Kunjungan saya ke pura ini sebenarnya kebetulan, karena ada acara pernikahan rekan kantor saya di Surabaya. Daripada langsung pulang ke Jakarta setelah acara, saya merencanakan perjalanan ke Bali bersama adik saya, sekaligus pengalaman pertamanya naik pesawat. Saya menginap satu malam di Hotel Sinar 2 jika tidak salah, di Sidoarjo, dekat dengan Bandara Juanda. Adik saya dititipkan di hotel sementara saya menghadiri acara pernikahan. Kami berencana mengambil penerbangan pagi ke Bandara Ngurah Rai di Bali. Layanan antar jemput hotel mengantar kami ke Bandara untuk mengejar penerbangan tersebut.
My visit to this temple was actually during opportunity of my colleague's wedding in Surabaya. Despite of directly return to Jakarta after the ceremony, I planned to took the flight to Bali with my little brother, because it was his first time traveling with an airplane. I spend one night in Sidoarjo, in a hotel, Sinar Hotel 2 I recalled, near Juanda airport. I told my brother to rest there while I attended the wedding ceremony. The day after, we took the morning flight to Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali. The hotel shuttle service carried us to Juanda airport to catch the flight.
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| Ombak menghantam karang tempat Pura Tanah Lot // Sea waves hit the rock where lies Temple at Tanah Lot |
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| Monumen bom bali // Bali bombing monument |
Setibanya di Bali, kami menggunakan jasa Ojek untuk mengantar kami ke Hotel Sandat Inn di Legian, yang merupakan salah satu hotel budget disana. Alasan kami memilih ojek agar bisa melewati gang-gang sempit di Gang
Poppies dan terhindar dari macet di Jalan Kuta dan Legian itu sendiri. Hotel tersebut sudah saya pesan beberapa hari sebelumnya dan merupakan kali ketiga saya menggunakan hotel itu untuk berlibur di Bali. Menurut saya, harga yang ditawarkan hotel tersebut sangat cocok di kantong dan dibandingkan dengan hotel bertarif sama di Gang Poppies, fasilitas di hotel itu lebih baik, yaitu kolam renang, wifi gratis yang sampai ke kolam renang dan kamar, parkir luas yang bisa untuk mobil dan motor (sesuatu yang tidak ditemukan di Gang Poppies), serta posisinya di hampir ujung Jalan Legian sehingga memudahkan jika harus mengejar pesawat atau pergi keluar tanpa harus mengikuti jalur Kuta dan Legian lagi. Kekurangannya, karena terletak di Jalan Legian yang terkenal dengan dunia malamnya, suara dentuman musik di malam hari tidak bisa dihindari. Tidak cocok untuk yang mencari ketenangan berlibur di Bali. Setelah sampai di hotel dan membereskan barang-barang bawaan di kamar, saya mencari motor sewaan untuk dipakai selama 2 hari. Kami rencananya hanya menginap semalam dan akan kembali ke Jakarta besoknya. Itinerari saya sederhana, hanya Tanah Lot di hari pertama lalu belanja oleh-oleh di hari kedua.
As we arrived in Bali, we use motorcycle taxi to carry us to Sandat Inn Hotel at Legian, one of the budget hotel available. The reason we choose motorcycle taxi was its ability to use shortcut route via Poppies lane thus avoid traffic at Kuta street and Legian street. The hotel had been booked a few days before and that was my third time using that hotel during vacation at Bali. In my opinion, that hotel has the best facilities amongst the same tarif of budget hotel around Poppies lane, which is swimming pool, free wifi that accessible up to pool and rooms, large parking area for cars and motorcycle (the one thing that hotels in Poppies lane didn't have), also its position near the end of Legian street, which easily accessible if we are in hurry to Airport or going around, where we don't have to drive through Kuta lanes and Legian street. The cons are its location at Legian street where known as nightlife heaven, the sound of bar and pub music are unavoidable. This place is not intended for the one vacation demanding Balinese serenity. Once we arrived at the Hotel and unpacking our backpacks, we find a motorcycle for rent for two days. Our plan was just spending two days one night here before return to Jakarta. Our itinerary was simple, which was Tanah Lot for the first day and Souvenir hunting for the second day.
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| Suasana kolam Hotel Sandat // Swimming pool at Sandat Inn |
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| A statue Sandat dancer in Bali Sandat Inn hotel // Patung penari Sandat di hotel Bali Sandat Inn |
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| Pura Batu Bolong // Batu Bolong Temple |
Perjalanan ke Tanah Lot sangat membingungkan jika kita menggunakan Google maps, percaya deh. Jalur yang paling mudah tapi jauh adalah lewat jalan utama Sunset Road dan kita akan menemukan penanda arah sepanjang perjalanan. Tapi jika mau tantangan, merasakan Bali lebih alami, dan lebih cepat lewat jalan pintas, maka jalan melewati desa dan persawahan adalah yang terbaik. Tapi kita harus mempersiapkan jalur alternatif karena jalur pedesaan kadang ditutup untuk upacara keagamaan. Saya mengalaminya berkali-kali karena jalan yang saya ingat saat dulu ke Tanah Lot mengikuti rombongan turis asing berkendara motor, ternyata ditutup. Saya sudah mencari jalur alternatif berkali-kali namun yang saya temui juga jalan ditutup. Metode yang paling efektif adalah lupakan GPS dan mulai bertanya pada penduduk lokal, dan metode ini berhasil, hehehe.
Journey to Tanah Lot is tricky if we used Google maps, trust me. The easy one is following sunset Road and you'll find the sign. But if we want shortcut, the road through villages and local's farms is the best. But we have to be prepare for finding another route if the road is blocked for a religious ceremony was held. I experienced this because I remember the route from my last visit to Tanah Lot, because I just followed a foreign tourist' motorcycle convoy. But when I tracked this route that time, the road was blocked. Silly me, so I have to diverted my route a lot of times and found another blockade. The most effective method was forget about GPS and start asking direction to locals, and that was worked, lol.
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| Peselancar di Tanah Lot // Surfer at Tanah Lot |
Saat itu di Tanah Lot tidak terlalu dipenuhi pengunjung, namun tetap ramai. Mungkin karena hari kerja. Saya berkeliling dari Pura Luhur Panataran Tanah Lot, Pura Batu Bolong, lalu berlanjut ke ujung Barat dimana ada restoran di tepi Jurang yang dipersiapkan untuk acara Pernikahan. Saat itu juga saya bertemu artis Indonesia, yaitu Indra Bekty, namun karena saya tidak ngefans, saya acuhkan saja dia. Saya disana hingga sunset tenggelam dan pulang ke hotel pada malam hari. Menikmati sunset disana merupakan pengalaman yang sangat indah dan sangat merelaksasi pikiran.
Tanah Lot was not crowded that time but still a lot of visitor seen. Maybe it because that day is a normal working day. I wandered around Luhur Panataran Temple, Batu Bolong Temple, until the most west edge of this complex where a restaurant aside of cliff was being prepared for wedding ceremonial. I also saw Indonesian artist, Indra Bekty, but because I'm not a fan of him, I don't give any single attention. I was there until the sunset and return at night. Enjoying sunset here was a relaxing experience with the beautiful view there.
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| Matahari terbenam di Pura Luhur Panataran // Sunset at Luhur Panataran Temple |
