19 June - Taman Ayun and Tanah Lot, Balid

Woke this morning to the sound of pouring rain, which continued till well after breakfast. We had booked a car and driver for this afternoon and we were just considering postponing our outing when the sun broke through and a brilliant day emerged. At two o'clock our car and driver arrived to takes us to two sites which interested us. The first was Taman Ayun which is the family temple of the last royal family of Bali. This historic site set in beautiful gardens is an absolutely magnificent example of Hindu religious architecture and we really enjoyed our 45 minute visit here.

After that is was back in the car and a drive through the Bali countryside and rice paddies to the Temple of Tanah Lot. Located on Bali's west coast this is probably one of the island's most spectacular sites. Once again it consists of a number of Hindu temples and shrines which date back to antiquity and are located on rocky outcrops off shore. At low tide they are accessible by foot but the most spectacular view is actually from on-shore.

This site draws an incredible number of visitors late in the afternoon because if you're lucky enough to witness the sun setting behind the temples it is an awesome sight.

We arrived at about 5 pm, just in time to have a good look around before choosing a good photo location for the sunset. I managed to find a good spot and waited for 30 minutes to take lots of photos of the setting sun. 

What a great afternoon driving through Bali's countryside and ending in a magnificent sunset over the temple of Tanah Lot. From here it was another hour's drive back to our hotel. At this stage we were too tired to think about going out for dinner and we had gin and tonics and room service club sandwiches to finish the day.