Bali: Vibrant Culture and Breathtaking Beauty

After an exhausting 46 hours of travel from Hawai’i to Bali, Sarah and I were relieved to walk out of the tiny airport in Denpasar and find a smiling taxi driver holding up a piece of ripped cardboard with “Kimberley & Sarah” scribbled on it. The local time was a little after midnight, and I did my best to take in the sights during the 1 hour car ride to Ubud, Bali where we would be staying with my Uncle Mike and his family (Uncle Mike is my dad’s best friend from ages ago, and he and his family are wonderful. Shout out to Uncle Mike, Auntie Lisa, Shea, Emma, and Anne!). 

Bali has long been considered a tourist haven and is by far the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia. Although the vast majority of Indonesia’s population is Muslim (it’s the largest Islamic country in the world!), nearly 93% of the people on Bali are Hindu, making the culture and lifestyle here strikingly different from the rest of Indonesia. The culture of the Balinese people is distinct and beautiful. Bali is highly advanced in the arts and one can find a plethora of beautiful carvings, brightly colored paintings, sculptures, and metalworks here. One popular thing to experience while in Bali is the Balinese dancing (although we ended up skipping this). Lotus Cafe and The Palace, both located in Ubud, are great places to see it, and the price is around 80,000 rupiah (about $8.00) per person. 

Temple outside of Lotus Cafe (where the Balinese dancing takes place).

We stayed at the Bell’s home in Ubud for the entire 2 weeks we spent in Bali. One of the most amazing things we did in Bali was attend a cremation ceremony for a recently deceased Balinese king. This event is a huge deal for the Balinese people and only occurs once every few years (when a royal dies, of course). Many families who have a loved one pass away will wait to have a cremation ceremony (sometimes for years until one of the royals dies). The bodies are often buried temporarily until one of these ceremonies occurs, at which point the body is cremated (many Hindus believe that the body must be cremated or the path of reincarnation will be cut off). When the royal cremation ceremony occurs, the family puts the ashes into a large bull sculpture that they create specifically for the ceremony. The family will march this bull down the streets in the procession and use the cremation ceremony for the king as a way to honor or celebrate their own loved one (families can have a cremation ceremony separately for their loved one, but it is much more expensive). 

Balinese Cremation Ceremony

We drove with the Bell family to a restaurant near the middle of Ubud where the procession for the king would be coming eventually. The streets were absolutely packed with people, and after about 30 minutes we saw bull sculptures being carried down the street as people with drums walked before them and loud Balinese music played. These ceremonies are a time of celebration for the Balinese people, not mourning. Soon after, a hand-built cremation tower made for the king was carried down the streets. It was incredibly tall (probably around 40 feet) and very beautifully designed with many vibrant colors. It was carried into a courtyard and we watched as they carried the coffin over to a large bull sculpture (made of bamboo, paper, and styrofoam). They then took the king’s body (wrapped in white cloth) and transferred it into the bull to be cremated. Many people came forth with offerings to put into the bull with the body. We left before the bull was set on fire, but we came back several hours later and saw the family of the king collecting the ashes after the fire had extinguished. The next morning the ashes would be taken to the ocean to be spread. It was a beautiful ceremony and we were incredibly lucky to have been on Bali when it occurred!

Ubud is known as the cultural center of Bali, and there is an extensive amount of art galleries and beautiful architecture to see here. We heard it referred to as the “hippie” part of Bali several times, and the vast number of cozy cafes, yoga studios, meditation centers, clothing shops, and more do not make it difficult to understand why. There are an unlimited number of places to eat in all different price ranges: from local food to sushi to Italian. One of my favorite places that we ate while in Ubud was Pulu Mujung Warung. It is located near the center of Ubud, and restaurant goers must walk the 20 or so minutes through beautiful rice paddies to get to this little gem of a restaurant. It is located in a quiet and quite remote area; the view from the restaurant is amazing. The prices are reasonable and they serve mostly Indonesian style food. They grow most of their own organic vegetables in a garden just outside of the restaurant, so the salads here are excellent! You can pick out your own vegetables from the garden and they will prepare and serve them to you. In addition, if you want to take some vegetables from their garden home, they will sell them to you for a reasonable price (we got some Kale to bring home for soup later that night!). Delicious.

Ubud also has many great areas for shopping. There is a large open air market across the street from the only Starbucks in town (ask anyone and they will be able to direct you). They have all sorts of foods, clothing, arts, crafts, and jewelry items here for cheap prices (be prepared to bargain!). One of the women here told us that they start bargaining with customers at a high price because it is good luck to do so. If you purchase something, many shopkeepers will tap the bills you hand them against items in their shop (again, for good luck). It is typically fairly easy to find a price you are both happy with. Monkey Forest Road (conveniently right next to the open air market) also has an endless number of shops, particularly clothing and silver shops, although there are other types as well.

Also located on Monkey Forest Road is Monkey Forest (surprise!), a popular tourist attraction. It costs 20,000 rupiah (about $2.00) per person to get in and they have bananas for sale outside that you can buy to feed the monkeys. Inside, there are monkeys running around everywhere, and they are quite used to humans. We witnessed several incidents where a monkey would literally climb onto a person because they were holding a banana (so don’t stick your hands into your bag or do anything to make the monkeys think you have food if you don’t want this!). There are also a few temples inside, and the rainforest you walk through is absolutely beautiful. It’s certainly a fun thing to see if you have the opportunity. 

Handing a banana to my new friend.

Although we stayed in Ubud for the majority of our time in Bali, we also took day trips to Sanur and Kintamani. Sanur is a little beach town located in the Southern part of the island. It’s quiet and is a fun place to go kayaking for a few hours or stop for lunch. For our day trip to Kintamani, we signed up for a cycling tour through Bali Eco Cycling Tour. They picked us up around 8:30am, and we were in a group of about 10 other people. Our first stop was a Balinese coffee plantation where our hilarious guide gave us a tour and we sampled many delicious types of coffees and teas. Next, breakfast was provided for us at a restaurant overlooking an active volcano, Mt. Batur, and Lake Batur. Absolutely breathtaking! The cycling trip down the mountain began after this (don’t worry, it’s 96% down hill) and included several stops at a Balinese home, a rice plantation, a 500 year old banyon tree, etc. To end the tour, they serve you an incredibly good traditional Indonesian lunch buffet. For those who still have some energy left in them, they offer to drop you off at Monkey Forest and pay your admission fee. For those who are not interested in this part of the tour, they will conveniently drop you off back at your hotel. The tour lasted roughly 7 hours and cost us each 275,000 rupiah (roughly $25.00), which we bargained down from the listed price on the brochure of 360,000 each. We would definitely recommend this trip if you have the time!

Eating breakfast and enjoying the view of Lake Batur!

Bali was a very magical place for me, and I was continuously amazed by the beauty and calm aura of the island. One of the simplest and most magical moments occurred when Sarah and I were walking home from dinner one night and were amazed to see fireflies flickering over the rice paddies surrounding the house. Absolutely magical. It was also kite season (June and July) while we were in Bali, and if you look up into the sky during the afternoon you can literally see dozens upon dozens of kites flying. I once looked up and counted over 100 in the air! It’s a pretty amazing sight to see.

Rice paddies in Ubud, Bali

I was constantly amazed to find people in Bali always smiling at one another, even in the busy roads where people are continuously swerving in and out of lanes (one local laughed and told me that the center line in the road is “just for decoration”). It’s pretty easy to make friends with locals here, so don’t be afraid to smile or ask for help/directions if you need it. Bali is a breathtakingly beautiful island with an incredible culture and very friendly people; it’s definitely a must-see island if you are ever in Indonesia! 

Be sure to check out our general travel tips for Indonesia!