Diwali @ Bali

Celebrating the Bali Spirit!

Friends of Bali!

We were six senior citizen travel buffs including wife Uma, and the Mehtas and Kanugas.

With nowhere to go in these times of tough economic choices, touring Bali turned out to be a most exciting trip. Nothing could be more memorable than celebrating the 2016 Diwali in a country steeped in Hindu mythology and religious ethos – a veritable island within the realms of Islam! 

Bali is a province of Indonesia. It includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands. It is located between Java to the west and Lombok to the east.

With a population of 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census, 83.5% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13.4% Muslim, Chritians at 2.5% and Buddhism 0.5 percent.

It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music.

Bali is part of the 'Coral Triangle', the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species. In this area alone over 500 reef-building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean.

Nusa Dua Beach, South bali

With 12-13 hours of road trips every day for 5 days, we would travel a range of scenic beauty - from the beautiful beaches of south Bali to the rain- and mist-swept mountains in the north; the sights in a dust-free Bali were so diverse, and yet, refreshingly untiring. 

The scenic Mount Batur with Lake Batur in its laps, and the coffee estates around with its rich volcanic soil was an exhilarating trip among the highlands in the north. 

Imagine home-cooked, delicious lunch, downed with chilled Bintang while sitting on the edge of the rim of an extinct volcano - of course we did that too! 

                                                                       

Riding thro' Ubud fields

A one-day itinerary took us to a three-hour eBike excursion among the rice fields of Ubud followed by a vegetarian dinner; those who could not balance the bike were in a buggy to travel along. The busy day was capped by the mesmerizing Legong and Trance Dance with live Balinese instrumental music at the Ubud Palace.

Legong & Trance Dance, Ubud Palace

And there was always a temple visit en-route, whether it was taking a holy dip in Tirta Empul with its fresh water springs, the Banjar Hot springs, the most photographed temple in the sea, Tanah Lot, and the Lake Bratan temple in the highlands up north.

Lake Bratan & Temple

Holy Dip @ Tirta Empul

Tanah Lot - Sea temple

Lake Bratan

Elephant Caves Temple

Tegenungan Waterf

Yes. One cannot forget the several waterfalls along any route in North Bali - e.g. sitting at the bar overlooking the Tenegunan Falls and quietly sipping drinks or getting under the cool waters of the Munduk waterfalls after sweating out on a good 2 km hike down a forested valley!

Tegenungan Waterfalls

Munduk Waterfalls

A lasting memory that would always remain fresh was a lingering, slow walk at sunset along the 70 meter high cliffs overlooking a frothy ocean below at Uluwatu temple, and later, as the orange-red glow of dusk settled in, the fantastic Kecak Fire dance with interpretations of Ramayana in the open air amphitheater overlooking a stormy sea in the background, awash in the colours of a setting sun! 

Not satisfied with the incredible experience, we had time to visit Uluwatu a second time! 

Kecak Fire Dance

Portrait at Uluwatu

Walk along Uluwatu cliffs

..and the setting Sun!

The tour revealed some interesting facets of life in Bali – expensive, imported packaged food and cars, unpolluted oceans rich in marine life, the professionalism in tourism industry, highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music, the absolute cleanliness and green vistas, the polite Balinese people,  and a discipline borne out of true Hinduism.

One thing is for sure; a tour of Bali teaches a refreshing lesson in what could be the true meaning of be ing ‘secular’.

A minimum group of four persons is recommended for a November first week visit, the beginning of off-season tourism - hot and slightly humid, with a few evening showers but nothing intolerable. Taking dry food packs helps as food could be slightly expensive but then there are food courts that cater to the economy-conscious tourist. Transportation and hotel stay could be as cheap or expensive as in India.

Photo Credits: Yashesh Anantani

 Bali Art & Craft: Photo Gallery