Bali Tour Guide

There are lots of things you can experience while you are in Bali, instead of just sipping beer by the hotel pool. You can have many types of water sports, white water rafting, sailing, fishing, dolphin watching and elephant safari, a visit to Bali bird park, cooking lesson, learning surfing and even bungee jumping. Well, are you ready for a little adventure? Elephant Safari Ride through Bali rural area. One of the biggest elephant  park in Bali located in Taro village, it is about 30 kilometres drive from Denpasar (the capital city). You can take photos with the elephant, watch them playing football (well, soccer!), paint on a canvass, or bathing in the pool. There is advertisement once that makes me smile, "you can buy elephant manure here in the park". They claim that elephant manure is one of the best in the world. Well, if you are interested,  you can try it for your garden at home. There is also an interesting museum about elephant, and even there is a skeleton

"Sorry, I can't go to the temple this full moon. I have my period," that's what Made, a friend of mine, once said to me when we talked about going to a temple. In Bali, women talk openly about their menstruation especially when it is related to temple activities. There is nothing embarrassing about that. But instead of saying in period, they merely say that they have their "monthly guest" coming. When you visit a temple in Bali, you must not be in your period when entering temple complex. Why is that? People, especially the lady tourists, ask with inquisitive and accusing look at me that we don't treat our Balinese women fairly. Okay, let me tell you, that is not the case. There some reasons why people are not allowed to enter the temple, this is called cuntaka (pronounced chun ta ka). If there is a mourning because of there is a death in one family, they can not go to the temple. Because it will cause the temple "leteh" or dirty. The woman wh

Going on a tour to North Bali can be exciting if you enjoy watching the lush area of Bali with the view of hills and lakes. There are many places to visit to enjoy the scenery and breath fresh air along the road. Your first stop is at Pacung village where you can see beautiful scenery of rice field and vegetables plantation. The farmers of this village plant many kind of vegetables like cabbages, potatoes, carrots, and radish. Along the way you will also find various kind of flowers grown in the farmers field like marigold, or roses. There is also special flowers they grow for making religious offerings. They sell their crops in markets in Denpasar and in Bedugul which is your next stop. Bedugul is a local market where you can find spices, flowers, and vegetables. Well, I don't think you will be doing any cooking on your vacation in Bali, so there is no need to haggle for vegetables. But, it is a very colourful pasar (pasar is the word for market in Indonesian or Balinese). As

We don't talk about weather in Bali. That is not the topic that we'll discuss in our conversation. It's because the weather is always nice, so we talk about some thing else; job, politics, news, Oprah or the coming temple festivals. But once it gets so hot,  many people begin to say "It's hot weather to day, isn't it?" It is very hot now in Bali. Even for Balinese people who are used to tropical heat for all their life. We are now in the rainy season (October to April), but normally we have rain on December to early January. That's the time when the temperature cool off a bit. So, this time of expecting the rain, the day can be so hot. It is 27 to 32 degree Celsius, with 70% humidity. If you plan to go to Bali this month, please prepare lots of sun cream to protect your skin from sun burnt. And also, water, you need lot of water to prevent dehydration. Balinese never get worried about sun burnt. But if exposed to too much sun light, our skin will turn

For you who are coffee drinker, this is a good news. If you are not, don't go away yet, there is something else that I am sure will catch your attention. Besides rice, Bali grows various kinds of plants ranging from flowers, spices, fruits, and coffee. If you tour to Mount Batur, you will pass a village called Seribatu village (ca 15 kms from Kintamani). The villagers here, instead of planting rice, plant coffee, chocolate, cloves, vanilla, jackfruit (not johnfruit), snake skinned fruit, durian, and pineapple. You can stop here briefly and have a taste of Bali coffee and Bali chocolate. I have found out that most of you coming from UK, Australia, or US think that our coffee is strong. At least stronger than what you're used to. How do Balinese like their coffee? Okay, I know that in the west you need to make seven decisions to have your coffee (is it white or black, late? decaffeinate or not? cream or no cream, milk or no milk? sugar or no sugar? and so on), here we always

When you have vacation in Bali, you'll probably have the chance to see the beauty of rice terraces "carved" in hilly areas of Bali. Why terraces? "Necessity is the mother of invention." To use the hilly areas, the Bali farmers have to be creative to build rice terraces so that they can plant their rice. Yet, it is effective and very beautiful to see. Rice is our staple food that we eat rice usually three times a day. And also, there is a wine made of rice called arak . Besides for everyday consumption, and the rice wine, rice is used to make variety of cakes. There are different types of rice: the white rice, the brown rice, the sticky rice, and the black rice. The white and brown are consumed every day. The sticky rice, and the black rice are only for making cakes or pudding. We grow rice normally three times a year. Each cycle last from ploughing, planting, and harvesting lasts for average four months. But sometimes, the farmer grow other plants in between. I

Whenever I take people to the Elephant Cave Temple, I will always say,"Ok, now it is time to play Indiana Jones." This ancient site always remind me of the movie. So, why is this a special place? Well, first thing first. You will not find any elephant here, only the name is Elephant Cave or Goa Gajah. Why does it call Elephant Cave? The Sanskrit name of this temple is Antakunjarapada. This name can be traced down to a place in South India where there was an ashram located on slope of "Mount Kunjara" called "Kunjarakunja" or "Agastya-malai." Kunjarakunja itself means Jungle of Elephants. Historians believe that this is the origin or the reason why the temple is called Goa Gajah. Even the design of Goa Gajah depicts a scene of an ashram that is located in mountainous area. Before you walk to the cave, you need to wear a sarong or a sash provided at the entrance. After paying the ticket, you will see announcement of the regulation of entering the te