Once we announced our SE Asia Adventure, previous visitors advised us ( I guess demanded is a better word), that we visit the small eastern island of Indonesia known as, Bali. There are two unique experiences to be had in Bali, a mountainous retreat set in the hills amongst rice paddies and a thriving beach/surfer scene in the south. The past four days we spent our time experiencing "tropical paradise""
The Balinese people are a very friendly, easy going, industrious people and their hospitality is second to none. They work very hard and similar to most third-world countries it appears every family runs its own business entity.
We have enjoyed some fantastic Balinese meals including dining on a beach with fresh seafood, you choose the fish live from tanks and they grill it for you. Every meal comes with fantastic fried rice called Nasi Gorang plus live entertainment (ML even tried her hand at it) and best of all, the beers are about $1.50 a piece.
Also, they are a very religious people and each day they make small offerings, complete with food, incense and flowers to bring them good luck! Also, it seems every street corner has a small temple for daily worship. We had the opportunity to visit Ulu Watu, one of the most famous Island temples, it is perched on the East end of the Island and serves to protect the people and their land from Evil spirits in the East. The guardians of this temple are a roving band of monkeys, who are fed by worshipers, as the monkeys are believed to bring them good luck. In our humble opinion they look pretty fat, plus locals warn they are trained to steal your belongings, which leads to a ransom from their trainers!
Not to be left out, Meredith has also made a religious pilgrimage to the many shopping streets of Seminyak. Here she is in front of an aptly named store, Liberty.
After our four days in the southern beaches, we cut our time short, and are now headed to Ubud in central Bali to experience the Mountain regions and hopefully take in some more Balinese hospitality, cooking classes & elephant riding. On a final note, the people are very nice, the food delicious, the landscape has some potential, but overall we didn't care for the southern beaches. It was just too crowded (we did not realize, but now do, that Indonesia has the 4th largest population in the world), too resort oriented, and really didn't represent the "tropical paradise" we anticipated.
The Balinese people are a very friendly, easy going, industrious people and their hospitality is second to none. They work very hard and similar to most third-world countries it appears every family runs its own business entity.
We have enjoyed some fantastic Balinese meals including dining on a beach with fresh seafood, you choose the fish live from tanks and they grill it for you. Every meal comes with fantastic fried rice called Nasi Gorang plus live entertainment (ML even tried her hand at it) and best of all, the beers are about $1.50 a piece.
Also, they are a very religious people and each day they make small offerings, complete with food, incense and flowers to bring them good luck! Also, it seems every street corner has a small temple for daily worship. We had the opportunity to visit Ulu Watu, one of the most famous Island temples, it is perched on the East end of the Island and serves to protect the people and their land from Evil spirits in the East. The guardians of this temple are a roving band of monkeys, who are fed by worshipers, as the monkeys are believed to bring them good luck. In our humble opinion they look pretty fat, plus locals warn they are trained to steal your belongings, which leads to a ransom from their trainers!
Not to be left out, Meredith has also made a religious pilgrimage to the many shopping streets of Seminyak. Here she is in front of an aptly named store, Liberty.
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