Bali Tour Guide

Bali island is popular for its beauty and unique culture. No question about that. But do you know that we also have popular coffee? There are two kinds of coffee, arabica and robusta. What is more grown in Bali is the robusta type. The robusta coffee is bigger in size and contain more caffein. That's why the Bali coffee is strong. Coffee is grown all over Bali. Some of the popular villages producing coffee are Banyuatis village, Munduk Village, and Busung Biu village in north Bali. Others are in Jembrana regency, and Bangli regency. The Balinese like strong coffee.When drinking coffee we prefer our coffee to be black, without cream nor milk with little sugar. This is the common Bali coffee taste. If you are a coffee drinker, you should try the Bali coffee. There is a Bali Kopi House located at By Pass Ngurah Rai Street where you can go trying the Bali coffee. Varieties of Bali coffee are available here. The coffee "luwak" or "lubak" is a special rare Bali coffee...

Beside lawar , the most popular food among the Balinese is roasted pig or suckling pig. During the special occasion like wedding, local birthdays, three months old ceremony for new born and other various celebrations the suckling pig always present. It is a special treat, favorite for most Balinese. You too can try the spicy suckling pig in Bali, the only question is where is the best place to eat suckling pig. One of the best and popular place is a local food stall in Ubud centre. Ubud centre is a very busy cross road where the local art market (known as Ubud Market)and the Puri Saren (Ubud Palace) is situated.The suckling pig food stall is just in a little corner next the the Ubud village hall opposite of Puri Saren. Every local, passer by, police, and almost every body knows where the food stall is.You can't miss it. The name of the food stall, as you see on the photo, (forgive my bad quality of camera phone, it's a Sony Ericsson k700i) is called Bu Oka. Well, it is belong ...

Trekking to the sacred mountains, watching the spectacular sun rise is an unforgettable ways of experiencing holidays in Bali. Start early in the morning to ensure you are at the top at the right time for sun rise. Enjoy the great views of the whole island from the top while enjoying your breakfast. Here area bit of stories about these trekkings: Trekking Mount Batur: Mount Batur, a three-crater volcanic mountain , is 1717 meters high. Your journey is started below Mount Batur near Lake Batur at a Hindu temple called Jati temple. You will arrive at the first crater (the highest) by the sun rise. While watching the sun rise, we will serve the breakfast (steamed eggs, banana and bread). Next, you will go the explore the second craters which lastly erupted in 1963. The last crater, the lowest, will be your final stop. The third crater occasionally has smokes or hotspots and colorful beautiful stones. You will go back through a challenging trails among rocky black lava stones to the starti...

There a lot varieties of sport activities you can do in Nusa Lembongan Island. Most of the activities you can do in the western side of the island where white sandy beaches stretched for miles. And, here is what you can do there: Surfing There are three most popular surf break in the island. They have English name, instead of the Balinese: Shipwreck Surf Break, Lacerations Surf Break, and Playground Surf Break. The Playground Surf Break is suitable for all level of surfers, but the other two are only suitable for experts. Best time for surfing is during the dry season between April and September, when the wind blows from south east. Diving The diving site centre is the Jungutbatu beach. The local diving operator has 5 days PADI course, and dive trips. Dive trips are available to the sites of Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan, and Nusa Penida. Cruises Cruises trips are available and departas from Benoa Harbour Bali. Bali Hai Cruise The cruise departs at 9. AM to 4 PM. There are two ways of ...

Snake fruit or snake skinned fruit is the name for a local Bali fruit called salak. Salak is very popular in Bali and accros Indonesia. The term "Salak Bali" refers to a unique taste of salak grows only in Karangasem, East Bali. The skin, as it name implies, is resemblance of snake skin. The skin which is built of scales similar to snake’s skin is quite sharp. It will hurt your finger if you are not careful. The shape of salak is round but there is a kind of pointed tip at one end. Just remove this tip with your hand to start peeling the snake skin fruit. It will be easier to peel this way. Inside, there are usually white flesh with hard date inside it. You can eat the white part but not the date. It will taste sweet, dry and greasy when ripe. Some people say it taste like apple. Others say it taste like pear. If it is not ripe, it tastes sour and greasy. To know if salak is ripe or not is quite difficult. But you can say that it is ripe when the colour turn darker. The young...

I often ask tourists question like, "what do you like best about Bali?" and though not conducting any proper questionnaire, I got a lots of answer from them stating that they like the friendliness of the Balinese. When they meet the Balinese as they walk in the street, in the hotel, in the village, the Balinese seems to be happy meeting other people. So, if you walk around yourself, you will probably experience it yourself where people say hello to you. Well, what your mom says about not talking to stranger is also true, but in Bali people say hello to stranger. Next attraction besides people is the because it is inexpensive holiday in Bali. The low value of Rupiah (local currency) has made possible for many people from abroad to have luxury holiday in Bali. The weather is also another great attraction for many tourists. The consistent weather throughout the year is suitable for holiday at any time. Other people find the Bali beaches as a world class surfing place, making it ...

I often got questions from tourists that I went tour with, "Do the Balinese cut their cat’s tail?" This usually happens when they see a cat popping from people’s house or just when they see a cat in the street. If you look closely at those cats, they look like that they don’t have tail. Yes, our cat has no tail or it has a very very short tail as small as a boy’s thumb. At least, it is not a proper tail like any other kind of cat has, for instance, Persian cat. But rest assured, we never cut any cat’s tail in Bali, not for any reason, never. Why do you think we do that? Poor cat. The cat in Bali has short tail, that is their nature. Maybe it is because of an evolution or something like that, it is not clear to me. I have not find any reference about it. So, there is a Balinese who knows the answer, please write your comment here. I need the enlightment. However, not all Balinese cats are born without tail. There those(should I call them?) the l...

Spending evening with your loved ones in Jimbaran Bay is worth a try. Jimbaran Bay, or Kedonganan Beach (15 minutes drive south of air port) is a very popular site of sea food restaurants or cafes. Located just by the beach, these restaurants have unique setting. Many visitors enjoys the taste of sea food prepared with both local and international recipes. One of the restaurant that I recommend is the Sea Side Cafe which is owned and managed by the local Balinese. The perfect time to come to this restaurant is in the evening, during the wonderful sunset. You can have table on the white sand waiting as the sky turn orange and the gentle breeze wipe your face. There are many selections of fish you can try. They will give you the menu offerings what is available there. Usually you will be asked to go to the front of the restaurant where they grill the fish. This is where you can choose what kind of fish you'd like to have. A few of the selection available are: fresh lobster, prawns, r...

Every August the 17th, Indonesia commemorates her Independence Day. Bali, as one of the Indonesia’s province, has lots of activities during this month. Fun games and competition are conducted in every village to celebrate the nation’s independence. In the streets of Bali, you can see, groups of students marching. They are practicing for the competition which usually held on the 14 of August. On the August the 18th, there will be a carnaval on the main street in every regency in Bali. The carnaval is supposed to show people the prosperity achieved by the nation, and to relive the freedom spirit. What special with the Balinese is the kite festival which will be conducted at Padang Galak, Sanur area. Every village nearby will come with big kite, maybe 3 to 5 meters long, so the kite has to be flown with at least ten people. The judgment for the best kite is based on the design and whether it actually fly well. The kites will come in different designs, such as, animals or flowers. These ki...

Nusa Lembongan island is a very popular place because of its marine beauty and landscape. Besides lying on the white sandy beaches, on the island, there are many kind of water sports and inland tour you can do. The island is has great places for fishing, diving, surfing, trekking, exploring caves, or cycling around the island. To reach the island you can join one day cruises available in Bali that depart at 7 in the morning from Benoa Harbour in Bali. It takes about an hour and a half to sail to Nusa Lembongan, but it is worth it. Some of the Cruise operators are Bali Hai Cruise, Bounty Cruise, and Sail Sensation. All offers many activities for a memorable time on the island. The island, located 12 miles south east of Bali, can also be reached by 30 minutes on a speed boat. Nusa Lembongan which stretches 4 km long and 2 km wide, has a lot of sea weed farm. The sea weed is cultivated and harvested in various parts of the island and exported to many countries, I have been told. Other in...

Bali offers lots of tours, adventures, and activities you can choose from. Cooking lesson can be one of your option if you want to know how Bali food is prepared or cooked. There are several tour operators and restaurant that you can go to. Here are a few options. Rural Charms Tour : Take a walk in the street at Gulingan village before entering the pavilion located in the middle of a rice fields. You will learn how to cook yellow rice, chicken sate (chicken kebab with little peaces of meat on skewers so it can cook quickly), plecing kangkung (fried water spinach with sliced garlic, onion,big chilly, shrimp past and salt fried in coconut oil), Tum Be Pasih (steamed sea fish wrapped in banana leaf). Bumbu Bali Restaurant Cooking Programme For a more recipes and varieties, you can try cooking lesson at Bumbu Restaurant, located at Tanjung Benoa, Nusa Dua. This place is ideal for chefs and even home cooks. Even the kitchen is designed to look like Balinese kitchen. The programme is starte...

I have a quick scan on this book entitled The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok 5 and found it is very handy for traveler. Especially it contains of detail information about places to go, how much you pay for certain things like tipping, and where to go to stay, or to eat. It is quite an interesting book for me to read, especially to look at Bali from outsider’s eyes. One very interesting explanation made I found is about introducing yourself to some one. The book explains (page 80) that for a Balinese when meeting somebody new, or just being introduced to someone, they will say "Where do you sit?" I need to think for a moment, because, as a Balinese I never bother about where people will sit, whether they want to sit on the coach or on the sofa. Just joking. The phrase "Where do you sit?" is translated from the Balinese phrase " Nawegang antuk linggih?" . Indeed, the word linggih means to sit, but in this regard, it talks about position in the society. ...