Blogs from Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 15

After a nice 2:30am wake-up, I had a long day ahead of me. It started great when I found out that the airport had opening times and I had arrived before the doors opened, so I had to wait outside. Luckily, my friends Renee and Filo had some time to keep me occupied on Skype! A 2,5 hour flight was followed by a 7,5 hour layover (yes, you read it right) and then another 6,5 hour flight. This last flight was my first flight ever that left 10 minutes BEFORE scheduled departure. No missing passengers, no one was late, I would call that a miracle. As soon as I walked into the airport hall in Denpasar, Bali, I was overwhelmed by the amount of taxi drivers offering their services. They were very pushy and wouldn't take ... read more

As you may have picked up from previous posts, it is impossible to go anywhere in Bali without encountering temples. It’s said that in Bali, there are more temples than there are houses. Some estimates are even as high as 50,000, in fact. While this may be hard to believe at first, it doesn’t take much time on the island to notice that temples are literally everywhere. Balinese temples, or pura, have strong associations with the number three. Temples are divided into three spaces: an outer courtyard in addition to two holier inner yards. Each temple also has spaces of worship for Hinduism’s three prominent deities: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. And within the context of a Balinese village, there is also something called the ‘three temple system.’ Each Balinese village contains its own Pura Puseh, Pura ... read more

Everyday when going out on our tours the bus would cross the new 8 km bridge from Nusa Dua to Sanur and we would pass by the huge monument statue of Titi Banda which was at the centre of numerous roads converging at the monument. The traffic was always horrendous whenever we passed by but today our private driver boldly stopped our car and ran out into the traffic screaming and with hands waving to stop the cars and scooters to allow us to cross the road to get some good pictures of the monument. The Titi Banda statue represents stories about the character Rama who built the Titi Banda Bridge in the middle of the sea with the help of monkey troops in order to rescue his abducted wife. The statue shows Rama accompanied by ... read more

Just finished having my “Royal full body massage “ and finishing in time to catch “happy hour” at the poolside bar to enjoy my new favourite beverage.....an “Arak Madur”. The massage took 1 hour and 45 minutes and I have never felt better. Cost was a measly $57 so will likely do that again before we fly out next week. Our favourite bartender, Budi, told us it is unusual for guests to stay for 2 weeks. It seems like all hotel staff have memorized our names and they check in regularly to see how our day has gone. I went down early for breakfast today and the waiter said “ good morning Mr. Brent....where is Missy Dianne?” We must be sure to tip them well in the next few days as everyone has gone out of ... read more

Our tour ended in Ubud and a number of us stayed for a few days afterwards. I've been to Bali a few times in the past, so used these as rest days (aka there were a lot of massages)...and to catch up on exciting things like laundry.... read more