoples who lived around there to worship Dewa Rudra (Dewa means God) for their salvation. After about 400 years, a Hinduism missionary named Dang Hyang Nirartha decided to be Mokhsa in this temple. Because this place is a temple, before entering the main gate, we have to wear such a shawl to be wrapped around our waist and if we wear a short pants/skirts we have to wear a special cloth (Balinese call it kamen). 

There are a lot of monkeys around and inside Uluwatu temple. They like to take a little and shiny thing, so usually if we go there with a tour guide, they'll suggest us to take off our earrings and another jewelry, glasses; hold our cell phone and camera very tight. Rumor has it that those monkeys are well-trained and if our stuffs are taken by those monkey, the more valuable our stuffs, the more expensive we have to pay their diviner to take our stuffs back. Yeah, once again, it's a rumor. The certain thing that we must aware are their bites. Believe me, it'll hurt so bad.
The little villain..
So, what are you waiting for? Come to Bali!

Suluban Beach: A hidden paradise

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Hi guys! Happy Wednesday! : )
Well—about a few weeks ago, I saw my friend's picture on Facebook with a beautiful beach as the background. I asked her where did she take the picture and she said she took it at Suluban beach. I just sighed, I've been living in Bali for 2 years and I've never heard about that such a beautiful place before? Oh my... But then I went to the beach a week ago and it is so awesome! IT IS! Lucky me, yay!!

Bali is the island of Gods, people said. So, there's no doubt if Bali has a lot of amazing places like temples, lakes and of course beaches. And yeah, as I said previously, Suluban beach is one of those great place, but it's hard to get there, maybe God is selfish for wanting to keep that place for himself. Kidding..

Suluban beach is located about 34 km from Denpasar toward the south, or only 3 km from Uluwatu temple. We can get there by motorbike or car, there's no public transportation heading to this beach. There's also no special parking area, we just park the motorbike or car on the edge of the road. A few meters from what-so-called parking area, there's a long down stairway toward the beach.

This is just one-third long of the whole stairway

Suluban beach is like surfers' paradise. Some says that the Indian Ocean waves in here come in with that powerful, consistent and great waves. Here, waves can reach between 3 and 12 feet with the average wave size being 3 to 5 feet, perfect for advanced and professional surfers. The best season for surfing at Suluban beach is during the dry session (April to August) when the wind blows from east to west creating the perfect waves for surfing.

One of the surfers I met there

Beside of that great waves I've mentioned above, Suluban beach also has a jaw-dropping scenery. The water is so crystal clear. The coral is also beautifully constructed. It creates a great wall surrounding the beach, makes me feel like I'm outside this busy world. Okay, this is too much but I do feel peace when I was there. This place is miraculously romantic!

Crystal clear water

Father and son

On the late afternoon, Suluban beach presents such a breath-taking sunset. Not only the sea but also coral wall reflects the sunlight creates an orangish surface in it. At this moment, you'll see a lot of people posing with the sunset as the background taking some memorable pictures.

Click, click,click... pose, pose, pose...

 "Am I pretty on that picture?"

Whoaaa, I love the sunset!!

After enjoying the beach, it's time for shopping! A lot of souvenir shops are available there. You'll also able to find public toilets, some restaurant, motels, surf-board repairing shop and even a photography studio near the beach area. Oh, maybe you wanna spending the night having some beers with your friend? That's cool but I won't recommend it.
By the way, when I was at the beach, there's a kid screaming "This is amazing. I don't wanna go home! I wanna live hereee!!" I feel the same, kiddo...