My Very First Blog

Do you still believe in coincidence? Let me tell you this - there is no such thing as coincidence. Everything happens for a reason and you are the cause of everything that happens or will ever happen to you.

I know, some of you would say I'm talking nonsense. A few years back I would have agreed with you. But I learnt that if you look at the bigger picture and you become aware of the big picture and you stand outside of you observing yourself and your life, you will soon realize that every event, everything that happened to you had happened in the most perfect way imaginable.



As such, I have stopped blaming others for my misfortunes. Firstly, blaming others means you are not taking responsibility for what happened. Not taking responsibility means you are giving control to that person you blame. In other words, you are the poor, helpless victim.

Secondly, do be aware that you are the cause of your own misfortune. It's difficult to comprehend this at first. I mean, how can you say that I cause my own sickness? It would be madness to tell a victim of a robbery that he or she was robbed because he or she wanted it! Ridiculous right?

Well, not really. In actual fact, everything that happens to us must first come to us by the way of attraction. We are like magnets that attract things and events into our lives.

Take for example, you and your neighbour work nights and both of you walk back home every night. You get robbed twice but your neighbour is unharmed. Why? Are you more unlucky than your neighbour?

The answer lies in your beliefs. Probably you believe that people are basically bad and dishonest. Or you are always fearful of being robbed because you heard a lot of such robbery cases. Your negative beliefs attract the negative energies creating a physical manifestation that resulted in you being robbed!

Your neighbour on the other hand, probably believes that people are basically good. Her positive beliefs in turn attract positive energies and therefore she gets home safe and well.

Now you may not believe that people are bad, but probably you did something dishonest at work and this guilty feeling will also attract the negative energies because you subconsciously believe that you should be punished for your dishonesty.

Some of you may lash out at me and say this is complete rubbish! You may ask, do you mean that those people who perished in the recent earthquake in Haiti deserve it because they attracted the misfortune to themselves?

To answer this, I will not say yes or no. That's because I'm not fully enlightened to provide an answer to such a question!

But personally, I would say there is no coincidence in life. Things happen for a reason, and if you happen to be a victim of an earthquake or a tornado or a tsunami, you are probably there at the right time and the right moment for some reason.



Everything is happening perfectly. There are no chaos or random events although they may not seem to be so.

That is why do not fight life. Do not fight events and circumstances in your life. Instead accept them and go with the flow. Start thinking positively and create positive energies. Even though it may seem that your life is fated, I believe that we are in this world to create and re-create.

You can change your fate. You can change your beliefs. And as such, you can change your life for the better.

For more information on this topic, read books by the following authors - Deepak Chopra, Wayne W Dyer, Neale Donald Walsch, Christopher Stone, Shakti Gawain, Esther Hicks, Masaru Emoto, Eckhart Tolle.

Note: I am taking a break from my usual Bali travel posts. They will be back in my next upcoming post, so stay tuned : )

By the time you finish reading this post, you will know why I must visit Tanah Lot again!

And it has nothing to do with Tanah Lot being so nice and beautiful that I must go there again. Nope, there is another reason but it will be revealed later in this post, so keep reading!

But before that, let me recap my second day in Bali. I had a nice massage in the morning then went for delicious Nasi Padang lunch at Natrabu before proceeding to Pura Taman Ayun to see the magnificent merus.

There were four of us on this trip - 2 guys and 2 girls. One more guy would be joining us before the day was over. It was unlucky for him as his boss rejected his leave due to some urgent matters despite an earlier approval. For this, he had to fork out an additional RM200 due to flight changes penalty. I really think his boss should pay for it!!

Anyway, the poor guy could not make it in time to join us for our next destination which was Pura Tanah Lot, which literally translates to Temple Of Land In The Sea.

This is the entrance to Tanah Lot beach.



Do you like that beautiful looking gate?

Oh, before reach this gate, we went through rows and rows of souvenir stalls and I saw something that caught of my eye.



Obscene? Not to the Balinese!

I should have bought some of these souvenirs back, shouldn't I? I did not know why I did not but OK, this is a good reason to return to Bali for a second visit. Haha!

But no, THIS is NOT the reason why I must visit Tanah Lot again! Keep reading, yes? : )

Passing through the gate, I saw this statue and I posed for a photo here.



Now of course you don't see me in this photo because I do not reveal my face online! Haha!

I always take 2 photos of the same scenery during my travel, one with me in it and the other without. The ones without me in them would be placed in this blog. Haha!

Of course the photos without me look much better....and no, please don't jump to conclusions!! It has nothing to do with me being in the photos! The reason why photos with me in them do not look so nice is because those photos were taken by other people and therefore, the quality is NOT guaranteed. Haha!!

OK, I guess none of you is laughing, so let's move on....: )



There were quite a lot of people that day. I did not like so many people but it was going to be sunset soon and most people come here for the sunset.



It was said that Tanah Lot looked really spectacular during the sunset. I was so excited!



That's the Tanah Lot temple in the photo above!

Yes, it's actually just a temple standing on a rock formation in the sea!



The above is another much smaller rock formation next to the Tanah Lot temple.



Located at the southwest coast of Bali, about 20km from Denpasar, Pura Tanah Lot (or Tanah Lot Temple) is said to be founded by the 16th century priest, Nirartha, one of the last priests to come to Bali from Java.

One of the most famous temples out of the total of 7 sea temples along the Bali coastline, Tanah Lot is dedicated to the guardian spirits of the sea. The temple itself is also guarded by poisonous sea snakes that inhabit the caves below.



As the temple is surrounded by water, it would not be usually accessible during high tide. However, even during low tide, visitors are not allowed to enter the temple. As such, we could only view the temple from afar.

There were other temples on the main land and I took a photo of one of the temples' entrance.



Notice the similar looking gate structure? I think I am beginning to love Balinese architecture!

As it was going to be sunset soon, I quickly scouted around for a good location to take sunset pictures! I climbed up the walkway and reached rows of restaurants at the edge of a cliff facing the sea.



It would be nice to dine here and take photos of the sunset!



Alas, it was not to be!

Both my female friends complained of headaches due to the heat and wanted to return to their hotel room! I could not believe it!

I had come all the way to Tanah Lot famous for its spectacular sunset ......to miss the sunset? No! No! No! Nooooo!!!!

I protested but there seemed to be little choice for me. One of my female friends looked really sick and she was suffering from nausea due to the headache and could hardly walk any further. We had only one driver to take us around so it was decided that we leave Tanah Lot.

Actually, come to think of it, the ladies could have just rested in the car while we guys continued to enjoy the sunset. Oh well!! It was such a wasted opportunity and my biggest regret during this Bali trip!

So I could only take a few more photos of Tanah Lot before we left.



And that's the reason why I must return to Tanah Lot again .... for the spectacular sunset!



Of course, I will make sure those 2 ladies will not be there with me! Haha!



Anyone game to be my travel partner for my second Bali trip?

After tasting my first Nasi Padang lunch at Natrabu in Sanur, we proceeded to Pura Taman Ayun.

Located near the village of Mengwi about 8km southwest of Ubud and 18km northwest of Denpasar, Taman Ayun is actually made up of temples in the middle of a beautiful park.

This view greeted us when we reached there.



The place was surrounded by a broad river (or canal) which you see in the photo above and could only be entered from this gate-like structure.



One of the stone-carved statue near the entrance.



If I am not mistaken, the entrance fee was 10,000 rupiah (RM3.70).

Once we got past the gate and paid for our tickets, we walked along a straight paved footpath and came across this unique looking fountain.




The fountain, which was located in the middle of a small square pond, has 9 water jets. When I took this photo, the water was shooting out of the four main cardinal directions.

The other 4 water jets are located at the 4 sub-cardinal points and the remaining ninth is at the centre, possibly symbolizing the nine main gods of Balinese Hinduism.

As we walked further in, I saw this gazebo-like structure and took a photo of it.



Yes, it's the same structure you saw on the right side of the first photo above.

Not far from here, I came across another structure.



I enjoyed looking at all those intricate carvings! Quickly took another photo from a different angle.



I thought the paved footpath looked beautiful as we left that structure far behind us!



There were not many tourists around and we felt good having the whole park to ourselves! Haha!

Taman Ayun literally means "Beautiful Garden" and walking here, I could not agree to it more!

We soon reached the entrance gate to the main temple courtyard.



We took a lot of photos of ourselves here but of course none of them would appear on this blog. LOL!



Visitors are not allowed access to this holy temple courtyard which was walled all around. It is only opened during important religious ceremonies.

Can you see the figurines or statues at the side of this tall gate?



As we were not allowed access to the temple courtyard, we could only walk outside its wall.



I love walking along this pathway! I could spend a long time here if I wanted!

From the photo below, the temple courtyard was on the right side bordered by a wall almost as tall as me. Do you see that tall pagoda-like structure unique to Bali in the distance?



That's the layered tower found in many places in Bali! It's actually a multi-roofed shrine called meru.

I quickened my pace as I was excited to see this meru up close!!



And then I reached this spot and I just stopped there as I was in awe!



There were lots of merus here! Finally I got to see them with my own eyes instead of pictures in travel brochures or books!



Can you count how many tiered roofs were on these beautiful merus?



Looking at these amazing structures made me keen to find out the history behind them.



I learnt that Pura Taman Ayun was originally built in 1634 by the King of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Putu. Temples were built to honour deified ancestors of the Raja Dynasty of Mengwi and other important gods.



The Mengwi Kings used Taman Ayun as burial grounds, and later merus were built on top of their graves and became temples.



I counted the number of tiered roofs and found some merus had only five or seven tiered roofs, whereas the taller ones had nine or eleven!



After spending about an hour at the park, we left.

I was thirsty and as soon as we exited the park, I quickly bought a coconut drink from a stall across the road. Look! The coconut was huge!! I had a hard time finishing it all by myself!



What an interesting afternoon at Pura Taman Ayun! Before we left, I took one last shot of the beautiful view that first greeted us when we arrived earlier.



Coming up next : Why I Must Visit Tanah Lot A Second Time!!

On the second day of my Bali trip, my friend brought the other two friends who stayed at Mercure Hotel in Kuta to Jenggala Keramik as they were interested to buy some ceramics there.

Since I have been there the day before, I decided not to follow my friend. So what did I do all alone by myself?

Well, after the yummy breakfast, my friend left to meet up with the other two while I decided to go for a massage! Yes! A body scrub and massage to be exact!

I had the massage in my hotel room. It was an enjoyable two-hour massage and body scrub and I paid only 200,000 rupiah (RM74)!! Totally worth it, don't you agree?

After the refreshing massage, I actually felt like going to sleep, but it was time to meet up with my three friends for lunch.

We had lunch at Natrabu Restaurant in Sanur.



Do you like the three tiered umbrellas on both side of the entrance?

Natrabu, I discovered, is a famous Nasi Padang restaurant in Indonesia. They serve Minangkabau cuisine from Padang, a city in West Sumatra.

The special thing about this restaurant is that they do not provide you with a menu. I asked for a menu but they said they have none! So how to order?

Well, soon after we were seated, the waiters brought to our table a large selection of dishes!



OK, the selection of dishes were larger than what was shown in the photo above, but I only managed to take this photo! Oh, well....

We were supposed to pick which of the dishes we want! They would charge you only for the dishes you eat.

And so, we chose these....











We actually ate much more than what was shown above but I did not take photos of them all! That was because everyone was hungry and they could not wait for me to take pictures! Besides, none of my three friends knew I was a blogger! And I did not intend to tell them...haha!

My friends love the food, but honestly I did not find them that nice! It was not bad, but I certainly would not crave for them!



After lunch, we went to Pura Taman Ayun which our driver highly recommended. Well, as I love nature, the word "Taman" (meaning park or garden) sounded good to me!

Stay tuned for my next post on this famous Taman Ayun!