Week 5: Bali

Why you should visit Bali? 

Bali is definitely one of the most popular of thousand islands of Indonesia. If so many people are attracted to Bali there has to be the reason for that. Of course so many turists in one place is also one of the biggest drawbacks. However even if you are not the type of person, who enjoys spending holiday in such touristic destinations, there are plenty of ways to experience the Indonesian culture in Bali. This small island is one of those places, where nature has given people almost anything to fully enjoy their life. Long beaches, marvelous landscapes, tropical forests, rice terraces, Hindu temples, traditional food and drinks all for reasonable prices make travelers coming back for more. A unique culture is a mixture of Hinduism and traditional local beliefs. Most tourists come to Bali for its famous beaches, but to be honest in my opinion it is not the best feature. So what is the reason why would I recommend visiting this island?

1. Diving

Dive sides in Bali are highly praised for the beauty and diversity of its marine life. There are more than 2 000 species of reef fish in Bali's waters. There are vertical walls and sand slopes, steel and wooden ship wrecks, peacefull bays and ripping currents, deep coral-covered slops and shallow seagrass beds. You can find it all in one place. There are two especially unique sides Manta Point the Giant Mant cleaning station and Cristal Bay, which is definitely the best place to see Sunfish (Mola-Mola). If you are not a diver there is also a few places, which are nice for snorkeling.

2. Surfing

Surrfing is also very popular in Bali. There are people with surfboards on every cornner. You can easily find a school and learn it too. It's a part of turistic culture. The best conditions for surfing are in the southern part of the island. Waves there might be up to 3 meters. However in high season it gets really crowded there.

3. Culture

The Balinese are helpful, friendly and of course a really religious nation. Each day begins and ends with the sacrifice to the spirits and demons. These gifts can be found everywhere: at the entrance to the house, in a rickshaw, taxi, on the street outside the shop. Mostly these are little boxes with leaves, a few grains of rice and flowers. There is also enormous number of religious ceremonies (in a year there are nearly 200 events to celebrate) and numerous beautiful, sometimes extremely old temples. What's easy to notice is the other side of this religion. On the island is plenty of houseless dogs. Is because balinese believes that people, who lived badly are born as dogs in their next life. It's form of punishment.

4. Nature

Apart from underwater life, which I already mentioned, it's worth to going for a tip to the middle part of Bali. Stopping along the way in traditional villages. Admiring tropical forests growing on the slopes of volcanoes and beautiful rice terraces in valles. Everywhere you can find dozens of exotic animal species and plants, which in Europe can be seen only in a ZOO or growing in pots.

5. Cuisine

It my opinion it's a little bit boring. It is easy to guess that rice is the main ingredient of all meals. It is eaten even 3 times a day, all year round. Balinese people claim that they know thousands of ways to prepare it. Usually a meal contains rice with different kinds of meat (beef, chicken, fish) eggs and vegetables. After two weeks of eating it I was dreaming of "schabowy". However it was very instructive experience.

At the end please look at the short movie, which in my opinion is accurate summary of Bali's tourism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti6npiYAos0&list=TLYesqwXx_hPL-0mjKd86fRWgGhPDaHcW6

QUESTIONS:

Have you ever been to Bali? If yes what did you like the most?

Have you ever visted other exotic places? What are your expirinces? What would you recommend?

Is there any place you you really want to visit in future?