Bali Tour Guide

Do you know that Balinese eat cooked bee hives? Have you this in your country? Cooked bee hives can be very tasty that many Balinese like eating them. In one occasion on a tour, I have a chance to take my clients to a local market in Denpasar in Kreneng village. It is a quite interesting market, because you can learn more about how the Balinese live. In the market, you will see people selling daily needs, such as fish, meat, vegetables, fruit and cakes. Going further into the market you will find different things, perhaps, than what you can get in your market at home. In a Bali market, you can find many  people who sell many different things. For example, one most interesting is people selling bee hives. Be hives are sold in the fish or vegetable section.  When I asked the seller, how much it was a kilogram of bee hive (at the time of I wrote this post), she said, “it’s eighty thousand rupiah or about USD 8”. So, how do Balinese you eat bee hives? No, the Balinese don’t eat the

If you like monkeys,  it's great news.  There are   plenty of them in Bali.  Some of them are luckier than other because they live in tourist area that they are well fed by locals. Some may need to steal glasses,  hair clips,  or sandals before they can eat their lunch.  Most of them live in the wild and occasionally can be spotted as we drive through forestry area. One of the place you can stop is an area near Lake Buyan. This is the street that leads to North Bali. On the way to your tour, especially touring to Singaraja, you can stop at this place. You don't have to go touring just for stopping here. If your hotel in Lovina, for instance, you can stop here during your ride to your hotel. Usually there is a lady who sell banana or peanuts that you can feed this long tailed macaques. But she will not be available all the time selling banana. If she is there, it is  a good idea to buy banana from her to feed the monkey. You can just take photos, if you are a photographer

Consider it's  a treat when you can take photos of the Balinese ladies going to the temple carrying offering on their head. Not every day you can witness such scene.  It only happen during major temple festival. A temple festival take place every 210 days.  A festival in one temple does not necessarily mean a festival in other temple.That means during your visit to Bali, you probably find some ladies bringing their offering to the temple. There are many temples in Bali, and one or two temple have their festival times. You may see these ladies. You can ask politely to take photo with them. Usually they do not mind when tourist take their photos. One thing to remember is that the offering can be very heavy. So, they would not like to stand still for long time or it is going to be hard for them to pose other than what you can see: one hand holding the offering. If you think, you would like to try to carry the offering, let me tell you, it's not a good idea. Because it is h

Here is the photo of Mount  Batur on a bright day with clear blue sky.  I took it on my recent visit with my clients. I was amazed by how beautiful it was with no clouds around the mount. We went to restaurant to have lunch overlooking the view of the mount Batur. There were many restaurants around the volcano.  You also can stop here and have lunch while looking at the view.  Most of the Restaurant serves buffet for lunch.  But you can order ala carte as well. Mount Batur, in Kintamani, is a must see place when you visit Bali.  It's located in Bangli regency, 2 hours drive from Denpasar.

So,  you have tried the fried rice,  the chicken satay,  sate lilit, or the babi guling. You have eaten in restaurant that serve Indonesian buffet,  you have had sea food in Jimbaran, and tried most of the Balinese food and beverage including the rice wine and luwak coffee.  Now, it's time for you to get back to what you used to eat.  McDonald. This is what my client said.  When they need a rest of eating the local food,  then they can go back eating western food.  One of the many options available is McDonald. There are different item in the menu in you can find there which is not available in western countries. Beside hamburgers, fried chicken,  they serve steamed rice.  This is because many Balinese also fond of having their meal at McD, especially children. Something else you might like to know,  they serve delivery. 

Ceking Village in area of Tegalalang has become a must stop for rice teraces view. The village is located north of Ubud. Driving for about 15 minutes, you will arrive at the border of of Ceking Village. The people who is in charge in the village will stop your vehicle and ask you if you would like to stop and take photos of the rice terraces. If you plan to stop, you then need to pay 5000 per person donation to the village. If you just want to pass by, without stopping and taking photo, then you don't need to pay anything. Why pay for view?? You may ask and think that the village has become to commercialized. In the past, let say 5 years ago, people did not need to pay. But since there were so many people stopping in this place, the street became so congested. Soon, there was traffic jam.  Now, with the local helping to direct the traffic and helping to park the vehicles, the traffic does not turn bad. People can enjoy the view and not bothered by traffic. So, that's wha

Tanah Lot is the most popular tourist destination in Bali in the sun set time. But during the day, there are still many tourists in the temple. The temple, the wave, the rock on the beach, and the lush vegetation will always be still beautiful to see despite the time you come. On a visit,  I probably arrived there at 4 in the afternoon. I was with client from South Africa. I took them for a walk on the higher ground west of the temple. From a small cliff, just west of the temple, you can take photo of yourself and have the temple as the background in the east. From that place, the temple looked so small. But, for myself, this is the best place to take photo. Other place to take photo is a higher ground in front of the temple.  Again,  you will put the temple behind you. The Tanah Lot maybe be also popular for sunset, but perfect sunset is rare. The sun may go behind cloud. It doesn't mean you can not enjoy the view if you don't see the sunset,  you can even go earlier there

I was having my lunch at cafe Lotus in Ubud,  (yes,  of course,  it's in Bali), and had some time to walk around the cafe. It's was hot day, and the skywas bright with little grey cloud scattered here and there.  But I could feel the heat and the humidity. There was a pond near by the cafe.  All the guests have clear view to the beautiful lotus pond and the temple beyond the pond.  It was a refreshing view. I took some photos of the pond,  and this is the best photo (I think) so you may enjoy it. I did order a plate of nasi goreng or fried rice.  Then I told myself,  as I was eating,  that I shouldn't eat lots of fried food. But I order it because it was quick and my clients might finish eating at any time. So,  if you're in Bali or Indonesia you will encounter lots of fried food but you'll be eating at beautiful restaurant most of the time.

Gitgit waterfall is located in north Bali. Gitgit is the name of the village, since the waterfall is located in this village, that's why it is called Gitgit waterfall. I guess. There are more than one waterfall in Gitgit. Maybe there are three. I chose the oldest one, because the path to the waterfall is quite well maintained. For those who loves adventures, you may chose the other waterfalls. The path to the waterfal is about 350 meters long. And before you say it is not that far, remember the path is not flat, but it is up and down with stairs here and there. So, for those who don't visit gym regularly, it is quite a struggle.   This is Jerlyn, from Singapore. She said that Niagara waterfall is much bigger than Gitgit waterfal. Well, I am speechless. Never been to Niagara waterfall.   The photo of sign board that says Welcome to Gitgit Waterfall. If you don't see any waterfall in this photo, it's because it's not there.  You need to start