Bali Tour Guide

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

Traveling to east Bali is another exciting experience. You will have to get prepared, you should be fit and take sarong with you. You're going to hike to the biggest and oldest temple in Bali: The Mother Temple of Besakih. Before we go to Besakih, it is worth also to visit Klungkung. There are monument of Puputan Klungkung (as a remembrance of fight until death between the local kingdom of Klungkung against the colinialist Dutch), Hall of Justice or Kerta Gosa and the Museum. The Hall of Justice served like a court in the early 1900. It is a small hall of approximately 4x4 meters with wooden chairs in the middle of the hall. These were the seat of king, priest, and Dutch controller who decided what would be the punishment for the convict? On the hall ceiling you will see many Balinese traditional painting with Kamasan style. The theme of paintings are mostly life after death (especially scene of hell with many types of punihsment given to the sinful souls according to the bad t

Do you know Bali well enough that you've tried this food before? The food that I am talking about here is called lawar. It is made of mixture of spices and sliced and minced pork. But there is another special ingredient that is going to blow your mind; it is raw pig blood. Lawar is a special food for Balinese. People make lawar on special occasion like holy day or temple festival. (There is a Holy Day coming next week called Galungan, I will write about it in a few days). It can also be found at wedding feast, or tooth filling ceremony. You can buy lawar at food stall all over Bali, especially those selling suckling pig. Is it really raw blood? Before we go on to that discussion, let see what are the ingredients needed to make lawar. First, we need a complete combination of spices (called Basa genep ). The Basa Genep consists of onion, garlic, pepper, turmeric, chili, salt, ketumbar (I'll have to check the English translation later), fried onion, shrimp paste, and ginge

Here is the second series of my post Care For A Little Adventure? I will update this post as many times as it is needed as there are more info I can collect about each activity. I will also put more things on the list because there are maybe new activities available in Bali. Surfing: Bali is well known place for surfing. One of the popular site where you can surf is in Kuta beach. This is the place for both novice and expert to surf. There is even operator or company that offer learn to surf program. They claim they can make you stand on your board at the end of the day. Other places for more challenges are in beach of  Suluban, Padang-padang, and Dream Land. The places are closed to Uluwatu temple. Bungee Jumping, you don't have to go very far to have a bungee jumping. Kuta is the place. It is a great excitement, but not really a life changing experience, if you ask me. It is as exciting as riding motor bike in Denpasar, but bungee jumping is much safer. Wate

Touring to Kintamani village to see the Mount Batur has become the most popular tour for visitors coming to Bali. This is a tour where you can have a taste a bit of every thing: art, culture, scenery, rice terraces, and temples. So, what do you actually experience in this introductory tour? Let's have a look. Your first destination is at Batu Bulan Village to witness Barong Dance. It is as a story of  an eternal fight of Barong (a mythical lion representing good) against Rangda (an evil witch). First, two Balinese man underneath Barong costume appear on the stage along with some monkeys depicting a scene in the forest. Next, two Balinese beautiful girls dance accompanied with the sounds of gamelan (Balinese traditional musical instrument played by a group of people usually man). The story continues with the scene in a palace where the prince Sahadewa is expelled by his mother (the mother is under the spell of Rangda that she becomes evil), his trip to forest, the meeting with Civa,

Not many tourists go to Denpasar. It less popular compared to Kintamani (volcanic panorama in middle Bali) or the spectacular sun set at Uluwatu or Tanah Lot or any other tourist destination. But if you want to experience the suburban Balinese life style, Denpasar, which was defeated by Dutch in 1906, is a perfect example. Here you can go to the Kumbasari or Kreneng market and see for your self how a Balinese haggle over price on their daily needs. Not only that, you can visit Bali Museum which will present you information about the Bali culture, history, and daily life as well as religious festival in Bali society. All right, now I will take you to Kumbasari market. The market is located on Gajah Mada street and is divided into two by a river. In this market, you'll see various things for sale ranging from daily needs such us rice, fish, meat, and vegetables. You can find this in the eastern part of the market, in the east of the river. The western part is where a lots of art and