Bali is an Indonesian island and province and the westernmost of the Lesser
Sunda Islands. Unique among 17,504 islands that make up the
Indonesian archipelago, Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in
Indonesia. The colorful ceremonies and daily offerings of the Balinese
Hindu religion are lovely and unmistakable. Ornate temples are on nearly
every street. Bali is
renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern
dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. Bali's
rich culture heritage, dramatic tropical landscapes and pleasing shorelines
has made it Indonesia's main tourist destination, and tourism-related
business makes up 80% of the Bali economy.
Getting there ...
We have stayed in Taiwan for about a week (after our
Alishan trip). This
was our first time to visit Indonesia, and it will consist of two parts:
Bali and Komodo Island. We
flew to Bali in the morning on 6/29 (TPE @ 9:50AM --> DPS @ 3:15PM).
When we checked in the flight at the airport, we were surprised that we were
give a "Hello Kitty" boarding
pass. Yes, we were boarding a Hello Kitty airplane :-)
The
immigration process at Bali DPS airport was a little bit confusing. We
still needed to fill a lengthy arrival card on the computers at the airport
to get a QR code even though we already got the visa online so our passports
can be scanned by the machine. After we met our taxi driver, we were
on the way to our destination in Bali, Ubud. The traffic was so
terrible that it took us more than 2 hours for the distance about 40km...
Day 2 (6/30) ...
I booked a full-day private tour to take us to a few places around Ubud.
The town of Ubud, in the uplands of Bali, Indonesia, is known as a center
for traditional crafts and dance. The surrounding Ubud District’s rainforest
and terraced rice paddies, dotted with Hindu temples and shrines, are among
Bali’s most famous landscapes.
- Kanto Lampo Waterfall
Just a short drive from Ubud, Kanto Lampo
Waterfall offers a peaceful escape with its unique terraced rock
formations and gentle cascades, perfect for relaxation and photos.
Since we did not want to get wet, instead of going down to the
waterfall, we walked across the stream to the higher ground on the other
side to take pictures of the waterfall (and some people at the
waterfall).
- Tibumana Waterfall
Tibumana Waterfall falls straight into a pool
on the ground without stones or rocks to break the flow, and it looks
like a perfect curtain hanging from the cliff. It's easy to walk
into the shallow pool without getting too wet.
We noticed that most streets in Bali were lined with
curved bamboo poles decorated with leaves, flowers, and fruits. We
learned from our guide that those poles, called
penjor, were erected just
before Galungan, the most important religious festival in Balinese Hinduism,
to celebrate the victory of dharma (good) over adharma (evil).
Determined by the 210-day Balinese Pawukon calendar, Galungan was from 6/17
to 6/27 in 2026 (just a few days before our trip).
- Abian Kusuma Sari (AKS) Coffee Plantation
We visited the coffee
plantation and learned the basic coffee making process, and had a very
comprehensive coffee/tea tasting including the famous Bali Luwak coffee
(with a small additional cost). Kopi Luwak (or civet coffee) is a
famously exclusive coffee from Bali made from beans digested by the
Asian palm civet. It indeed has some quite strong unique flavor....
- Pura Tirta Empul
Tirta Empul Temple, located in Tampaksiring,
Bali, is one of the island's most revered Hindu temples and a
significant spiritual destination. Dating back to 962 AD during the
Warmadewa dynasty, the temple is dedicated to Vishnu, the god of water,
and is celebrated for its sacred spring, which has drawn worshippers for
centuries seeking spiritual cleansing and renewal.
- Tegallalang Rice Terrace
Also known as “Ubud Rice Fields”,
Tegallalang Rice Terrace is a series of lush, emerald-green rice paddies
carved into stepped terraces along the slopes of a valley just north of
Ubud. It has been cited as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
showcase the traditional Balinese communal irrigation cooperative known
as subak, which dates back to the 8th century. We hiked around the
rice terraces for about an hour. We followed the steep trail down
and up the terraces to reach the ridge on the other side of the valley.
Day 3 (7/1) ...
After a full-day tour yesterday, we planned to explore Ubud on foot by
ourselves today.
- Sunrise at Subak Juwuk Manis Rice Fields
We started our walk from
the hotel at 5AM to a nice rice field, Subak Juwuk Manis. It was a
peaceful and picturesque walk through lush rice fields in the early
morning.
- Ubud
We were back to Ubud center at about 7AM. My original
plan was to visit Ubud Palace because Google Map said it is open at 7AM.
However, it was all locked when we got there, and a guy working inside
told us it won't be open until 10AM. So we decided to get a coffee
at a Starbucks (very cool
statue outside) to wait for the opening of
Ubud Water Palace (a
tourist trap!!!) at 8AM.
- Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
After having a nice breakfast back to the hotel, we walked to the Sacred
Monkey Forest Sanctuary at about 10AM. The Sacred Monkey
Forest Sanctuary is a nature reserve and temple complex in Ubud. The
Sanctuary covers approximately 12.5 hectares and is home to over 1200
long-tailed macaque monkeys, who are considered sacred by the local
Balinese people.
-
Ubud Monkey Forest Silver Class
After a delicious
Korean BBQ
lunch, we went to a silver class to make our own silver jewelry.
Unlike most people who choose to make rings, Woanyu decided to make pairs of
earrings (fish and dolphin). We were introduced the silver-making
process, and we got all the help needed along the process (in fact, the
silversmith did most of the work). It's nice to see our design
gradually transform from raw silver into shining
beautiful earrings.
- Kaamala Resort & Spa
We finally had some time to relax in our hotel room in the afternoon.
The hotel, situated at the end of a small lane running parallel to
Ubud's lively main street, offers a peaceful retreat amidst the bustle
with rice fields located at the back. When we took pictures in our
villa's pool, we were visited by a few
monkeys.
- Kecak Dance at Arma
Museum & Resort
I booked a Kecak Dance show at 7PM. We had
a traditional Balinese dinner at Ubud's busy main street, and then
walked to see the dance show. The Kecak Fire Dance is one of
Bali's most iconic traditional musical performances. Its most
distinctive feature is the absence of musical instruments; instead, a
chorus of 50 to over 100 bare-chested men forms a circle, chanting
"Chak-chak-chak" in unison to provide a rhythmic vocal backdrop while
traditional dancers enact the Indian epic "Ramayana". Regarding its
origins and characteristics, the dance is not an ancient ritual in the
strict sense; rather, it was created in the 1930s through a
collaboration between German artist Walter Spies and Balinese dancer
Wayan Limbak, who adapted the traditional "Sanghyang" exorcism ritual.
Day 4 -- 6 (7/2 -- 7/4) ...
Day 6 (7/4) ...
We were back to Bali from Komodo in the afternoon (LBJ @ 1:40PM -->
DPS @ 2:50PM).
- The Edge Bali
The Edge
Bali is an award-winning, 5-star luxury cliffside resort in Pecatu
(Uluwatu). Perched 500 feet above the Indian Ocean, it is famous for
its private pool villas, 24-hour butler service, and the dramatic
oneeighty° clifftop day club. We stayed in the
Villa Breeze,
a one-bedroom villa opens onto sweeping views of the ocean and a
lush private garden.
Day 7 (7/5) ...
- The Edge Bali
I booked a floating breakfast at the glass-bottom
sky pool. The entire pool was reserved for us to enjoy.
However, to reach the cliff edge of the pool, you had to go through the
deepest portion of the pool (1.8 meters), so we had to hang on along the
wall and climb slowly in the pool where we could not touch the bottom of
the pool. After taking a few pictures (our butler had run around
the pool to get different angles), we decided to move out of the pool
and had the
breakfast on the bench by the pool (there was no way we could eat
our breakfast in the pool...).
- The Breeze Villa
While I was in our villa to take a break
(and processed some of my photos), Woanyu was preparing to go to
spa.
- The Club
After check out at noon, we went to the Club (exclusive
access for villa guests only) to play some bowling and pool, and had a
light lunch delivered to the
Club.
Going Home ...
Our taxi came to pick us up at 1PM to go to the airport. It will be
a long flight for us: 5h30min from DPS (4:30PM) to TPE (10PM), and 12h from
TPE (11:40PM) to SFO (8:35PM). It's another Hello Kitty airplane (it's
probably common between Taipei and Bali), and this time even the
flight attendants wearing Hello Kitty
aprons :-) Our 2-week vacation this time was a good
combination of different things: from the family time in Taiwan
(including the Alishan trip),
to adventurous Komodo Island, to
this luxurious Bali experience, it's a good way to kick off this hot summer.
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