Bali, Indonesia

After 3 days at sea we arrived at our first port in Bali, Benoa. Balinese culture is deeply rooted in Hinduism. Benoa is located in southeastern Bali. Bali is part of the Indonesian republic which was established August 17, 1945. The island of Bali has a population of 4.6 million. The island has many immigrants who come here to find work in the tourism industry. Other than tourism, the main economic activity is rice farming.

Education through high school is free. So is healthcare. This has only been the case in the past 14 years. Many of the young people do not go on to college. There is a great deal of illiteracy among the older population.

We learned a great deal about the culture of the Balinese. When children are born they are called by their birth order. There are 4 names because there are 4 directions. I did not get the names but if you were the first born you would be called North 1, but if you were the 5th child you would be called North 2. Our guide had a small flower offering on the bus, so we would be safe and return to the port unharmed. They are very respectful and believe we are all human.

As we drove we saw small temple structures that are dedicated to their ancestors. Many had cloth draped over them. Every family has these temples and believe that the spirit of those who have passed before reside in them. They believe in reincarnation and make a daily flower offering to their ancestors.

We went to the Royal Temple first. It was very traditional in that it was only altar like places for worship. We could not go in that area, but there was a walled walkway that we could follow. It was not in very good repair. They still have a royal family, but they have no importance in the running of the country. It was built in 1634.

After visiting the Royal temple we drive to Tanah Lot, another temple from the 17th century. It was on the coast and the shore line was rocky and there were crashing waves.

Our second day was from the port of Celukan Bawang on the north shore of the island. Bali is one of 17,000 island that make up Indonesia. All of Indonesia has a population of 279 million and is the 14th largest country in the world by area.

Our guide told us to not expect much since Bali is a 3rd world country. We already knew that from our first day of touring. The roads were narrow, winding and crowded. Motorbikes were the most numerous means of transportation with a helmet law in place, but many rode without a helmet. Many of the drivers had small children in front of them on the motorbike. Our guide told us that there are 17,000 licensed guides in Bali and they only work sporadically. He works at a rice field when he is not guiding.

The Balinese go to some sort of market for food daily, mainly because they do not have refrigerators in their homes. We passed many small homes and our guide said that the people do not own them, but are passed down in a family by generation. Once you have a house it is the family’s forever.

Bali gets about 7 million tourists a year. The areas we saw were not pretty. There was garbage everywhere and ramshackle buildings. We were disappointed in our visit, we thought we would see pretty beaches, lush landscape, sort of like Bali Hai.

Our first stop was at the Royal Palace. It was not ornate or fancy, by our standards. However, when you compare it to the small houses we saw as we drove it was palatial.

After the Royal Palace we went to a Chinese Temple. We were able to see all of it, because they were preparing for a holiday and had all of it open.

Our final stop was at the Aneko Beach Hotel. It was a 3 star hotel but looked nice. We had lunch there and the option to walk to the beach. The beach here, like all the beaches we saw, was not very pretty, the sand was a dark grey and the water not very colorful.

We were disappointed in Bali, I guess we did not realize how poor the island is. There are obviously high end resorts and perhaps if we had seen them our impression would have been different.

We now have two more sea days before we get to Singapore and the end of the cruise part of our trip.