Bali, Indonesia

Bali

We went to Bali in November to visit a friend and explore this beautiful island of Indonesia. Bali is absolutely gorgeous with its green lush vegetation and tons of azaleas. The temperature was really nice, warm and sunny and it rained only once.

Rice Fields

There are many fields of rice and because Bali has mountainous terrain, they tier the rice fields to maximize the agriculture. Within a year they sow and reap three crops.

Temples

Bali has numerous temples; we visited a few of them. Tampak Siring (Holy Spring Temple) is where people go to pray and “purify” themselves with the water that is coming out of a spring source underground. Below you can see someone praying under the water fountain.

The Besakih temple is said to be the most important, largest and holiest temple of Hindu religion in Bali. Besakih is a complex of twenty-two temples. It has stepped terraces and flights of stairs which ascend to a number of courtyards and brick gateways that in turn lead up to the main sanctuary structure, which is called Pura Penataran Agung. All this is aligned along a single axis and designed to lead the spiritual person upward and closer to the mountain which is considered sacred.

Water Palace of Tirtagangga

Tirtagangga is a former royal palace and its name means water of the Ganges, Hinduism's holy river. The water palace has fountains, gardens, and stone sculptures of mythical creatures spouting water into bathing pools. Here are some pictures of the water palace.

The round stones above are actually stepping stones so you can walk "around" in the pool. If you look in the water near the fountain, there are some big Koi fishes.

Ujung Water Palace

Ujung is another water palace and it was built at the beginning of the 19^th century. On the first picture you can see the ocean in the background.

The Beach

No trip would be complete without a stop at the beach. Bali has several beaches, and we made Nusa Dua beach our home while we were on the island. Alain even made a couple of friends!

Food

Balinese food is not very spicy and the selection of traditional dishes  is not very extensive, but what we had was very good.

My favorite discovery while in Bali was the snake fruit. At first Alain was kind of put off by the peel’s texture, it really feels and looks like a snake skin…not too appetizing. The fruit itself is composed of big cloves (like garlic cloves but bigger) with pits inside the big cloves. The flesh is white and tastes similar to a very, very crunchy strawberry. So cool and sooooo good, totally loved that fruit!

If I have been quiet in my posts lately it is because I was in the snow with you (in Canada). My mother had a heart surgery and I came back to help. She is now in good shape and her recovery is very quick. Alain and I are going back to Thailand, the southern part of the country this time. More beaches...oh yeah, bring it on!