two weeks in bali, indonesia
December 20, 2024
one island, many towns #
We have now been travelling for two weeks. Here’s where we’ve ended up so far:
understanding the local culture & religion #
One of the first things we did was learn some basic phrases in both Bahasa Indonesian and Balinese. We felt a little guilty not using the locals language and ordering everything in English.
First we learnt terima kasih, which is Indonesian for thank you, and shortly after we decided to learn some more local phrases, and thus we started using both om swastiastu (a Balinese greeting that translates roughly to ‘may god bless you’) and suksma (which is Balinese for thank you). Maybe it’s just my perception, but the locals eyes seemed to light up a little bit more when addressing them in their own language.
Something I kept noticing when we were walking down the street were these little collections of herbs and incense in the front of houses and shops. I learnt that these are called Canang Sari, which is a daily offering made by Balinese Hindus and it is an integral part of their religion and considered the most important form of prayer. It appears the ‘recipe’ of these offerings varies, but at its core features a combination of coconut leaves, tobacco, betel nuts, lime, gambier, flowers, incense and a small offering of food.
Bali is very different from the rest of Indonesia in that it is majority Hindu, whereas most of the population (~87% according to the Ministry of Home Affairs) follows Islam. There’s a long history as to why this is, which I won’t be going into.
the kuta experience #
Our first two nights were spent in Kuta, which I had been warned about as the place not to be. We did find it a little overwhelming, and the streets were not the most fun to walk down, mostly due to the constant hawking by the locals. Our hotel was nice though, and the pool was nice to swim in during the hot 30C+ days.
three nights in uluwatu #
We decided to leave Kuta for somewhere more peaceful and settled on Uluwatu, down in the southern part of the island. It was much more relaxed here, and much more green with plenty of flora and fauna. We stayed at a placed called Uluwatu Made Guesthouse which was run by a sweet older man. We mostly kept to ourselves, had swims in the pool and walked around the local streets.
checking out savaya #
Determined to see the ‘best club in Asia’, we popped in on a Friday night to see what all the fuss was about. Surprisingly, there were very few people. A little disappointed, we decided to get drunk and just swim around taking pictures. The view friom the cube bar is pretty astonishing, and the venue itself felt quite sophisticated (as much as a club can be) so I can see why it would be a good place to visit when people actually show up.
venturing into ubud #
After three days in Uluwatu, we decided to trek up to Ubud in the centre of the island. As I suspected, Ubud ended up being one of our favourite places in Bali as it was less touristy (although still quite so) and it was much more lush. There was less of a focus on a party lifestyle, and more of a focus on wellness and visiting the surrounding nature. That being said, we ended up besting all the other travellers in our hostel’s beer drinking competition.
campuhan ridge walk #
One of the first things we did was go for a walk up the Campuhan Ridge Walk which was conveniently close to our hostel. We were sweating copiously during the trail as walking uphill & 32C weather with 80%+ humidity makes for a difficult time. It was a surprisingly short walk, but pleasant nonetheless.
The path soon turned into a road where we could see some ricefields with some local farmers hard at work.
We were hoping to have a swim at Jungle Fish, a bar along the ridge walk, but once we arrived we were told we needed to commit a minimum spend for drinks before we had a dip so we opted to just eat some food instead.
the tegallalang ricefields #
One of my favourite things we saw in Ubud were the Tegallalang Ricefields, which are these sprawling, layered ricefields that are rather beautiful to look at.
What I found particularly interesting about the ricefields, and what drew me to them in the first place, is the irrigation system that they use called subak. Subak is a cooperative water management system that originates back to the 9th century, and is tied to the Balinese principle of Tri Hita Karna which is about maintaining a harmonious relationship between the environment and its people.
Many farmers using the subak system do not need to use fertilisers or pesticides, and the system is egalitarian and democratic, with the farmers of the terraces having meetings and regularly rotating crops in sync with each other in order to control the amount of insects present on the farms. The sheer size of these terraces are just as impressive, with there being 19,500 hectares (or 195 sq kms) of race paddies managed on the scale of a drainage basin.
tegenungan waterfall #
Not much to say here - we saw a waterfall, it was pretty. We were not allowed to swim underneath it, however, as it is rainy seasons and objects easily fall down during this time.
pura tirta empul #
Like many other tourists, we visited the Pura Tirta Empul, and ended up donning some sarongs before dipping our heads under the running water fountains. This is a Hindu Balinese ritual called Melukat where one cleanses their mind, body and spirit.
trying out the local coffee #
Bali is known for its coffee, and we had the opportunity to taste the many varieties as we were taken to a small coffee plantation whilst on a tour - this included avocado, ginger and durian coffee. We also tasted kopi luwak, a type of coffee that is made from coffee beans digested by a civet (a small mongoose-like animal), but it left a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended) as the animals are clearly not treated well.
The visit to the plantation was an unexpected stop from our tour guide as it was not in the official list of activities, and I do not think I would have sought out kopi luwak if not for this surprise.
The coffee is also a complete gimmick and it did not taste any better than a regular cup of coffee.
surfing in medewi #
After many days in Ubud, we decided we wanted to get away from the popular spots and made the 3-hour car ride to a small town called Medewi, on the west coast of the island. Here, locals greeted us just to say hello, and the general atmosphere of the town felt relaxed and laidback. The town is known for surfing, and in particular for having the island’s longest continuous left-hand point break (this is a surfing term that I only learnt recently). Naturally, we decided to get some surf lessons from the locals, despite not having surfed in 20+ years.
Surfing is hard work, and I could definitely feel it in my body afterwards, particularly my shoulders. My eyes also stung from the salt water, desipte these setbacks I did manage to stand on the board for about a second before jumping off. We also made the mistake of choosing what is considered a intermediate-to-expert level beach, so that’s on us. Had a great time though.
In the evening, we had dinner at a local warung and I had a very fresh lobster dinner that had been caught that morning by a local fisherman.
seeing friends in canggu #
We decided to return to the business of Bali’s inner west coast and settled in Canggu. Here, we managed to catch up with two friends we had made in Ubud, and we all visited Tanah Lot (a temple in the ocean) together.
catching the ferry to east java (farewell bali) #
After having spent two weeks in Bali, we felt it was time to move on, and so we decided to drive up to Gilimanuk Port to catch the ferry across to Java. Apparently not many tourists do this as every single passenger was a local, and we definitely got some looks. The ferry took about an hour to cross the bay.
All in all, its been a busy two weeks and we’ve had our fun - we will be making our way across Java to visit both Yogyakarta and Jakarta soon. See ya later Bali.