Bali Tour Guide

Traveling to Bali, beside enjoying the beautiful panorama of the paradise island, you will also observe various kind of plants and flowers. The flowers has a very important role in Balinese life and culture . I must say, I don't think Balinese can pass any single day without flower. This sounds like an exaggeration, but after reading this post, I am sure you will agree. There are many kinds of flowers growing in Bali, namely, rose, jasmine, frangipani, hibiscus, and buogenville. If you ask me, what is the Bali flower, then the answer is Sandat . I am not quite sure what its translation in English. Sandat is very popular, not for decoration or for a gift to your girl friend, but for offerings and 'tool' for praying. It is yellow in colour, and has a beautiful smell. Even if the colour turns black, because it is already dry, the scent remains. There is a Balinese song written by local composer that tells about this flower. The song is about an advice to Balinese young girls t...

On your way traveling to Ubud from Denpasar you will pass a village called Singapadu.(It takes about one hour from either Kuta or Nusa Dua). Singapadu has become quite popular because the Bali Bird Park is located here. Many visitors who love observing birds both local and tourist will happily spend hours strolling in the park. It is quite a big bird park with collection of over 250 bird species from all over the globe. The Taman Burung, or the Bali Bird Park , was built in 1995 and has collected exotic birds from Bali, Lombok, Indonesia, Africa, Asia, Australia and America. The endangered Bali bird, the white Bali starling can also be seen some where in the tropical Bali bird Park. To name a few birds, there are the Bird of Paradise from Papua, Australian Cockaburra (did I spell it right?), Australian Pelican, Major Mitchels, many kinds of Owl, Parrots, Crowned Pigeon, Flamingo, Scarlet Ibis, Toucan, Golden Pheasant (colorful bird), Cockatoo, a varieties of eagle from different places...

Diving in Bali has been very popular for many divers from all over the world. Bali has a unique and beautiful diving sites. There are plenty of colouful tropical fish, a large variety of sponges and fascinating gorgonian and sea fans. Each diving site has its own characteristics which you can explore by yourself. AMED Situated in East Bali, about two hours drive from Denpasar. The site has a very slow current so it is good for beginner and under water photography. TULAMBEN About half an hour drive east of Amed is another diving site called Tulamben. It is an excellent diving sites where you can see a very old ship wreck. It was a trade ship "US Liberty' from the era of the second world war. Lying 6 meters below the surface, the ship wreck is covered by many kinds of corals. You can feed the fish here. This site is good for both beginner and professional divers. Like Amed, Tulamben has slow current that it is very good for under water photography. MENJANGAN Located in Western ...

Elephant Park in Taro village has been always a great place for me to visit. Located about 50 kilometers north east of Denpasar, you can reach it in about one and half hour drive from major tourist place like Kuta or Nusa Dua. If you fancy riding elephant while enjoying the lush area of Bali villages, you should not miss this adventure . Opened officially in year 2000, the park covered an area of 2 hectares in the middle of national forest. It has quite a facilities, such as information centre, and museum with a numerous collections of elephant memorabilia and the only Mammoth Skeleton in South Asia. You can also visit gift shop in one of the corner of the park that stand besides a 200-seat restaurant where you can watch the elephants. There is a basket ball field where you can see the elephants shows off their intelligence by drawings or paintings (not a really nice picture, though). Close to this field is where you can have photos with them and next climb one of the elephant to st...

Tanjung Benoa or Benoa Bay is located 25 kilometers from Denpasar, the capital of Bali. Many hotels and restaurants has been built there for tourists. Some international hotels located here are The Aston Bali, The Novotel, and Club Bali Mirage. A restaurant called Bumbu Bali also very popular in Tanjung Benoa for its Balinese authentic cooking lesson. Though it is not as popular as Kuta, Sanur, or Ubud, Tanjung Benoa has it owns attractions; water sports. There are lots of varieties of water sports you can do in Tanjung Benoa. There are also many water sports operators available. They offer individual or single activity or water sport tour package. You can choose what suit you best. These are the water sports you can enjoy in Tanjung Benoa. Parasailing You don't need actually need any special skill to enjoy this activity. You just have to be fit and have no problem with height issue. The staff will help you in attaching the parasail to your body. You will also wear special thick gl...

If you come to Bali this week, you will notice that there are ornamented bamboo poles erected in front of every Hindu Bali house in Bali. These bamboo poles are called Penjor and also a sign of the upcoming Galungan and Kuningan Day. The celebration of Galungan day is to commemorate the victory of Dharma (good) versus Adharma (evil). You can say the victory meant here is a spiritual achievement when one can put aside all the bad things or negative thinking, actions, and speaking, but only to focus on good things. If you ask a Balinese what it is meant by Galungan day, s/he probably will reply that it is simply victory of Dharma against Adharma or good versus evil. That’s it. Who is the Dharma, and who is Adharma, are not so plain. But, anyway, Kuningan Day another celebration which takes place ten days after Galungan day. On this day, as also the Galungan day, the local Balinese will pray in their family temple thanking the almighty God and their ancestors for the victory of Dharm...

A magnificent view of Bali can be seen from upper area of Lake Tamblingan and Lake Buyan. As you stand in looking down you will see the shimmering lakes reflecting the sun light. The air is much cooler compared to Kuta or Nusa Dua, and much fresher too. As you gaze around, you will see many mandarin trees, hydranger, tomatoes farm, vegetables farm, strawberry farm, as well many trees. Birds singing in the air, and butterflies wandering on beautiful flowers. Located somewhere in the middle of Bali island, the two adjacent lakes is about 50 kms from Denpasar, the capital city of Bali. To reach this area, you can go to a village called Munduk. Even during the journey to Munduk village, you can already beautiful views of the forests and these lakes. From Munduk village which located in the upper area of the lakes, then you can drive down into the lakes. The tourists, that I know, don't usually go down to the lake but only viewing the wonderful panorama and taking a few snaps before hea...

A house in Bali has no dining room. Why is that? Where do they eat? Those are the questions in your mind. Before we talk about it, we need to see how a Bali house is built. The house in Bali is built based on a concept of "mountain-ocean" line. The lay out of the building must follow the idea or believe that the direction toward the mountain is sacred but the direction toward the sea is less sacred. The mountain is considered sacred because it is the highest point or closest part to the heaven. Meaning that the higher the place, the more sacred it is. This is the reason why the sacred building, such as family temple, is located somewhere in the northern part of the house for people who live south of the mountains. Less sacred part, like kitchen and toilet, is in the direction toward the sea. For Balinese who live in south Bali, south of the mountains, the house will consist of: building for the parents and family temple which is located in the north. Special building for cer...

If you buy something in Bali in most shops and markets, you need to bargain. Bargaining can be difficult if you are not used to it. Some of the people that I talked to told me it is quite embarrassing to bargain, because they rarely, if not never, do it in their life. In Bali the sellers expect you to bargain when you want to buy something. If you don’t bargain, you might pay too much for something you buy. So, how do you bargain? When you walk accross a shop, let say a T shirts shop, the seller often shout loudly to you in their Balinese accent, "Come ya, just have a look. Not buying is okay." You walk in and see something you like and take it. You try it and the seller give a price. Tell the seller that the price is too expensive, shake your head, and give the T-shirt back to the seller. Then the seller will lower the price or ask you to name your price. Normally, people bargain fifty percent of what the price is offered. Let say, the price is 10 bucks, then you bargain 5 b...

A Hindu Bali temple festival takes place every 210 days or six months(which is a year according to the Bali lunar calendar). In this special day, the local villagers prepare themselves to pray at the temple. The children are very excited and wear their best clothes to go to the temple. The ceremony at the temple usually started from early morning and finish late at night. The people will come more in the afternoon or early evening. The ladies brings offering on their heads; the offering is made of cakes, fruit, and coconut leafs. The men bring incense and flowers as these will be needed when praying. A temple festival is also the precious moment where people gather in the temple yard. So, a temple is not merely a place for praying, but it has turned to be a social place where friends and relatives meet each other. They talk about everything in the outer yard of the temple. This is also where they can watch dances performed by the local girls. At the temple festival you can see dances p...

In earlier post, I have written about Balinese like drinking coffee or tea in the morning, at noon, or even in the evening. More people drink coffee to tea or milk. And usually when we drink coffee we have something else with it, be it Bali cakes that you can buy at the local markets or just boiled sweet potatoes as you see in the pictures. Those potatoes as the their name suggest, taste sweet. There are several kinds of sweet potatoes grown in Bali. The most common one is the white sweet potatoes with pink skin. There are also orange potatoes and purple potatoes. What you see in my photo are the white and orange ones. Balinese drink coffee and have snack at their leisure time. During the heat of the day, they sit at a pavilion called Bale Bengong or Sikepat chatting with their friends and families. People can also have snacks and coffee at their rest in between works, for example, farmers resting in the midday before resuming planting rice at their rice field. In every occasion there ...