Bali Tour Guide

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...

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’...

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 tak...

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 i...

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 ea...

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.