Well I’m not Julia Robert’s and it wasn’t Eat, Pray Love but BALI provided exactly what I needed, when I needed it. As you arrive in Bali you are assaulted with the fact it is a Hindu country, 87% of the people are Hindu but that doesn’t account for the shrines on every corner, lot store, and family compound. It’s definitely the most Hindu country I have ever visited and that includes India. You definitely know you’re in Asia, but it’s way cleaner than India, with fewer scooters and traffic wildness than Vietnam. I’ve been mostly in tourist areas but the poverty isn’t so in your face.
Most of the shrines had offerings of marigolds, refreshed daily. Hindus must be cremated quickly in accordance with their religion and we saw a portable crematorium being paraded through the streets of Nusa Dua.
As this is day 45 of the trip, we are at 8 different currencies. Bali’s exchange rate was perhaps the most difficult to get your head around as one US Dollar equals 16,500 Rupiah. So my first trip to the ATM meant I got out 1,600,000 rupiahs which equaled about $100 dollars. I was glad my USAA bank got the conversion rate correct! Fortunately I have an App called XE that keeps me up to speed on exchange rates and I was using it constantly and didn’t freak out when a quesadilla was 85K or $5.
One of the best decisions on the trip to Bali was to get a private driver. Our steward from the first cruise was from Bali and hooked us up with an awesome driver who was kind, patient and informative, not to mention cheap. He was also very flexible as we created our itinerary on a day to day basis. We asked him for recommendations and he took us wherever we wanted. The cost for the entire 12 days was equivalent to one Holland America Shore Excursion and that included airport pick up and drop off. If you ever come to Bali and want a driver, let me know and I’ll share his details.
Kathy signed us up for an Indonesian Cooking school and it was really fun. I don’t know a lot about Indonesian food but we had so many left overs we were eating them for a week. I can say that making a paste takes a lot of ingredients, but the dishes were so rich in flavor as a result of a complex paste.
The setting for the Kecak Fire Dance Ceremony was at the shore of the Indian Ocean at sunset. The male dancers made this clacking sound that they impressively managed to keep for an hour.
A few animals from the Bali Safari. This was my least favorite thing in Bali. I thought I was going on a Safari, but it actually was an experience like Disneys Wild Kingdom but not nearly as nice. Sometimes I need to better manage my expectations, certainly not the animals fault or the hundreds of elementary school children getting the thrill of their life.
So I saved the best for last. My favorite part of Bali were the amazing massages that were so cheap I went every other day. I’ve been rubbed and buffed, hot stoned, lomi lomied, had reflexology, deep tissue, full body and everything else on the menu. I used my back as an excuse to keep getting the massages but honestly it was so cheap and felt so good I couldn’t stop. To give you an idea of the prices I got a 30 minute leg and foot massage for $11.39. On another day an hour body polish, 1 1/2 hour hot stone massage followed a flower petal bath was $37.04. If you come to Nusa Dua – the Zahra Spa does it all including hotel pick up and drop off. This is what I will miss the most leaving Bali in the morning.
Next stop is Sydney Australia for a few days as the Pacific 35 day cruise departs on 15 March. BTW – I’m not sure anyone will be in Australia when I get there because they’re all in Bali. Bali is the place for Australians to vacation, nearly every person I met was from there.
WanderlustandWhimSea 