Wandering Fel

Hong Kong Travel: Fun Summer Day at Hong Kong Disneyland

After the cute train ride from Central to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, we have finally arrived at the main gate of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. Hello, Mickey!

You need to walk for a distance from the entrance to the main ticketing area. But thankfully, the walk is quite fun because there are a lot of photo objects in the middle of the walk. I mean, a fountain with Mickey Mouse on the top is definitely a photogenic object right? =)

Mickey Mouse Fountain at Hong Kong Disneyland

Mickey's best pal, Goofy is also having fun playing in the fountain. At the other side of the fountain, you can see Donald Duck is having fun here too.

A few clicks after, we have finally reached the ticketing counter. We did not buy online ticket beforehand because we did not really see the need here. The Hong Kong's (and China's I guess) crowd is not as bad as the crowd in Tokyo Disneyland Resort.

Ticket counter at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

I really love my ticket stub. It has Wizard Mickey from Fantasia on its cover. ^^

Wizard Mickey Fantasia Hong Kong Disneyland Ticket

My friend has Stitch on her ticket. Last time, there is this Star Pass which you can buy together with your tickets. The Star Pass basically gives you an exclusive privilege to queue at the faster lane for certain rides. But based on my latest check on Hong Kong Disneyland Resort's website, it seems that Star Pass is no longer sold. =(

One day adult ticket costs 499 HKD while two days adult ticket costs 680 HKD. Personally, I don't think you need two days to play all the rides in Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

Find great hotel deals in Hong Kong here.

Bali Travel: The Other Twin of the Twin Temples at Batuan, Pura Puseh

We were just talking about the Pura Dasar in the previous post and now, we visited the other temple called Pura Puseh. No wonder both Pura Dasar and Pura Puseh are referred to as "Twin Temples". The design of the temples are really similar like a total imitation of each other. For instance, the temple gate of Pura Puseh has already shown a lot of similarity to the one of Pura Dasar.

Welcome to Pura Puseh! The temple has an inscription carved on the stone reflecting the date of the construction. The details are now carved in the more modern way to make sure it is not gonna fade. The Balinese date is equivalent to 1022 AD.

The Other Twin of the Twin Temples at Batuan Pura Puseh

Close up look of Pura Puseh, which is pretty much heavily influenced by Ubud style of carving.

Roarr! This statue may look like a those Chinese lions used to perform lion dance during Chinese New Year. Well...it is really a lion-like creature but Barong is depicted as the king of spirits, leader of the hosts of good and enemy of Rangda, the demon queen and mother of all spirit guarders in the mythological traditions of Bali.

A few steps away, there is a statue of Balinese woman which is praying to the god.

Randomly spotted a beautiful purple flower too in the temple complex. I really love this kind of random finding during a trip. =)

Find great hotel deals in Bali here.

Bali Travel: Introducing the First of the Twin Temples at Batuan, Pura Dasar

Batuan is a village in Bali, Indonesia, which is famous for its artwork and style of paintings. The arts began in 1930s and it has now become major Balinese artistic style called Batuan painting. There are two temples on the western part of the Village which are known as Pura Puseh and Pura Dasar. Both temples are referred to as the "twin temples". Below is the picture of Pura Dasar.

As this is a religious site, visitors will be given a "sarong", which is basically a cloth to cover lower part of your body. Inside the complex of the temple, we saw a table is being set up for the offerings.

Offering table at Pura Dasar Batuan Bali

This is how a common offerings look like in Bali. You will definitely see one when you are walking around Bali island.

A lot of visitors come to Batuan to admire the elaborate carving of the temples in Batuan. The carving goes all the way to the year 1000s when Batuan is ruled by a royal Balinese empire.

The story goes on to the declining power of the royal Balinese empire which was due to a priest's curse. As a result of the curse, the royal family members are scattered to different parts of the island. The historical structure of Pura Dasar is still well maintained though notwithstanding the fact that the area has possibly changing hands so many times from one dynasty to another dynasty.

Building Structure at Pura Dasar Batuan Bali

Other than admiring the historical statues and structures, there are a lot of art performances held at these traditional Balinese houses set up inside the temple complex. For instance, visitors can enjoy watching a performance of the local dance called Gambuh.

Local dance performance performed at Batuan Bali Indonesia

Find great hotel deals in Bali here.