I didn’t expect to spend a morning with my jacket on and still get trapped in a super cold weather in Bali. Yes, Bali, the island of God that is known for its beautiful beaches and a perfect destination for those who want to runaway from an awful winter. My friend, Etta, who had been living for a year in Bali brought me to Bedugul. We woke up super early morning and started our ride to Bedugul. One thing for sure… I regret that I brought ONLY one sweater to Bali that time.

The road was quite empty. I looked on my watch and it was 6AM in the morning. We went there by a motorcycle during the rainy season. It wasn’t raining that morning. All was good. Too bad I didn’t forecast the temperature and strong wind. I never expected this cold temperature! Etta was persistent not to wear her jacket at that moment, only to realise that she was freezing cold in a few minutes after. My right palm held my iPhone with Google Maps ready while my left palm was hiding inside my pocket.

We departed from East Denpasar and we followed what Google Maps told us where to go. At the beginning, we passed houses till there were barely any. Then at one point, Etta spotted two gardens full of Gemitir. She asked me if we wanted to stop for a minute.

“What is there?” I asked. I didn’t pay attention to what we have been passed.

“I’ll show you Gemitir! We have to take pictures there,” she took a turn back to the Gemitir garden.

We stumbled upon not only one garden full of gemitirs, but two! One garden was located next to a soto (chicken soup) restaurant while one looked wilder without any fences around and taller trees. Since we were hungry, we parked our motorcycle at the restaurant, order two bowls, then we walked down to the garden. It was my first time recognizing gemitir. The name itself sounded so strange to my ear. Gemitir is usually used for sesajen or offering during the religious Hindu ceremony in Bali. Surprisingly, the flower is beautiful! Gemitir attracted us with its colourful orange and big size (compared to several other flowers, yes it is..big!).

A warm Soto was a perfect choice (well, it was the only one we found that opened at that time) for this cold weather. Not to mention, how breathtaking what was in front of our eyes, how fresh the air was, and how grateful we were for all of these. Soto Cak Mitir tasted a bit salty for our tongue buds, but its saltiness was still OK as long as we could add sweet soy sauce in it.

So how to stumble upon these gardens full of gemitir like we did? A good news for us all! I found Soto Cak Mitir’s location on Google Maps (attached below). Follow this direction and find one garden next to it. The other one was 2 minutes after Soto Cak Mitir. Two things to remember before looking for Gemitir: (1) it is used for religious ceremonies so you will barely find this during  any ceremony period; and (2) pls make sure not to step on the trees and take the flowers off.

Hope you stumble upon it!

Cheers,