MY TRIP TO BALI!

My goal this vacation was just to relax.  I wasn’t looking for touring around at a breakneck pace or seeing lots of stuff.  I just wanted to chill somewhere preferably with a beach.

Bali is perfect for this.  Here are some random thoughts

Bali is like a cross between Hawaii and Thailand.  Very packed with people and cars but the people are gentle and polite and bow with both hands in greeting like Thai people do.

I stayed for 5days4nights and allowed one day for a tour that cost 30usd and went to three different locations – the king’s temple which was used by the king and his family and is about 600 years old, a national forest which features semi-tame monkeys, and Tanah Rota a series of beautiful “sea temples” which are located right among the crashing surf.

At the monkey forest, a “king monkey’ jumped on my head.  I was told this is highly unuusal as only the smaller monkeys will try to climb you and only if you have food which I had already given away.  Some consider this a blessing by the Hind monkey god Hanuman.

I also reserved one day for shopping.  However, shopping in Bali is very expensive.  Food is cheap but the cost of everything else is exorbitant tourism is their only industry I guess.

My hotel the Santika Kuta Beach was very nice.  I happily recommend it.

The religion of Bali is an interesting mix of Hinduism, Buddhism, and local animist religions.  Very different from the Hinduism I am used to.

The ocean is cold and the currents very strong more like Australia (or California) than the waters of Malaysia which are warm and not very animated.

At the airport when I arrived, the process of getting visa involved standing in three lines- The first line to apply for the visa, the second line to get the visa, and the third lie to go through immigration for the stamp.  As I was standing there, an immigration officer came up to me and said that for an extra 20 bucks (the visa is 25 dollars) I could wave the lines and get my visa and stamp in about five minutes.  I did this and it was legitimate.  I hate standing in lines.

So that’s Bali.  Too lazy to post photos….Add me in Facebook if you want to see them.