Clovers & Roses

The final two days of my Bali Trip. Finally reaching the end of this topic. Lol

Day 3: Shopping Trips

Day 3 started later than the previous days. We got to sleep in for an extra hour or two before heading out again for shopping (one of my favorite activities) this time. We also changed drivers on this day. I have no idea why though. 

As per usual, the day starts out with the buffet breakfast at the hotel. This girl needs her grub and coffee.

After filling our tummies, we took a shuttle from the hotel to a nearby shopping mall. It's the most famous shopping mall in Kuta. This mall is called Discovery Shopping Mall and it actually has pretty decent shops in there. Lots of surfing brands as usual because Bali is a surfers' hub. 

I naturally went bananas at the Roxy/Quiksilver outlet. You cannot really blame me when the clothes are on sale there and the price of one Roxy t-shirt was around MYR 30 - MYR 40. That is a steal price that is almost unheard of in Malaysia. But my mother being my mother stopped me and told me I can only get one piece -.- 

She regretted after we flew back and realized that she missed the golden opportunity to shop there.

Tried Cold Stone Creamy for the first time in Discovery too. Sadly, there isn't an outlet in Malaysia which I am still baffled about. I believe I chose chocolate and another flavored ice cream and added Reese's peanut butter cups into them for the mash up. LOOVED IT TO THE LAST DROP. 

Moving on, we made arrangements with the new drivers to meet us at the shopping mall and us being tourists got lost for a good few hours. The drivers waited for us in the roofed parking lots and we mistakenly thought that they were late. But they were really nice and totally understood why we were lost. 

They proceeded to drive us to the next destination which was REALLY REALLY far away from town. We drove past many paddy fields and open areas with little to no buildings except the occasional hut and scarecrow in the middle of a field. I have to admit that I was freaked out a little by the distance and when I asked the driver, he kept saying we will reach in awhile more. 

After over an hour, we arrived at our destination which was called Taman Ayun which is translated, literally, as Swinging Gardens, in an area called Menguwi. It it basically another one of Bali's famous temples but instead of having lots of steps to climb, this one was just a large area with the temple in the middle and tourists can walk around it. We can't actually enter the temple though. 

What I really like about this temple was the uniqueness of the architecture. The other temples that we visited most had the same structure of craved stone sculptures. This temple had more buildings - sort of - than just stone sculptures. Also, I really loved the wide grassy areas, it was very pleasing to the eyes. It is one of those grassy spots that would be perfect for a picnic if it weren't a religious compound. 

The tour guide walking with me around this temple explained to me what the temple was for. If I remember what he said correctly, these tall structures are used as altars to place offering for the Gods. There are doors opening to a small altar and offerings can be placed there. Again, I am typing this by memory so I may or may not be right. 

(This post was sitting and collecting dust in my "drafts" since a long time ago. There is more pictures to my Bali holiday but something happened. For all you curious peeps out there -----> LOOK HERE)