Bali trip: Day 6 (24 October 2025)

Hey there everyone. The first thing you need to know about Day 6 in Bali was that it was a very long day, but I promise you that it is worth reading through to the end.

It all started with the alarm going off at 3:30 AM. There was a whirlwind rush to eat one of the sweet buns I had bought a couple of days ago, quickly shower and then a comical 15 minute interlude of me going through which t-shirt to wear for the day. You have no doubt noticed that I seem to wear almost the exact same clothes in every picture you see of me while travelling, and if you haven’t before noticed, it will now be impossible to not see. The main conflict was that I had originally pulled out a dark colored t-shirt for today, but then I couldn’t decide which one, and then started to debate about whether or not it would actually be better for me to wear something more vibrant while visiting ancient temples. It will soon become evident which internal argument won out.

At 4:00 AM I was waiting to be picked up. The day before, on GetYourGuide, I had booked the Bali: Besakih Temple & Lempuyang Temple Gates of Heaven Tour for 6045 INR ($67.64 USD), including all transport, entry fees and a buffet lunch.

We had barely started out, when the other person in the car and I were told that the entry fees for the tour were actually not included. I knew that it wasn’t the guide’s fault, but this was not a good way to start the day. I really wanted to enjoy the day, but the negatives were quickly adding up. To begin with, when I had originally clicked on the trip within GetYourGuide, the price shown in the trip grid immediately increased by more than 1500 INR, and then there had been a list of several obviously needed inclusions, each one having additional cost. I had selected everything it was possible to select, and was now being told that it would be an additional $18 USD? On top of that, the trip had been advertised as departing at 7:00 AM (which had seemed reasonable) and then the evening before had been changed to a 4:00 AM departure.

Both myself and my fellow traveler were very disgruntled about this, but at 4:40 AM, talking things out together, we resolved to just deal with it since we really wanted to enjoy the day. We reasoned that especially since there were only two of us on the tour, we would have initially been willing to pay a bit more in order to still have today’s experience despite there being only two travelers. However, I will admit that I wrote a very strong worded, yet still polite message to the tour operator, TripGotik.

Unsurprisingly at this time of the morning, there didn’t seem to be any traffic. Furthermore, the vehicle was comfortable, and the roads were in good condition. At 5:00 AM, we stopped briefly at a convenience store, where I bought two chicken dumplings and a soy drink for 123 INR ($1.38 USD). Moving on from there, at 5:30 AM, the sun was starting to come up, and even in the quickly moving vehicle, the sky over the distant mountains was beautiful.

The picture didn’t really do it justice, but this got me thinking about how Heetum had said that the reason for us to leave so early was in order to get a good Instagram post in some particular place. That whole “perfect photo narrative” seemed to be a recurring theme here. It guess “it is what it is,” but I thought it was a bit sad if the entire reason for visiting Bali had been reduced to social media pictures. What about actually learning something about the temples or other sites which were visited?

At 5:50 AM we stopped for ten minutes to take a picture and to let the driver take a quick nap.

We decided to let Heetum sleep a few more minutes, and then as we were going along once more at 6:11 AM, I received a WhatsApp message from the tour operator apologizing for the mix-up, and assuring me that all entry fees had been included for the day. I know it was a small financial difference, but that immediately made both of us feel much better, effectively lifting the shadow which had been there since we had been picked up. Riding along, at 6:30 AM, I realized how much I was simply enjoying the scenery.

At 6:40 AM we arrived to the Lempuyang area and almost immediately got in a bus which took up up a rather twisty road to another stopping point. Here, as frequently happens in Bali, we had “required sarongs” tied on us. This had happened to me a few days ago as well. Not to be disrespectful, but the whole thing seemed a bit silly. Still, when in Bali . . .

At 6:57 AM, Heetum parked us at a restaurant and said that he was going to take care of getting our numbers (whatever that meant), but that it would be about an hour before we could go further up. It hadn’t been clear to either of us that we were going to stop at a restaurant for breakfast, but it seemed like a comfortable place to hang out, and the view really was wonderful.

At 7:49 AM I paid 60500 IDR ($3.63 USD) for my cold coffee, and we headed up the short hill, arriving to the actual temple at 7:55 AM. They toss a bit of water on you when you enter “to purify” you, and this is not optional. It all seemed absurdly performative, as there was nobody actually telling us anything about the temple itself, and nobody in attendance seemed to care. This was clearly only about getting the pictures.

We did actually learn a detail at 8:14 AM. Evidently there were a total of seven temples here, but visitors are only allowed to visit the first one unless they have come to worship. Yes, it was all very pretty, but I felt a bit bad that everyone (including myself) was treating this religious and archeologic site as an elaborate photo prop. Of course, I could read more about the temple online or something, but I felt that it would have been much more meaningful to take advantage of the wait time to actually learn something about where we were visiting. At least we had a covered area to sit while waiting for our turn to get pictures.

At 8:39 AM, I encouraged my travel partner for the day, Karla, to go get some “flowing dress swing pictures” done while I just continued to wait. Again, it was all very silly, but several places I had gone in Bali, women were having these special photo shoots done, and I had to admit that they seemed to be very elegant. After some debate, Karla decided to go ahead with the plan, as this was something which she definitely would not do anywhere else. I don’t remember exactly how much she paid, but I remember thinking that it was a perfectly reasonable price, especially if the photos turned out as beautiful as the samples which had been shown.

Finally at 9:29 AM my number was called and I rushed forward to get my 15 seconds of meticulously orchestrated photos at the “Gates of Heaven”.

At 9:46 AM Karla returned, and I had to admit that her photos and videos really were beautiful; here you can see a small sample. As soon as she arrived, they rushed her to the gates and we headed back to the car, departing from the site at 10:15 AM.

Our next stop at 10:28 AM was Tunas Bali Luwak Coffee where we had a coffee tasting tour with the on-site guide Nyoman. Obviously, the hope here was that we would buy things, but I didn´t. However, I did enjoy the “free” selection of teas and coffees, and felt that Nyoman did a good job. So, when the tour ended at 11:23 AM I left a tip of 15000 IDR ($0.90 USD), and I think that Karla also bought a couple of bags of coffee.

When we departed at 11:28 AM, I had to admit that I had actually rather enjoyed this thinly veiled sales pitch. It is not something I would have done on my own, but I would actually recommend it if you have the time to fit it into your visit to Bali.

We weren’t in the car very long before arriving to Tirta Gangga at 11:32 AM. There’s no way around it; this place is amazingly beautiful. The gardens were meticulously maintained, the giant koi stunning, and the opportunities for pictures endless. On top of that, there was also a small, but reasonably well-done museum which added a bit of historical context to the whole place. It was all so perfect that it seemed a bit like being dropped into a Disney movie or something. I feel like I should have been jaded, and end up saying that it is too artificial. But you know what, that’s not what I thought at all. It was an incredibly special surprise to have come here.

At 12:51 PM we were back in the car, and Heetum said it would be about 90 minutes until our next stop. The scenery along the way was impressive, and we even did a quick stop for more random pictures.

We arrived to Lereng Agung Restaurant at 2:31 PM. There, I was initially delighted to see this large bat on a perch near the entrance. My buffet lunch here was included in the tour, and I took full advantage of the same. The food wasn’t particularly amazing, but I had no particular complaints. Furthermore, the view was outstanding.

Unfortunately as we were departing at 4:20 PM, I made the mistake of asking our guard why the bat didn’t fly away. He said that the owner of the restaurant had intentionally broken the bat’s wing so that it would become dependent on him, in the process becoming a tourist attraction . . . I have since then searched for more information on this and can’t find anything to confirm this. However, this appears to be a known practice in Bali. Is that what happened here? I don’t know, but if so, that would be a reason to skip this otherwise pleasant lunch destination.

Just ten minutes later, we arrived at Pura Agung Besakih, also commonly referred to as The Mother Temple. According to Heetum, this is the most important temple in Bali, sort of like a National Cathedral. Surprise, surprise (or not), we were once more required to put on sarongs. Unless specifically coming to worship, all visits here are managed by local guides. Heetum took care of getting our tickets, and we were rushed into a golf cart to take us up to where the actual tour would begin.

According to our local temple guide, the temple is from the eighth century, dedicated to Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. Furthermore, this is a fully functioning temple rather than just an archeologic site. So, a lot of the construction is evidently quite modern, whereas other parts of the buildings and walls go back more than a thousand years.

Despite being such a massive temple complex, which is evidently also central to traditional religious life on the island, at 4:54 PM there was almost nobody there. The entire experience was delightfully peaceful, with impressive sites at every juncture. Furthermore, while the local guide was not incredibly insightful, he definitely made the visit much more enjoyable by adding some context to the visit.

I am only relaying what we were told, so the information is doubtless incomplete. I was interested to learn that the first temple area where we visited is evidently for the farmer caste, with the second one being for the soldier caste. Our local guide was from farmer caste, and he indicated that he could only worship in that area; this did not however seem to bother him. I wasn’t really sure of how many castes were recognized here, but the guide was quick to clarify that the system is different from Hinduism in India. I had just sort of assumed that the various sorts of roofs were decorative, but we found out that the number of roofs indicates to which the caste the area corresponds, with the highest caste having towers with eleven roofs.

At 5:23 PM we arrived to an extremely impressive structure, which as far as I could tell, was the highest point to the temple complex. I was very curious to look around inside, but you are evidently only supposed to enter if you are going to worship. They apparently just take your word for it, but I certainly didn’t want to pretend that I believed something which I didn’t, and neither did my travel partner Karla. So, we both indicated that we would stay outside and appreciate the the impressive view, made even more impactful by the lack of other visitors and the almost complete silence.

It seemed though that we had partially misunderstood about not being allowed to go up the stairs. Much of this apex structure is open to general visitors, but there is a clear invisible line which is only to be crossed by worshippers. It would have been impossible for us to identify that point on our own, but I guess that is one of the reasons that all non-religious visitors are required to be accompanied by a temple guide.

So wow, we made it to the top! Actually, no we didn’t. At 5:32 PM we had gone up as far as we were going to, but this whole temple area actually continues for another two kilometers! Regardless, even regular worshippers usually only come up as far as we were, and while it was all very beautiful, it was also quickly getting dark, and we were going to have to walk all the way back down. The local guide continued on down with us until the entrance to where the golf cart had dropped us off, and we continued walking down on our own from there.

As we arrived back to the car at 6:28 PM, I was overwhelmingly thankful for having been able to experience this visit. Regardless of your belief system, if in Bali, you should definitely visit this temple complex. I do however, understand that it is much busier at other times of the day and at other times of the year. Still, even if not visiting in October, I think it is worth a shot to make some time for this religious site.

The ride back to the hotel was uneventful, if a bit long. We dropped Karla off at 8:30 PM, but it wasn’t until 9:49 PM that we finally arrived back to my lodging . . . an almost eighteen hour tour! I will admit that I had been a bit cynical near the beginning of the day, but things turned out wonderfully. It is always difficult to identify “the best day” of a trip, but I think this was it. Yes, there was the inconvenience of the early departure, and the somewhat questionable emphasis at times on getting “the perfect picture”. However, all together, I had a fantastic time. Heetum and Karla, if you are reading this, thank you for contributing to this incredible memory of Bali!

So, what do you think? If you have read the other days, do you agree that this was really the best one? What about the huge wait for the fifteen seconds of pictures at the first site . . . was it worth it, or just silly? I look forward to seeing your comments and questions in the section below.