Bali is located just south of Java, Indonesia’s most important island that contains the capital Jakarta. Bali is the smallest of Indonesia’s 34 provinces, with an area of only 5,780 square kilometers. And the population is 42.2 lakh. The capital of Bali is Denpasar. Even three decades ago, Bali was completely dependent on agriculture. But currently 80 percent of Bali’s total economy is based on the tourism industry and it is considered one of the richest provinces in Indonesia.
➤ Introduction
Although Indonesia is the country with the largest number of Muslims in the world, the picture in Bali is completely different. 84.5 percent of the people living in Bali are Hindus and due to the abundance of temples, Bali is called the island of gods, the island of peace. Every moment of our stay in Bali enriched our wealth of experience. Our wonderful experience began with a thrilling landing on the airport runway. As the runway of the airport moved from the mainland to the sea, we felt that the plane was landing in the sea. It was my best landing experience.
As soon as the immigration and customs formalities were completed and they came out of the airport, a Balinese girl with flowers smiled sweetly and said, ‘Welcome to Bali is how the Balinese welcome every tourist. There is an official taxi system at the airport itself. Although many from outside come by taxi to welcome you. However, if you respond to their call, you may have to charge 3 times more rent.
➤ Hotel booking
I had already booked the hotel. Our hotel is called The Oasis. It is located in Kuta, the most magnificent area of Bali. The distance from the airport to the hotel is 3 and a half km. Our taxi fare was originally 80,000 rupees. For every dollar we got 11,250 rupees. A maximum of 1 lakh rupiah notes are available in Indonesia. For the next three days, the calculation of these lakhs of rupees had to be done very quickly.
➤ Indonesian food
A total of seven and a half hour flight and 6 hour transit break in between we were very tired. I ordered the food and asked to send it to the room. As ordered, different types of food arrived for 3 people. Tasted Indonesian food for the first time. Like our country, rice is the main food throughout Indonesia and Bali. However, Indonesians use a lot of spices in curries and a type of sauce to serve food. But it is not bad to eat, it tastes good.
Eating chicken, fish, kebab etc. with different items, our bill is 1 lakh 47 thousand rupees which is like 1 thousand 50 rupees in our money. Bali has earned its reputation as one of the world’s most tourist-friendly islands with its natural beauty and good accommodation and food at relatively low prices. Staying at the same standard in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur costs about 50 percent more to eat.
➤ Bali Visitor
After eating, I rested for a couple of hours and walked towards the beach to watch the sunset around five o’clock in the afternoon. In the 3rd week of October, the sun sets at 6:30 in Bali. Bali’s world famous Kuta Beach is just a 3/4 minute walk from our hotel. Walking on the street, I saw a lot of foreigners around. More than a quarter of travelers to Bali are Australian. This may be because Australia is geographically very close to Bali. When I reached the beach, I saw that many people had come to watch the sunset.
➤ Kuta beach in Bali
The water color of Bali Kuta beach is dark blue. Although Kuta beach is beautiful, the beauty of our Cox’s Bazar beach is not less than this. Postponing the descent into the sea for the time being, we started walking after sunset to see the city of Kuta. Kuta road is not very wide and many motorcycles are seen on the road. What can be said in our country is unimaginable. We walked for about 2 hours, saw the city, ate a burger from Burger King and returned to the hotel around 10 pm. After returning to the hotel, I went down to the swimming pool to get rid of the tiredness of the whole day.
The next morning, at 10 o’clock, our car arrived at breakfast. The night before I asked the hotel manager Rama to arrange the car for the whole day. 4 to 4.5 lakh rupiah in Bali is a 7 seater Toyota avaûa car for the whole day. We took the car for 9 lakh rupees for the whole day, including lunch at another nice restaurant and entrance fees to two attractions. Our car crossed the Kootar road and continued northwards on a relatively wide road.
On both sides of the road, the impression of the very strong Balinese culture can be seen. The Balinese believe very much in tradition. At the main gate of the house, they use such architecture that looks like a hundred years old. The use of flowers and bamboo is conspicuous everywhere.
One cannot help but be impressed by the way bamboo has been decorated and used in various houses, temples, shops etc. On both sides of the road, various amazing handicrafts made of wood, clay, stone were attracting attention again and again. We did not see any high-rise buildings in Bali.
Almost all houses in all areas except city center are limited to 2/3 storeys. Our car stopped at Sari Dewi, a gold and silver jewelery factory-cum-showroom. We did not spend much time there due to lack of interest. Our next destination is 64 km from Kuta. A region in the northeast called Kintamani. It is a hilly area and the height is 4500 feet above sea level. We went there to see the live volcano called Mount Batur in Kintamani region and the heart of Lake Batur surrounded by that mountain. On reaching the destination, I thought that there are very few such beautiful places. It also seemed that coming to Bali was totally worth it.
It is already noon. While having lunch at the restaurant, looking at the wonderful beauty around, I was thinking that even if it is not the best delicious lunch of my life, it must be considered as the most beautiful lunch. But the food at that buffet lunch was pretty good too. We spent quite some time in that wonderful place. Due to the high altitude, the place is quite cold.
➤ Batur hill
Our car started moving, leaving behind the mountain and Hrid. Our next destination is Ubud, the area between Kuta and Kintamani. I entered a coffee factory on the road to learn about the origin of coffee. There we were served 8 types of coffee with different flavors. We tasted different flavors of coffee. There I saw how the world’s most expensive coffee is made.
A cat-like animal named Luwak is fed coffee berries and passes whole coffee berries in their feces. This process reduces the bitterness of coffee berries and makes them aromatic. The coffee made from the coffee berries obtained in this way is the most expensive coffee in the world. The price of each cup of coffee is 2 thousand 500 Bangladeshi taka. We tasted 8 types of coffee but did not dare to eat such expensive coffee.
➤ Zoom cultivation on the hill
After this varied experience we continued towards Ubud. Our main attraction in Ubud was the beautiful rice fields shaped like jum farms on the hillsides. While tourism is the biggest driver of Bali’s economy, many people still depend on agriculture. Rice cultivation occupies the majority of Bali’s agriculture. It has also emerged as a noteworthy tourist attraction as paddy cultivation is well done. Standing there, you will feel like a picture carefully painted by the creator himself. I proceeded towards the hotel with a very good feeling from that place just like the picture. As it was still evening, I spent some time at another beach on the eastern tip of Bali before returning to the hotel.
➤ Swimming in the sea
Our third day activity in Bali started with a swim in the sea. At 11 o’clock we landed at Kuta Beach. The wave height here is quite good. This sandy beach is a paradise for Australian surfers. Suman and I swam in the ocean and moved forward. Our other companion, Robin, continued to watch us proceed in amazement.
About 200 yards from shore floated 2 Australian men and women. We proceeded to pass them and as we approached we saw 2 of them with surfboards. They are surprised to see us swimming in the sea. We realized that more risks were taken without realizing it. It was very difficult for us to get back to the shore after entering the water through mouth, nose and ears. We did not have mobile phones or cameras as we were going to the sea. After much searching, we could not find anyone with a camera to take pictures.
➤ Tanah Lot Temple
We had lunch at the hotel and left again around 2 o’clock. Our first destination is 20 km from Kuta. Mr. Tanah Lot temple in the north west. Most of the tourist attractions in Bali are temples. Since we have less interest in temples, we kept only this one temple in our list. The reason to visit it is its location. The temple is situated on a large rock block on the beach and during high tide the temple looks like a small island. We entered the temple premises after paying 90,000 rupees for three people. Although one is not allowed to enter inside the main temple, one can climb up to a height of the temple pillar i.e. stone block. But it is possible only after washing hands and face with holy water and donating some rupees.
After washing our hands with holy water, the temple servants put flowers in our ears and some rice on our foreheads and allowed us to go upstairs. We took some pictures and left the Tanah lot. Our next destination is 40 km from Tanah Lot. Mr. South Uluwatu (uluwatu). It is the southernmost area of Bali. Our objective is to watch the sunset from the famous Uluwatu Sunset Point.
➤ Uluwatu Sunset Point
3 of us bought tickets for 60 thousand rupiah and entered the Uluwatu Sunset Point area. The monkey infestation is very high in this area. While we were busy taking pictures, a mischievous monkey tried to steal our friend Robin’s sunglasses. Robin felt a slight pain in his cheek.
The place where we stood to watch the sunset was a very high mountain next to the sea. The sea water is coming down and hitting the rocks. Looking down from above, it is scary. The sea, the mountains, the green forests and the sunset all together create an indescribable beauty.
➤ Traditional dance Kekak
This place in Uluwatu is famous for performing kecak, one of the traditional dances of Balinese culture. Kekak and fire dance starts soon after sunset. We bought three tickets for 2 lakh 10 thousand rupees and sat down to enjoy this different cultural dance of Bali. It is performed in the open air and the audience gallery is so crowded with tourists that there is no room to hold the needle. The special feature of Kekak is that no musical instrument is used in this performance. At this time, about 60 Balinese men began to make the same sound with their mouths. Although there was boredom at the beginning of Kekak, life slowly came back. We all enjoyed it.
Around 8pm we left Uluwatu for Jimbaran. Our aim this time is Rasna Bilas. If you leave Bali without eating seafood, the trip will remain incomplete. Jimbarans total area is located on the way from Uluwatu to Kuta and its total distance from Kuta is 12.5 km. Jimbaran is famous for its seaside seafood restaurants. Food is served here under the open sky.
➤ Shopping in Bali
There was a super shop called Krishna around 11 pm for some shopping like cloths and some Antique products. Our driver Maddy had already informed us that this super shop is open 24 hours. We bought some gift items and went back to the hotel around 12 midnight. Our final day in Bali did not include any sightseeing activities. I spent the morning at the hotel. After completing the checkout formalities at the hotel reception, we left for the airport around 10:30.
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