Bali Tour Guide

The day was finally arrived. I had been preparing for the incentive trip for the last 2 months. And here they were, coming, going out from the bus and went into the Tjampuhan hotel. Daniel, the organizer and the senior manager of the company , suddenly went out from the hotel. He was wearing the Balinese sarong (the official uniform for the gala dinner), but he did not wear any clothes. Must be because it was to hot here. "Take me to royal Pita Maha, bring all the trophies and certificate." He said. I asked my friend, Doyok, (his real name is Nyoman, but all his friends called him Doyok) to drive the van to take Daniel to Royal Pita Maha. It was the stage where the gala dinner was to be held. It is 5 minutes drive from the Tjampuhan hotel, where we were. I was waiting with Anom at the lobby of Tjampuhan hotel. Anom was a tour guide whom I asked to assist me in handling this tourists group. My part was being the local organizer who settled almost all the gr

Sooner or later you will spot this; a cigaratte on an offering while staying in Bali. When you ask the local why they put cigarette on the offering, you wil probably don't get straight forward explanation. Instead, you will get a blank stare as the local say," it is for good luck", "it's our tradition" or "it's been done that way since our great grand parents lived". Ok, now what's the answer to your question? Before we embraced Hinduism about 4000 years ago or so, we already had belief. It's called animism and dynamism. It is a believe to spirit, natural forces and anchestors. So, my history teacher taught me. As we became Hindu, the local beliefs are still retained. What you see now in Bali is a combination of ancient Hinduism (called Tantrayana) and the local belief. So, yea, we pay respect to good spirits, and to our anchestor until to day. We made them shrines in our family temple, in big trees around village temp

Warning: you may feel nausea after reading this post. Mr Lim was very interested to try the kopi luwak or the animal coffee which was available in Seribatu village. He was sitting with his wife (Fang), his sister, and his brother in law (Chiat Hau) on a bench in a plantation while trying different coffees available in Bali. I thought he became interested after I explained how the coffee was made. If you want to know, I will tell you briefly. The animal; the civet, or locally known called Luwak or Lubak, eat the coffee. But the coffee beans eaten is not broken or harm at all when they go the Luwak esophagus. It is said that the coffee remains in the stomach for 12 hours and mixed with enzymes from the Luwak body. Then, here is the most dramatic moment: the Luwak go to toilet! The coffee farmers collect the droppings of the luwak with joy filled their heart knowing that they will be able to produce one of the tastiest coffee in the globe. The dropp

Wondering how to cook those delicioius spicy food you had in Bali? No, problem. There are many cooking lesson you can attend in Bali. So, next time you come to Bali again, you can plan one day for cooking lesson. Not just cooking, you will be taken to the local market in the morning before the lesson begins. You can take a stroll around the vegatables and fish to look for the ingredient for cooking. Your chef will accompany you, and explain to you what kind of spices are for sale in Bali market. While I am not really good at cooking, (I fry eggs, if you insist to know) I enjoy our local food, except the lawar barak . By the way, here is an adventure of my client, Mr. Ching while doing his cooking in Bali. You can follow him, and who knows you might be interested as well. Our guide from the other day, Putu, arranged for my mom, dad and me to take a cooking class this morning in Kuta. We took a van from the hotel into Kuta and were dropped off at the local marketplace. Our instructor for

I was a little bit surprised by my clients request. They wanted to get a temporary tattoo. I never thought that my clients would do such thing, getting a temporary tattoo. It last only for two weeks, but okay, the clients request is very important so I will tell you also where to get a temporary tattoo. You can get temporary tattoo almost everywhere in Kuta and other tourists area such as Tanah Lot temple. They advertise their service by the street. Usually one can read their services written on a board or something. It says " Temporary tattoo, last for two weeks. No needle, no pain, no scream." They use a kind of chemical substances to make the tattoo on your body. For some skin, it may feel itchy. It takes about  fifteen minutes for them to paint tattoo to your body. You can have many selections of pictures for your tattoo, from birds, butterfly, abstract figures, or naked woman. You can choose.

I was standing in front of Wayan's house somewhere in Ubud with Richard and Vicky (from US) thinking. Waiting. A lady descended from the upper floor through a stairs in the house in front of us and looked straight to Vicky. "That's Madam Wayan." one of the staff said. Hmm, it's show time now! Now, why was I here? Vicky read a supposedly a best seller book in US (unknown here) called "Eat, Pray, Love" written by a lady Elizabeth Gilbert, telling her own journey from Italy, India, and Indonesia (including Bali) in this case Ubud. Ibu Wayan was mentioned there, in one page. "Give me twenty minutes, I can read your body and tell you what your body needs, and what your body need less, and what your body don't need." I heard Wayan saying this. So, Vicky decided give it a try. As Vicky and Richard sat on the chairs, and Wayan did her spiritual healing, I looked around. The place was small, maybe 4x4 meters, but it had two floors. There were two ta

Tanah Lot Temple is the most popular place for tourists in Bali. Maybe this is an exageration, but you will know it's true when you come to this place yourself especially in the afternoon just before sun set. Image by h a n g i n g p i x e l s Tanah Lot Temple is an ancient temple built on a small rocky island separated from the main land. On the high tide, you need to get wet if you want to cross to the small island since the water will reach your waist. On ebb, you can walk easily to reach the island. Tanah Lot Temple is popularly known for its beauty and its sun set. But to see sun set in there is like winning a lotery. If you see it, considered yourself lucky. If you don't get your self a post card with the sun set. But don't worry, it is a beautiful place though you can not see the sun set. Go around the proximity, you will see more temples perched on cliffs. These will also great place to spend time and worth snapping with your camera. You will also see many shops, ju