A Tour Memory with Mikhail Semenov and Zenya from Rusia

On February 21 I handled a couple from Russia, Mr and Mrs Semenov from Russia on a one-day Kintamani tour.

I picked them up from their villa, Pat Mase Villas, Jimbaran at 8.30. The places we planned to visit as already listed were Toh Pati (batik center), Celuk (silver works center), Batuan village (11th century Batuan temple), Ubud (monkey forest and Antonio Blanco museum), Agro Tourism (coffee plantation and other tropical plants, and Kintamani (view of Mount and Lake Batur).

This was a private tour with only two passengers on the car. We used air conditioning Avanza, a small convenient car which is very ideal for a small group of passengers.

It was such a good morning when we started the tour. The sky looked so clear  and the weather in general was very good. We used two languages, English and Russian for our communication. They don't speak English so much, on the contrary I don't speak Russian well. But, everything went on smoothly since we tried to understand each other in spite of  the handicap in the language.

First, we visited Legong batik. It is one of the several Batik houses in Tohpati and Batubulan which provides exhibition of Batik making process as well as display of the batik works. Visitors can witness how some batik painters dance their fingers to draw special batik patterns on a piece of white cloth/ fabric. With their long experience in their work they can fluently draw special pattern without looking at a sample. This is such a unique skill.

We then continued our trip to Celuk. This is a place where you can see different kinds of exotic silver works. The gallery we visited was sari Dewi. This is one of the galleries with the most collection of artistic  silver and gold works. You will also see how Balinese silver smiths intricately create  a variety of silver work arts.

From Celuk we continued to Batuan. It is only 15 minute drive. After you signed up at the guest list and wore slash and sarong as a decent costume when entering holy places in Bali, you step up into the temple. Here you will be brought into a serene and contemplative atmosphere inside the 11th century temple. Beautiful ornaments and refined carving around the temple are the main interesting sightseeing at the temple. This is one of the most beautiful and visited temple in Bali.

The following tourist object was Mas. This is a village of wood carvings. Here you can see how Balinese skilled sculptors carve wood and change them into such an artistic and valuable art works.