- Hey, it's Mike from Fearless and Far
and this island has a magic you cannot deny.
(dramatic music)
(fire crackling)
(underwater bubbling)
So you know on the channel Fearless and Far,
we work pretty hard to find the strange unique places
that few venture to around the world.
I've been lucky enough to go to Bali a few times
and what always floors me is the amount of little secrets
hidden in the cracks of that island.
(camera clicking)
Some say it's overrated.
I would say it's very appropriately rated.
A lot of people go there.
It is hardly a secret.
But there are many small secrets there
and that's the point of the video today.
(upbeat music)
I'll be talking about five, that was 10 hidden secrets
on the island of Bali and I'll be geotagging
all of those in an app called Trover.
I've been sponsored by Trover this year.
It's an app that helps you discover the world around you.
And I guarantee you'll love it if you check it out.
It's free in the app store
and they're also the sponsor of this video.
Okay, getting back into it.
Number one is the sunken temple of Devata Vishnu.
30 meters under the water in Northwestern Bali,
there is a Hindu temple encrusted with coral, algaes
and other various sea critters.
The legends say 5,000 years ago it sunk into the ocean
where it's led ever since.
It was recently discovered that was total bullsh-t
and actually it was made by a local organization
called Reef Seed.
They're a dive shop and they wanted to build something
to act as artificial reef because apparently
dynamite fishing, pffw, and cyanide fishing
was a big problem in the area.
They built these very beautiful concrete structures
as a tourist attraction
but also as anchor points for coral and living spaces
for fish.
The things you have to keep in mind
if you do go there though.
Number one, is the main site is down 30 meters,
which means it's an advanced SCUBA dive
and you need your advanced open water certification.
There is a second one at 18 meters, which you can dive
with your basic open water
but it's definitely not something you can snorkel.
Also, it can't exactly be a quick trip
because you have to cross a mountain range
to get to this place in Permuteran.
So, you know you can fly and SCUBA dive,
it's kind of the same thing if you have to cross
a mountain range.
So if you do plan to go, maybe spend an extra day
checking out the Turtle Rehabilitation Center at Reef Scene.
Number two is the Ghost Palace Hotel.
Which is situated right beside a main highway
in the very middle of Bali.
There are many stories surrounding this particularly
beautiful hotel.
One of them is that the owner's corrupt business practices
haunted the place and it fell into ruin.
The second one is that one day after the hotel
was fully operational, poof, everybody just disappeared.
The third and most plausible is a son
of a very famous Indonesian president was building
this property and one of the fanciest hotels
in all of Bali.
He was then accused for corruption by the Supreme Court
and wasn't a big fan of this accusation.
So decided to have the main judge assassinated,
which failed and he got his ass imprisoned so fast,
which is why it is now abandoned today.
However, none of the stories are proven true,
it's all speculation.
So maybe everybody did just disappear one day.
Probably not though.
We paid a dollar to the guard at the main gate
to walk in and everything was golden.
You can probably still do the same.
It's worth checking out.
Number three is the USAT Liberty wreck
in the northeastern part of Bali.
And it is the only ship ever in the world
to be sunk by a volcano.
At the end of World War II, a US cargo ship
was traveling from Australia all the way
to the Philippines when it was torpedoed,
(exploding) by the Japanese.
It didn't sink it however, but it was heavily damaged
and they were trying to continue its voyage
all the way to Philippines.
It didn't make it.
They had to haul it ashore and beach it on Bali.
After most of the cargo was offloaded,
it laid there to rust.
They weren't sure that to do with the giant ship
until 1963, Mount Agung decided I'm gonna throw
it in the ocean.
It exploded killing thousands of people
and knocked this 125-meter long boat into the ocean,
where it continues to rest today.
The shallowest part of the wreck is about 8 meters,
the deepest is about 30.
That means you can actually walk from the shore
with your flippers and snorkel and SCUBA dive
this amazingly huge shipwreck.
There's not very many spots in the world,
if only this one you can do this.
It's a magical spot in the northern part of Bali.
Number four is the Temple of Goa Gajah,
which is quite famous for the giant mouth entryway
into its main chamber.
The origins of this place are unknown.
It's speculated to be a mediation chamber
from ancient monks.
One thing that they are quite certain of thought
is the seven statues that guard the front symbolize
the seven rivers of India, as well as the abundance
of menacing faces is said to scare away evil spirits,
even though they quite look like evil spirits themselves.
If near Ubud this is definitely worth checking out.
And the final and also creepiest of the list
is the Trunyan Cemetery.
Let me tell you this story.
(sighs) It's one of the most interesting I've ever
come across in all my travels.
There was a man traveling across Bali.
He smelled a beautiful smell, he found a lake,
which seemed to be the source of the smell
and he walked the perimeter of the lake finding a town.
In the town he found a multitude of people,
all trying to find this smell.
He also found a beautiful girl there.
He wanted to marry this girl and the girl said,
I will only marry you if you can find the source
of this smell and destroy it.
There's too many people loitering in my beautiful town.
This lake is at the base of Mount Batur
and as the slope meets the water,
there's a small little alcove and in this alcove
there is one tree.
Apparently it is the only tree in the world
of this species.
It gives off an incredibly beautiful smell,
it was the source.
The source that everyone's trying to find.
He went there and he discovered
if you place dead bodies under the tree,
the smell will be canceled out.
You won't smell dead bodies
and you won't smell the tree.
And he married the girl and it was a love story
for all the ages.
This still continues to this day.
And you can still go see the elderly of Trunyan
placed underneath this tree, open face
to be exposed to the elements.
There's rules and regulations to be able
to be put here.
For the locals in the town of Trunyan,
it is an honor to be placed here.
You must live a certain way to be able to have that happen.
And tourists can still go and see this place.
Warning though, it is very off putting
and if you've never seen a deceased human before
there is no censors.
There is no censors of this experience.
Bwah, I hope (laughs) you learned a few things
in the video today.
And also if you're looking to explore Bali
in a little bit different way,
I hope you've gleaned some information
off the video you can take and apply
to your own travels.
In the description below there was more information
about these locations and don't forget
to check out Trover app, the Trover list,
where you can see the exact geo locations of these
if you're looking for them in particular.
My name is Mike Corey of Fearless and Far.
And on this channel we fight our fears
and make ourselves uncomfortable to become
the best version of ourselves.
Some adventures we've been on is frog venom medicine
in the Amazon rainforest.
As well as exploding hammer festivals in Mexico.
Those are both tagged at the end of this video.
And don't forget, every month on the 5th,
I send out a list of the coolest things I've come across
over the past month, could be places, could be products,
could be whatever it is.
It's on my newsletter, you can get it for free
on the link above and below.
Dragons, chase your fears and let me know
which of these five is your favorite
in the comments as well as don't forget to subscribe
and like if you did in fact like this video.
Catch you on the next one.
Peace.
(upbeat music)