Bali Island Paradise Magic
“…like tea dissolving in hot water, the sun dissolved in the sky… creating a velvet horizon, announcing for the stars’ night dance with the moon, the awaited joy…” reads a lyrical description penned by writer Abeer Allan about her experiences traveling in the Bali island paradise.
The adventures in the novel Eat Pray Love begin in Italy where Elizabeth Gilbert (played by Julie Roberts in the movie) rekindles her passion for food and life. In India she prays in an ashram to reconnect with her self. Bali is her third stop to find love. Coincidentally, our year long around-the-world Adventure of a Lifetime also started by living in Italy for two months. Ultimately, our travels and adventures took us to 39 countries including India, when we visited Bali we embraced our experiences by completing our own Eat, Pray, Love journey.
Making the Most of 1 Day in a Bali Island Paradise
Unlike the movie, our travels only afforded us a single day in Bali to experience this magical Bali island paradise. The challenge was how to make the most of our short time here. The solution was a private guide. As we exited the cruise terminal, we saw a scrum of taxis and private guides lined up. A friendly English-speaking guide approached us offering to show us around the island. His friendly manner and engaging smile was all we needed, and off we went.
We explained we wanted interesting local Bali cultural and off-the-beaten-track experiences. We trusted our guide’s recommendations as we sped away from the developed terminal area into the rural countryside. Big buildings quickly gave way to small villages and then to rice fields.
Interesting contrasts of modern streets filled with cars and scooters (scooters seem to be the predominate mode of transportation throughout Southeast Asia) versus rural dirt lanes where walkers compete with vehicles. A familiar sight in SE Asia was the nice home above the family business at street level.
It is common to see hand pushed food carts next to restaurants with modern art and sculpture displays. This highlights the evolving culture with the old competing with the new.
There were streets lined with shops where all size and manner of statues, Buddhas and deities were available for purchase to adorn your home and garden. This is just one of more than twenty shops on this one short block.
We Were Surprised
Bali is one of the 18,000 islands that make up the nation of Indonesia. With its population of 264 million residents, Indonesia is the fourth largest country and the third largest democracy on the planet.
While most of the nation of Indonesia’s 264 million citizens are Muslim, nearly 85% of the island of Bali’s 4.2 million residents are Balinese Hindus.
Bali was first inhabited around 2500 BC and significantly impacted by Dutch colonization during the spice trade era of the 1500s. Today, there are about 250 ethnic groups. The Balinease have genetic connections to Chinese and Malay, with traces of Polynesian and Melanesian mixed in with Indian and Javanese.
Balinese Hinduism
A unique blend of local customs and Hindu traditions creates the Balinese Hindu religious beliefs of most of Bali’s population.
We saw numerous temples as we drove both in the villages and the countryside. Different temples honor different gods and deities.
Outside of most homes and businesses are small shrines with offerings to the gods. We saw a bank employee bringing fresh food offerings to the gods at the small shrine outside the bank’s front doors.
Colorful Batik
BATIK is a method of dying cloth by applying wax, dying the cloth one color, melting the wax in boiling water, and then repeating many times for multiple colors. Indonesia is known around the world as THE home of the best batik. So much so that UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”.
We visited Legong Batik, one of the many quality batik factories on Bali. In the factory the process was displayed from weaving the cloth on a loom to the artists applying the wax to create beautiful designs.
In the showroom we shopped and found many treasures both as memories of our visit to Bali, and also a gifts for family and friends.
Besides clothes, they also create sarongs, art and bolts of beautiful designs for you to create your own projects.
Best Cup of Java on the Planet
Arguably, some of the best coffee on the planet comes from Indonesia. Its even referred to sometimes as a cup of JAVA. A tip of the hat to Java, Indonesia, the next island to the east of Bali. Our next stop was the Jambe Asri Agrotourism Coffee Plantation.
After learning about the different types of coffees, we got to meet some little furry friends – the Luwaks.
Luwaks
Luwaks live in the trees, and one of their favorite foods are the red coffee cherry beans. The Luwaks sniff out and eat only the best beans. The beans ferment in their digestive track and then ‘exit the digestive track’ where it is collected from the forest floor. These fermented Luwak beans are then ground, roasted and brewed to make an exceptionally rich cup of coffee.
We tried our hand at grinding the beans and checking out the roasting process. The smells were rich, woody and intoxicating.
Tasting Time
We were presented with a complimentary tasting sampler of thirteen different types of coffee and tea. The real superstar was the full cup of Luwak coffee. After tasting and comparing the rich flavors, and subtle differences of the flavorings, we went to the store to pick out a couple of our favorites. Choosing was hard, but we narrowed it down to four different coffee flavors and a tea.
As we were leaving, there was a ‘pet’ fruit bat hanging around for pictures. It is a little hard to tell from the picture below, but this guy is almost three feet long from his nose to his very sharp claws.
The following week we were in Cairns Australia and saw these same fruit bats hanging around in some trees along the center median of the town’s main street. There were literally hundreds of these guys. In a large group, the bats make a loud and frightening noise as they ‘talk’ to one another.
Desa Pakraman Batuan Temple
In the village of Batuan, there are three temples; Desa, Puseh, and Dalem. Each temple is dedicated to worshiping one of the three hindu gods. The Hindu Gods are: God Brahma (the Creator), God Vishnu (the Preserver), and Lord Shiva (the Destroyer).
We visited Desa Pakraman Temple dedicated to worshiping God Brahma (the Creator).
Before entering we rented traditional sarongs to wear over our jeans. Dress is conservative when entering Hindu Temples, usually requiring shoulders and knees to be covered.
Desa Pakraman was originally built in 1020AD. For the past 1,000 years it has been cared for by the local villagers. As we entered, there was a craftsman working on a hand carving that adorns one of the buildings.
These carvings tell stories much like stained glass windows do in a Christian church.
The structures had thatched roofs. They were thick to keep the rain out, and the edges were neatly trimmed. Deities and carvings adorn every inch of all of the structures.
Hindu Beliefs
Hinduism believes there is an order in the cosmos known as dharma, and a competing or disordering force called adharma. Hindus seek to find balance between these two competing forces in order to achieve harmony. Above is one of the temple buildings with ornate gold decor. Offerings like on the right are placed near temples and deities, much like we saw the bank employee placing an offering on the shrine.
Balinese Hinduism divides the cosmos into three layers; suarga, buwah and bhur. This is similar to other religions. Suarga is the ‘heaven’ where the gods live. Buwah is here on earth where people live, and Bhur is where the demons live or ‘hell’ where peoples spirits are punished for their misdeeds on earth. Hindus further believe this is mirrored in the human body (head, body and feet) and also in the shrines outside of Baliese buildings.
A final royal photo opportunity as we left the Desa Pakraman Temple. What an excellent way to capture our memories of this special place and our exploration of the Bali Island Paradise.
One day in this Bali Island Paradise is not enough! We will be back.
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Very interesting. Thanks for the tour.
Hi Karen, Glad you enjoyed the tour of Bali.