Indonesia - on the road in Bali

Bali is a tiny island, few hundred km West-East and maybe hundred km North-South, somewhere in the middle of it is Ubud, the cultural and artistic centre of Bali and Indonesia. It is all rainy and humid there, makes you think that who would like to live in this wetness, but despite that it is packed with local and foreign artists and maybe even more tourists who have wondered little further away from all-inclusive beach resorts.

The ultimate jungle villa, the local staff was extremely proud to show us around in this brand new establishment. One of the interesting detail was the bath in a middle of water, the whole bathroom was opened to the sky.

Ubud is relaxed town to wonder on hilly streets and look into different art galleries and enjoy the best what there is to offer for tourists: I had never thought of car service in restaurants seriously, after one dinner a waiter asked if we would like to have a car back to our jungle hotel, obviously there was no need to spend money as the hotel was just 1 km away, waiter explained it is all taken care of, this is inclusive part of our dinner, how nice is that?! We sticked to our walking plan, but as such it was interesting service, that I had never came across. Last year in Macau, the gambling paradise and special economic zone of China, heard similar service being offered for gamblers all over China, casinos would send a private jet to pick the gambler up and deliver to Macau, obviously in these cases the expected spending in Casino is few million RMB or USD.

From Ubud the the direction was towards North coast. Rice fields on the road.

Religion



Simple living houses looking like temples

The 3 younger brothers of volcano Gunung Batur. All 3 were born in different eruptions within last 100 years, the black flowing lava is still visible from the last eruption.

Temple ceremony

Temple ceremony - carrying offerings

Temple ceremony - Young fellow fully dressed for the occasion

Indonesia - Bali island

As the tradition goes, Chinese New Year is the time to be far from China, so it went also in 2012.

Last moment destination choice was Indonesia, though just a fraction of it, with Bali and Lombok islands.
Finally made it to Indonesia, and what a place it is: Bali's mysterious religious rituals, high volcanic mountain passes which only sometimes see any tourists, luxury resorts packed with Australian holiday seekers. And then Lombok, wild beaches with few surfers hunting for perfect waves.




Moist climate








Balinese architecture is one room = one house.







Bedroom opened directly to other rooms (houses)






Blossoms







Decorations in front of temple. Religious rituals are natural part of daily life. A common practice is to make 3-4 small food offerings per day by putting small plates with rice in front of doors, gates and statues.







Balinese







Decorations on the road to the temple.







Typical gates in Bali, looks like one structure has been cut vertically from the middle and then lifted few meters apart from each other.







The fuel for motorbikes: Absolut Patrol