Bali

Bali was not on my list of places I really wanted to visit. Given that I grew up surrounded by rice fields in Thailand, I don't need to see rice terraces. Knowing that tourism is so key to Bali's economy, I presumed that I would find it very touristy and I wasn't interested in that, and I knew I would not find the Bali depicted in 'Eat, Pray, Love.' BUT...Andrea and I had decided long ago that if we are invited to an international wedding, we strongly consider attending. So when we received an invitation to the wedding of one of Andrea's former grad school classmates, and not just a wedding but a three day Indian celebration to be held in Bali, we knew we had to go. And... I am so glad I went! The wedding at the end of June (more on that later) was of course fantastic and Bali more than pleasantly surprised and delighted me.

Pura Batur Temple gate

We flew out on Korean Air with a stop in Seoul, a trek we are both getting used to making as it's now our easiest way to get almost anywhere in Asia. Knowing that we would be at a large resort for the wedding, we wanted to maximize seeing other parts of the island. Almost as soon as we began to do our research we found Taruna Boutique Homestay, on the north shore of the island. It was about as far away from where we were going to be for the wedding and knowing we really only had a eight days, we debated if it was worth the long drive there and back. We looked at other places but kept being drawn back to this place and so we decided to commit and again, I am so glad we did. 

To take advantage of our limited time, we arranged to stop at a couple places along the way with our driver from Taruna. We had narrowed it down to one waterfall, one rice terrace and one temple with others as options in case we ended up driving a different way. Our driver Mango was more than accommodating and though we weren't able to make it to the waterfall, we were more than happy with our long day before we arrived at our home for the next three nights. 

Unsurprisingly Ubud was not quite as picturesque as depicted in 'Eat, Pray, Love.' Although we didn't explore every street, we saw enough to reassure us that we didn't have to come back here at a later date. (Just my opinion - I'm sure others would disagree!)

Driving through Ubud

Surprisingly (given how many tourists there are), most of the roads in Bali are small two lane roads like above whether you are driving through Ubud, the jungle or from one town to another. There are wider roads in and around Denpasar but no real highways other than the toll road leading from Denpasar south. After passing through Ubud we continued on the narrow road until we knew we were at one of the famous rice terrace spots judging from all the traffic, street cafes and restaurants. Tegallalang Rice Terrace was indeed beautiful even in the rain and mud as we experienced it. Clamber down the side of the hills through tall coconut trees that tourists pay to swing on (swings are definitely a thing in Bali - although tragically someone did fall and die soon after we were there) and you can wander through rice fields and try to take photos without other people in them.

Note the swinging tourist

A little past the rice fields we stopped at Gunung Gawi Sebatu, a temple that illustrates how many temples were/are also key in controlling water systems in Bali. I don't think this is a temple that has too many tourists. There are more famous temples that the tourist books say are 'must sees' but we really enjoyed exploring this one. Unlike Buddhist temples in Thailand where you can always find priests living, Hindu temples in Bali don't have priests that live on site. Often (most of the time) priests have their regular day job and live with their family and just show up to the temple for ceremonies - or that is what we were told!

Looking down on Gunung Gawi Sebatu 

Offerings

Spot the dog

We continued driving north stopping briefly at Pura Batur, perhaps the 2nd largest temple in Bali and again, totally empty, to the point of being a little creepy. We felt like we were scammed here as we had to pay an entrance fee and then after paying that told we had to pay to rent appropriate clothing which often was available at other temples. Anyway, when you are a tourist... 

We continued driving along the north shore until reaching the town of Pemuteran where Taruna Boutique Homestay is located. Taruna is more than a homestay, though it was family run but it was definitely boutique. There are many places like it small and large along the beautiful northern shore which is much more arid than other places in the island. For full trip advisor reviews of all the places we stayed in Bali you can go here. 

Gate into Pemuteran

Our room during our stay at Taruna

Every day fresh flowers and flower petals were put on our bed - this was our welcome the day we arrived.

View from our room with the hills we climbed in the background

We loved our three days here. Taruna is a five minute walk to the beach home of what is billed as the worlds largest biorock/reef rehabilitation. Seeing that it is in need of rehabilitation, the coral is not great here, but the fish were! The fact that you can literally swim five feet off the beach and be in a fish tank was wonderful and I went swimming with the fish every day! One morning we also climbed up the hills behind the town for a pretty spectacular view.  And we made traditional Indonesian pancakes.

The beach at Pemuteran

Another swing...

One of the most picturesque lanes I have seen, heading to the beach next to Mata Hari Resort

Checking out another temple in Pemuteran

Learning how to make traditional Indonesian pancakes!

The whole time I was in Bali I was very curious to explore behind the walls of a traditional Balinese house. Unfortunately this didn't happen as there are tours for almost every other activity in Bali but we were not able to find a way to wander into traditional homes unaccompanied without being a little rude! But if you read the link above, you'll see that a traditional Balinese house actually contains many small buildings or pavilions around a central courtyard. The other interesting note/point of contrast is that while each compound has a family spirit shrine, unlike Thailand where it is a single shrine/structure, in Bali there will be several shrines as seen in the photos below.

Also outside of each house are long decorative bamboo poles called Penjor which are erected twice a year as a sign of devotion and gratitude.

Penjor on display

After a peaceful three days we made the trek back to Denpasar a different route that took us on an incredibly steep road up the mountain that Munduk town and Munduk waterfall is located. We drove through forests of clove trees, more beautiful rice fields and a brief stop overlooking Twin Lakes, through Denpasar before arriving at Grand Mirage Resort in Nusa Dua.

Cloves drying in the sun on the road

View of Twin Lakes

Our view at the resort

The wedding was of course spectacular, wonderful, over the top, vibrant, colorful and a joyful celebration of Ben and Sonali and their respective families. There was a welcome dinner the first evening held at Jendela at GWK Cultural Park with views looking out over Bali. A combined Sangeet and Mehendi were held on the second evening followed by the official ceremony, high tea and reception on day number three! We were so privileged to be a witness to it all and to meet many family and friends. Below are just a few photos that readers of this blog might enjoy. Many more photos of the three day festivities can be found here.

Andrea reunited with another grad school classmate at the Welcome Dinner

The setting for the Sangeet and Mehendi

Getting Henna'd up

Ben with his family before the ceremony

Every Baraat (groom's wedding procession) needs a horse...

Finally the ceremony.

This has been a longer post than usual but we hope it gives a little taste and flavor of our quick Bali trip and a fantastic wedding celebration. Would I go again? What do you think:-)

Duncan