Sumatran Elephant, Uluwatu, Dreamland & Jimbaran

day 3 : 13th July 2011

This morning, we headed off to meet the elephants. I've never had an elephant ride before and wanted to give it a try. We'll see how that goes.


As we were stuck in the jam, we took the opportunity to capture some cool stone works. They can be found anywhere in Bali & there are hundreds of shops offering stone art. Most of the works depict the Buddha.

Finally, we arrived at Taro Village, North Ubud.

It's not often we see this sign in our every day life

Apart from the park owner's pictures, there was a wall filled with pictures of celebrities visiting this elephant safari. I saw the Beckhams, Jessica Biel, Dolf Lungdren, Johnny Knoxville ... list goes on. Even the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin said it's the best elephant safari in the world. How's that as a resume?

Are they playing or....?

Seeing this, I can't wait to go on the elephant ride!

Not far away, this elephant was seen making its masterpiece. I've seen it with my own eyes. Their art is spectacular!

One of the 2 cute baby elephants

I love this elephant the most! He is so cute and greedy. It likes to eat vegetable, plants or anything leafy from visitors' hands. Whatever you give, he wanna eat. Look at the greedy smirk on his face.

After his treat from the visitors, he was brought over to his circle for lunch. Most elephants will jump at their meal but he refused to eat. He just wanna be hand fed by visitors. A kid held a large red coloured leaf. The leaf was dried and dead but he was stretching with his trunks elongated for the leaf


"Give me that leaf!"


I guessed he must be bored of the same old food. After minutes when the visitors stopped feeding him, he finally settled for the same old leaves. Unlike other elephants who just grab the leaves and put into their mouth, this one is so playful that he decided to play with his food.
He'll tore the leaves from the bunch, then using his feet to break the leaves into shorter proportion, grabbed the juiciest part in the middle, swayed the leaves around his head before putting into his mouth. That fetched a lot of claps from visitors.


I guessed this elephant was out to impress :)

Another friendly elephant loves getting her trunk stroked

And of course, getting sugar cane treats from me!

She's so greedy she'll eat the food so quickly that before you are ready with the next sugar cane, the trunk is back at your hand asking for more, more more!

After having so much fun with these playful giants, it's time to go for a ride. We toured around the safari riding on Daisy the elephant. Speed limit of 7kmph swaying back & forth while chatting with the elephant guide.


I got to know this safari has 30 elephants with 2 babies. The oldest of the Sumatran elephant is 40 years old. There is a place for the elephant to bath/play in a big pool, a feeding area, their own room (circle) and also a secluded area for the elephant to get romantic.


As for the humans, they can choose to overnight here with the elephants where they will come to your window and fetch you to dinner. There's also a wedding reception for those who wants the elephant to be part of their big day.

It was so hard to leave this place.

Even while I was leaving, the elephants were asking me not to go :(

I missed the elephants but I am getting hungry.
Here we are at Ibu Ora to eat Bali's famous "Babi Guling"

We got a mixture of crispy pork skin & some succulent pork. All mixed with some spice.

After lunch, it's time to revisit Uluwatu

The beautiful temple with crazy & scandalous monkeys. I'll tell you more later...

Such a beautiful sight. I missed the sound of the waves in Uluwatu

This scene...memories :)

There's a new pathway (or maybe I missed it the last time). This path led us to the most amazing sight in Uluwatu temple that I've never seen before.

Heading back to meet some old friends. Stick ready!

Yes, my good old friends. Still earning (food) from their notorious activities

Their skills have been upgraded. Even pulling slippers from visitor's feet

Hey! Who's got monkey on her back? This is my mama!

Oh my! Look who's here?

The grandma! I met her here at this exact location 3 years ago
One of the reasons I chose to come back to Uluwatu (of the many temples in Bali) is to see her.
I didn't have much hope as people come and go but I recognized her the moment I saw her. She didn't change a bit!


Somehow, she exudes a special happy aura around her whenever I am around her. I can feel it. She clasped her hand in front of her face, holding the money I paid her for her wares and smiled the most genuine smile while thanking me profusely. I almost cried :*(


I had a little chat with her. She said she can't see very well & she's already 80 years old. Before I leave, she waved and said "Jumpa lagi" ... "See you next time" :)

I wondered why I always forget to ask for her name. I guess something is better left unknown :)


Our driver was getting worried. We were fast losing sunlight and we might miss the sunset in Jimbaran. Still, we have 1 more place to stop by...

Dreamland...

aka the new Kuta beach

Who cares about catching sunset in Jimbaran when we already have this...

"aaaaargh! it's coming!"

This kid with his Drogba shirt had non stop fun with the waves

Oh yeah...surfing. If I wanna start surfing, I'd prefer this beach anytime

With awesome wave curls that broke into foamy bubbles as they reach the shore

With beautiful people in a beautiful place comes a beautiful sunset :)

It was cool watching the sunset while the moon shines at the back of me at the same time

As the sun sets, the wave grew bigger...almost scary. The life guard blew the final whistle at 7pm

Time for a romantic dinner in Jimbaran :)

It's supposed to be a sunset dinner & now it's dark. Hehe!
But I couldn't be more satisfied to watch the sunset in Dreamland than anywhere else.
Time to sink my feet into the cool soft sand while enjoying the yummy seafood dinner




The best "Jagung Bakar" (smoked corn) for 10,000 rupiah. The corn was so crunchy & sweet it was simply addictive. We got Wayan a corn treat too.

Bravo to the cook for our fastastic meal

What can I say? Another amazing day in Bali :)