Bali Tour Guide

I was sipping my Bali coffee at a small cafe while waiting for the clients that have gone into the monkey forest with the local guide, when somebody came and said to me that one of my tourists had been bitten by a monkey. Possibly a big monkey, he remarked. And so, I walked quickly into the forest entrance and saw that Sue, the tourist, has been surrounded by the locals that gave her first aid treatment, some betadine, and bandage. Many visitors and tourist (well, visitors are local and tourist are foreign visitor :-) )gathered to see what happened. Every body seemed quite panic, and talked and talked in Balinese, the language that Sue did not understand. That made her more worried. (Well, luckily, I understood. I am a Balinese) A police car arrived and two officers came out of it. Surely they were not going to "apprehend" the monkey, but they only would take Sue to the Tabanan Hospital. I went with them taking Sue because I was only the one who spoke English and Balinese. Su...

The answer you get of this question may vary if you ask different people. The priest may say, yes it is. But many Balinese, although they are Hindu, consume beef. And people in Bali breed cows for meat. You will not see cow wander in the streets, because they are just cattle. Some people don't eat beef because they think they should not eat beef because they think it is a sacred animal. They say they will have a headache if they do so. Well, may be because of the cholesterol or some thing like that. And another thing, we don't consume cow milk or any other milk in the past. We just recently do this, because it is been advertised a lot in the media, that milk is healthy for our body. But many of the older generations, many of our parents or grand parents don't fancy milk. They don't drink milk, they'd rather drink coffee than drinking milk. I can understand that, because milk taste awful sometimes. Oh, did I mention that our cow doesn't produce any milk? Their mi...

Today I took picture of Durian, one of the most popular tropical fruit. It is notoriously known for its bad smell among the westeners or tourist. For Balinese or Indonesian people it smells nice. And it tastes delicious as well. You can find people selling Durian in the local markets, by the streets of Denpasar, and in many villages in Middle and North Bali (Bestala Village). Related Post: The Fruit That Smells Like Hell But Tastes Likes Heaven

Today I went to Tanjung Benoa (a tourist area in Bali island) with my fellow driver, to pick up two tourists to go on a tour in Denpasar. It took me half an hour to arrive in Tanjung Benoa from Denpasar where I live. And yes, they were waiting for us at the Club Mirage lobby, the hotel they stayed. The tourists/clients that I went tour today were from California , from such and such county. It took them nineteen hours to travel to Bali .( I can’t remember the name of the county). The day was bright and not so hot. Well, this morning was quite a surprise for me, and I think for many Balinese. It rained! For so many months, starting from October, we have been expecting some rain to pour on our beloved island, but it rained only today. This morning, at five. It was like listening to our favourite music. Any way, the rain did not last for long. But that’s okay, because it’s all we need. And, fortunately, the day turned bright as I went touring. As we drove, I explained to them ab...

You probably have heard the not nice experience of exchanging money in some unauthorized money exchangers. People get less of what they should have got from exchanging their money in these so-called money exchangers. I have not met tourist or my clients who have been ripped off by money changers, but still I am going to pose here some tips on how to exchange money safely when you travel to Bali. Well, the first thing to do is to ask for recommendation from people whom you trust, you can ask the hotel staff where you are staying, or your tour guide, or travel representative. They know, and will tell you where the good place to change your money. Maybe you also have friends or relatives that has traveled to Bali before, you can ask them. Next, make sure that you go to the authorized money changer. How do you know that a money changer is authorized? It is not that easy, because all money changers, both good and bad, have "Authorized" sign in their sign board. So? Well, go to th...

Almost every time I met tourist from UK, US or Australia, I asked them the question, "What do you like best about Bali?" And although I got various answers like: the weather, the food, or the Bintang beer (you definitely should try this), the surf, and the shopping, but most of the time the answer I got is " the Balinese people ". Why I asked? This time I got similar answers from them. Because the Balinese people are so friendly, always smiling and always happy. That's the answer I got. Maybe you have question in your mind, where ever you go in Bali you will always meet friendly and happy Balinese, how can it be? This is the next question that I got from them. I am going to try to answer this question from an "insider" point of view, as a Balinese myself. Hold on a sec! Here is a disclaimer: I am talking about the Balinese people in general. There are always exception, you'll meet some "not nice" Balinese, especially when we drive car or ...

In the next two days, the Balinese Hindu will celebrate a joyous holy day called Galungan. The Holy Day of Galungan which happen every 210 days, is anticipated eagerly by all the Balinese Hindu. This is the time where people go to the temple, people who live in the city will return to their village to pray in their family temple. Children will wear their best clothes in this special Holy Day. The Galungan Holy Day is celebrated to commemorate the victory of Dharma (good) against A-Dharma (evil). Though I myself don't fully grasp the idea of what victory are we talking about. Many Balinese I ask don't really understand what is the Dharma in this context is about. Some people will say it is connected with the story of Maya Denawa, the evil king who once ruled Bali who is defeated by Lord Indra. To remember this victory the Galungan day is celebrated. However, despite our lack of understanding of Galungan, this is the grandest Holy Day in Bali. You can see in front of every ...