Bali with a delightful twist..Day-02

July 24, 2014 by Dr.Rohith Reddy

We started at 9:15am after having a lavish breakfast. Though we were 15mins behind of our planned schedule but still it wasn’t too late. Our first destination is Taman ayun temple which is a 2 hour drive from our resort. We arrived Taman ayun at 11:00AM.

Its inner temple is surrounded by a moat. Taman Ayun literally means ‘Garden Temple in the Water’.

This is a royal temple of Mengwi empire. This literally means ‘Garden Temple in the Water’ because its inner temple is surrounded by a moat.

This is a beautiful temple building with multistoried rood and architecture.There is a pretty scenic landscape garden in front of the temple which was impressive.

This eleven-tiered meru (at your right-hand corner of the complex) is dedicated to the Rice Goddess Dewi Sri.

This eleven-tiered meru is dedicated to the Rice Goddess Dewi Sri.

The reason for the happiness on our faces is for having such a large, loving & caring family together .

We spent an hour at this place and then started to Candikuning, a local fruit and vegetable market which was on the way to Bedugul. There is a wide spread of fruits and vegetables like Fresh strawberries, mango, banana, salak (snake fruit), papaya, green apple, avocado, strawberry, sweet corn, peanut, coffee powder, and many kind of herbs and Vegetables. After a small shopping here we started from this place to Lake Beratan.

Candikuning Fruit market- A place where you can get fresh fruits and vegetables..

A visit to a local market always provides a fascinating insight into the culture of the “Real Bali.”

A visit to this market provided us a fascinating insight into the culture of the “Real Bali.”

At 1:30 we arrived Pura Ulun Danu Bratan or Pura Bratan, is a major Shivaite and water temple on Bali, This temple is built in 1663, and is used for offering ceremony to the Balinese river goddess Dewi Danu.It is located on the shores of a Magical Lake Bratan in the mountains near Bedugul.

Everything in this place is scenic..

Perfect colors and perfect composition…made this picture perfect

Blue water with clear blue skies made this place an unforgettable scenic place

Blue water with clear blue skies made this place an unforgettable one

My first impression about this place was awesome. I was speechless after seeing the beauty of this place. I can’t explain enough of this place, my pictures says it all..Don’t forget to Check the slideshow ..

Boating here was just amazing…

View from the boat.. Villas on the other side of lake,,

Pura ulundanu- Built in 1663

I just love this pic.. I call it as a Powerpack performance..

I just love this pic.. Powerpack performance it was..

At 3:45 started to Pacung to kill our hunger…

One of the greatest views ever, With ordinary food & unfriendly staff. May be they wanted us to eat less. 😛 Though it was expensive (110000Rp/Pax). The view here is appreciable. Since the food was not so great and the spread was little we ordered Nasi goreng (Fried rice) which was good enough to kill our hunger.

Having Lunch while seeing the natural beauty of pacung rice terraces, a valley and mountains, a way to really gain a feeling of being escape from the pressures of everyday life and relax…

Pacung Rice terraces..A view from the restaurant.

Post Lunch relaxation…..

It was a one hour drive from pacung to Tanah lot…We arrived tanah lot at 5:30 to view the most beautiful sunset in Bali,Indonesia. Tanah lot temple sits on a large offshore rock which has been shaped continuously over the years by the ocean tide. This is claimed to be the work of the 16th-century janitor Baratha. During his travels along the south coast, he saw this rock-island’s and rested here.Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock which he felt to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods.

This is one of the seven sea temples around Balinese sea Coast. And it has significant Hindu influence ..

It was very crowdy when we arrived at the site but still the view was breathtaking. We went there before an hour to the sunset.

It was very crowdy when we arrived at the site but still the view was breathtaking. We went there before an hour of sunset.

Since the place was huge I thought of detaching from the group and going by myself to explore the place to the maximum. If I go in group I can’t cover the whole place so I started exploring by my own. This helped me to capture the beauty of sunset at Tanah lot temple and also the temple.

Sunset is a wonderful opportunity for us to appreciate all the great things the sun gives us..

Sunset turns everything into gold color. Just enjoy the sunset and sunrise where ever you are…

The place was so serene and pleasant, you cant stop yourself falling in love with this place. The view was spectacular despite the unfortunate fact that it was a bit cloudy that day, but i just loved the whole atmosphere there. The sunset there was still breath taking.

Looks like a painting..

At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. A giant snake purportedly protects the temple, which was created from Nirartha’s towel when he established the island.

Pura Tanah lot temple shrine- People worshipping Balinese sea gods

This is one of the poisonous sea snakes which is believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders..I am lucky that I got an opportunity to touch it. 😛

My pictures speak better than I do…

Slide show:

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Tips:

1. Admission ticket of Taman ayun temple is Rp 20000. Not so special but if you are in city then don’t miss it.

2. I highly recommend you people to visit Ulundanu and try to spend more time there. Its an awesome place for photographers. Admission ticket is Rp30000.

3. Dont miss boating in Lake Beratan

4. Don’t go to Bali, If you don’t have Tanah lot temple in your itenary. 😛 Sunset at Tanah lot will be unforgettable in your life.

Plaosan temples- Shadows of silence

July 19, 2014 by Dr.Rohith Reddy

Plaosan temples ‘A Symbol of Love’ were built by Rakai Pikatan from Sanjaya dynasty (Hindu dynasty) for his Wife, Pramodhawardani, a decendent of Sailendra kingdom(Buddhist dynasty) in the 9^th century. That’s the reason why I’m referring this place as a ‘Symbol of love’ like Tajmahal.

Looks pleasant isn’t it? It is indeed…

I know that this is a Buddhist temple, but after seeing this temple I was confused because it was more like a hindu temple and the style of the temple construction was in Hindu design too. After entering the temple I was surprised to see the stupas, sculptures and inscriptions which resembles Buddhist style. So this is why the architecture of this temple has a mix of Hindu and Buddhist styles.

There are still so many Ruins. It might take decades for them to reconstruct them..

There are four dwarapala(guardians of the doors) statues seen standing. Just a few meters behind the statues, the Plaosan temple complex is seen which is made up of 174 small buildings, 116 are stupas and 58 are shrines.

Dwarapala-The guardian of doors

Many of the buildings have inscriptions. On the outer walls of the main temples, carvings of divinities are found with the majority being male. Smaller and less occurring carvings by the windows represent females.

Female sculptures

I really enjoyed exploring this temple. Unlike the Prambanan temple this was pleasant and quiet place with very less tourists. But Unfortunately I didn’t get much time to spend in this magnificent wonder.

I had to hurry up in order to catch all the places in our list. But still my visit to this place was a pleasant one.This lies only 1000 metres away from the UNESCO world heritage listed Prambanan temple. I wonder why UNESCO didn’t list this beautiful Temple, Making this as a forgotten testament to the glory of the Matraman kingdom.

Plaosan temple-Shadows of silence

Different dimensions of this amazing temple:

<<Checkout the Slide show below>>

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Exotic Bali Day-01

July 16, 2014 by Dr.Rohith Reddy

Its 9:45 already, didn’t even realized that we have arrived Ngurai international airport, Bali. Since our Visa is on Arrival(25USD) basis it took 45 mins for us to finish the procedures. Our driver was already waiting for us to pick us up in Airport. By the time we reached our beautiful and elegant Langon Bali resort & spa hotel it was 12’o clock.

Beautiful pool of our resort. Just loved it..

At the very first instance we were awestruck with the beauty in and around the resort, we took 1&half hours for refreshing. Then we started our tour..

ISUZU Elf – Which was ours from the coming few days 😛

While we were on our way to Tanjung benoa, we have identified a restaurant ‘Queens’ which has a native Indian flavor in-fact it lured us to have a lavish lunch with “Indian” Cuisine.

Ok..Now its time to recite the place “Tanjung Benoa”: My actual plan was to play some water sports. According to few sources this place is one of the best beaches in Bali for water sports.

Tanjung benoa beach

But it was a disappointment for us(I should better be saying for me) because I’m the only one who is interested in watersports.But due to some unknown reasons there were no water sports on that day.So we explored as much as we can.. It was a sunny day! But still we loved what we saw and experienced…

Balinese Culture is felt every where and anywhere in the islands..

While walking we found a cliff, so we thought of hiking it up. While hiking we found few beautiful spots and had a small photoshoot session 😛

While heading to the end of the cliff ...

While walking to the end of the cliff …

Photoshoot time with my elder bro and youngest cousin of the family Sajju… 😛

Then we had headed towards most scenic temple “Uluwatu temple” for an ecstatic “Sunset”. Uluwatu Temple, located on the cliff of Jimbaran hills where we have visualized most blissful sunset.

An eastern sun sets on a world of magic…One of the Most stunning sunset I’ve witnessed..

This pic resembles me of Machupichu, Peru 😛

Thats me while capturing the stunning view ..

After the sunset in uluwatu, we went to Kecak & Fire dance performance show at 6:00 pm. Kecak &fire dance is also known as ‘Ramayana Monkey Chant’. This is a Balinese drama based on the epic Ramayana. This is performed primarily by men.This show is performed by a circle of 50-100 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting “cak” and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana.

This was the best show I’ve seen in Bali.. Don’t miss this if you are planning a trip to Bali.

The Hanuman helped Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.

Hanuman burning lanka.. An episode in Kecak dance performance

Hanuman most entertaining character in the show..

Show was completed at 7:00 pm. It took 40-50 mins for us to start from there. Our next stop was at Jimbaran bay to have dinner. This place is renowned for a delicious sea food with local bali touch.

It was not only scenic, but also terrifying especially for kids. My nephew was crying hear to those loud noises made by the waves..

It was not only scenic, but also terrifying especially for kids.My nephew started crying after hearing those loud noises made by the waves ..

It was 8:30 PM by the time we reached the place, we all were exciting seeing the place as we had to sit on the shore of the sea with hundreds of people all around the sea coast with only candle lights across the tables made the evening a splendid one indeed…

The best part of Jimbaran bay food is you get to select what you want to eat..

We ended our day with a complete family picture..

Every one were happy and excited because this is our first family vacation outside of India…With this meal we successfully ended day one, With few pleasant memories.

Tips if you are planning a trip to Bali:

1. If you plan for Water sports, then Tanjung benoa beach is the best place for it but go there in the early morning.

2. Don’t miss Sunset at Uluwatu, Try to spend more time at this place..

3. You won’t regret seeing ‘Kecak and fire dance show’.

4. Dinner at Jimbaran bay will be memorable. So dont miss it ..

Sunset at Siloso beach, Sentosa

July 13, 2014 by Dr.Rohith Reddy

Siloso beach is on the island of sentosa, Singapore. It is a very pleasant and beautiful beach. Though it was not in our list. We got this added in our plan accidentally 😛 as we have got some spare time at sentosa. This place really helped us to relax ourselves. This beach is a pleasant place to swim and view ships plying the Straits. There is beach volleyball and some really nice bars which turned the climate around the beach an electrifying one…!!!

As a passionate traveller, I love to explore many sunsets across the world and capture those Sunset pictures through my camera lens, as they always evoke good memories. I have seen many sunsets but this was the most pleasant sunset I’ve witnessed because the crowd in the beach were nice and it was not very packed like the other beaches. And this sunset was warm and golden too. I really enjoyed taking pictures here..

Siloso Beach sentosa was a pleasant beach and not packed like the other beaches in Singapore..

The beauty of child’s innocence is expressed only through their smiles..

On a sunny day, At siloso beach, Cute little children riding their fathers shoulders Clapping their hands and singing for joy.while feeling coolness of water. It was pretty good watching them..

I loved watching these kids playing in the water…

Friends While watching Sunset at Siloso beach,Sentosa

Beautiful Sunset turning everything into Gold..

Dad's love.. Father always makes their children feel like they are on of the world..

Dad’s love.. Father always makes their children feel like they are on top of the world..

That was a Pleasant and beautiful evening at Siloso Beach

Siloso beach sentosa..

The Marvel of Stone Architecture – Hazara Rama Temple

July 10, 2014 by Dr.Rohith Reddy

Hazara rama temple is a small but highly ornate temple located at the center of the royal area in Hampi. This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu in the form of Lord Rama. We thought that the name might have taken from the ‘Thousand Ramas’ carved on the temple walls. but our guide told us it is derived from a Telugu word ‘Hazaramu’ which means audience hall or entrance hall of a palace.

This temple had been functioned as a private temple for the king or the royal family. The most interesting aspect of this temple is, this is the only temple with the outer walls decorated with richly carved bas- reliefs which depicts the story of the Ramayana.The difference is, the stories are carved, in long arrays, onto the walls of this temple.

It is a veritable picture gallery its walls and pillars capture the immortal legends of the Ramayana in stone. this temple has a variety of sculptures depicting Vishnu in some of his other avataras.

Sculptures depicting stories of Ramayana

Hazara rama bazaar:

A small tale.. Domingo paes who visited vijayanagara during Krishnadevaraya reign writes “…in this street live many merchants and there you will find all sorts of rubies, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, seed pearls, clothes and every other sort of thing there is on earth that you may wish to buy…

This is infront of hazara rama temple ..

That is one of the reason why Krishnadevaraya Reign is called as golden reign. Hope someone invents a time machine through which we can go back in time, to his era and bring back something..:P

Happy Doctors day!!..Dedicated to all the Doctors..!

July 1, 2014 by Dr.Rohith Reddy

Every Degree gives you only a suffix but MBBS is the only Degree which gives you both Prefix & a Suffix. Be Proud to be in this profession..!
A fitting reply to those who say the Doctor took a thousand bucks for a simple procedure which lasted 5 mins..
(Actually it takes years of hard work to make it in 5 mins…)
A giant ship engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.
Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!
A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for Rupees ten thousand .
“What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!”
So they wrote the old man a note saying, “Please send us an itemized bill.”
The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer…… ……… ……. Rs. 2.00
Knowing where to tap………. ……… …… Rs. 9, 998.00
Moral: “Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!”

Dedicated to all fellow Doctors!

Happy Doctors day!!

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Monthly Archives: July 2014