Bali Tour Guide

This is my favorite holiday as a kid years ago, (feel like yesterday, though). I feel that everybody goes to the temples on this day. Well, of course that's not true, some may stay home because of certain reason. Back to me as a kid, it was my happy moment. This was the time I got new clothes from my parents  and some money that I can spend the way I like it. I think every Balinese kid will be happier at the Galungan day because they can wear their best clothes. Maybe it is not always new, but you know what I mean. But the atmosphere is different than the normal day. There is peacefulness in the air. A sense of holiness and celebration. This is a day that nobody should go to work or goes to school. Everybody should go home and meet their parents or families and exchange news. At home in the village, I imagine the conversation will start with " he, kenken kabare, tumben ngenah? " (hei how are you? long time no see? )  " Dije jani megae, Yan ? ( Where do you

Here are some photos I have taken during working as tour guide in Bali. I took these photos in several locations including Tegalalang village, Pupuan Village, Belimbing village and also the popular Jatiluwih village. If you have the chance to visit Bali, I recommend you to visit some of those villages, or all if you can, to enjoy breathtaking views.

Jimbaran bay is a great place for spending time relaxing by the beach.  You can go there in the evening at about 6 and enjoy the sunset on the beach. Your kids probably likes running around and playing around the beach.  You can order the food at the restaurant or cafe where you stop for dinner. One of my favorite place for dinner in Jimbaran is in Kelan village.  This is toward northern end of the bay.  It's located closer to the airport,  but far enough that you can't hear the sound of the planes. I like this place because it's more quiet.  There are not many cafe near by so there are less people.  There are music,  but they are not so loud. In the main area of Jimbaran, where most of the cafes or restaurants are located,  there are usually lots  of traffic. Traffic in Kelan is less,  hence it's easy to drive around. This photo is from one of the cafe in Kelan.

Sometimes ago if you passed Tegalalang and wanting to see the view of the rice terraces, you'd be surprised with the huge letters spread out on the main hill of the rice fields. It says "NOT FOR SALE". For some of the tourists who would like to take photo of just the rice terraces, that would be a problem. So, anyone wanting to take photo of the rice field will have to include the letters. The letters not for sale was actually from one of a Bali artist who also concerned about the environmental issue in Bali. I have no more information about this, nor that I have the capacity to talk deeper about this. But one thing for sure, that there is a fast decrease of the rice field area in Bali every year. A lot of the rice field in Bali has been converted into housing area. With more people, as the population grows, Bali needs more housing. And for this we converted rice field into housing. Another reason for a conversion, because people build more hotels and villas arou

I still remember when I first went to Ubud marrket in early 2000. This was before it was renovated. Now everything has changed. In the past, once you get into the market you would see the sellers were everywhere, they would lie down their merchandise in the ground. As I walked around the market, you walk down path where you need to walk carefully at certain point so you don't step into any merchandise for selling. Most of the sellers just lie down their sellers in the open. Can you imagine what happen to them if it was raining? They would probably packed up their merchendise. I enjoy watching those merchandise for display everywhere. It was colorful. They were mostly souvenirs. You could see wood carving, wind chimes, table decoration, fans, wall decoration, painting, ash tray, bottle opener (which usually very obscene, but it is a different kind of sense of humor).They were all differet in colours and it is a real treat for the eye, and walking in the forest of souvenir mak

Maybe you come to Bali for not just holiday, but you want to learn about the local culture. One way to do it is learning Balinese dance. There are many studio where the Balinese kids learning to dance. They are scattered all over Bali. One that I would like to present here is Sudi Dancing School in Blahbatuh. Every afternoon boys and girls from 4 to 15 years old come to the house of Mr. Sudi. Mr. Sudi and his wife, Made, were both dancers. They call their home Sudi Dancing School. But it is not like a formal school where you see many children studying in class room. This is very informal way of learning. The idea to start this school, according to Mr. Sudi, more than ten years ago, was to prepare the Balinese local children so they can perform dancing at the temple ceremony at their village. That's the main reason. In Bali, there are three kind of dances: dance that dedicated for God or sacred dance, next the social dance, and the last is public performance dance. As you can see

This morning I went to Nusa Dua from Denpasar.  I drive via the toll bridge. That will save me about 45 minutes. Instead of going for one hour drive, I could cut it into 10 minutes. If you are in Bali, you may want to use this toll bridge to save time whenever you go on tour provided that your hotel is located in Nusa Dua or Jimbaran.  If you stay in Kuta, Legian or Seminyak, there is no need to use this toll it does not connect to that places. Going on the toll, you can see quite beatiful scenery of the Benoa harbor and the mangroves along the toll. In certain area of the sea, you can see fisherman boats, and people going fishing on small boats. Maybe there is no time to capture that with your camera, because you can not stop. But this scenery is great alternative to the traffic jam you may encounter when you drive through the normal route. Besides Nusa Dua, one end of the toll bridge is the Ngurah Rai statue which is close the airport. This means if  you're just arri

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