HALO LAGI

(Ha-Low Lah-Gee)

Hello again from Bali, Indonesia. Many people have picked Bali as a dream vacation. So many movies depict tropical paradise and so much is on social media. Departing from the United States, that trip is long and costly, so you need to spend quite a bit of time there to make it worthwhile. We are taking advantage of our Singapore location and traveling to all the unique island destinations in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas.

Here are a few facts about Bali. It is an island in Indonesia. It lies eight degrees south of the equator. They speak Indonesian and Balinese. Most islands have a separate language or at least a dialect. As a tourist, we found most people also speak English. The religion is 86% Hinduism, and they have Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism represented. The exchange rate is still very good for the US Dollar sitting at $1 being equal to 15,000 Indonesian Rupiah (IDR). On top of that rate, things are very cheap here. A soda or water is about $1. We had large meals with multiple beers for about $10 for both of us. The infrastructure here is still developing so no drinking the water.

The latest population estimate is 4.3 million. This was shocking to me as the island isn’t very big. It made sense when we saw the number of people on the roads. Here is an interesting fact about the dogs in Bali. They run free but are “community” dogs. They have collars and may stay at a certain place, but they are just roaming. They use this method to reduce rodents, snakes, or any other unwanted pests. They take care of the dogs as a community. If one is sick or injured, they will take it to get treated and then the dog roams again. None of them seemed to be mean as they are used to this life, but I think it is best to not pet them.

This trip was to explore some of the many aspects of this island. They have beaches and coral reefs to enjoy the sun. Then you can drive thirty minutes and be in the middle of the jungle and hills viewing plateau farming plots. There are active volcanoes here as well and the hike to the top takes 2 days. There is something for everyone on this island and they have two other small islands next door Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida. This is where I dove at.

 

Upon arrival, we found the airport was very modern and clean. They had many stores and restaurants inside and a large duty-free area. The customs line was fast, and we had arranged for a car service through the hotel. As always, we highly recommend arranging a car ahead of time if possible. Kuta is the area where the airport is situated but Denpasar is the largest city and joins it. Driving away showed us roads that appeared well maintained and even recently done. We suspect this has something to do with the G20 just being held here. The city area is very compact, and traffic is heavy. We are again in a scooter-heavy society, and they have no rules.

Our first stay was at the beach to accommodate scuba diving and soaking up the sun. The hotel was the Anantara resort in Seminyak. This area was very busy. People walked all over, and scooters and cars were nonstop. We had read this area was a “party” area and it was true. The roads are lined with stores and restaurants for literal miles in all directions. The beach has a trail that walks along several resorts and restaurants on the beach. Unfortunately, scooters drive on this path and they do not pay attention or slow down. There were very few traffic control devices here so that caused issues for the vehicles.

The hotel was very nice. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. They showed us to our room and Brandi was surprised. We had an ocean view on the third floor. It had a large balcony with a hot tub with ocean views. The room also faced west, so the sunset was beautiful. The hotel is an older one but the upkeep is good. Everything was clean and working properly. We overlooked the pool as well. We dropped the bags and changed for a walk to the beach and a cold drink. The first place we went was to the beach to walk in the ocean. This is a thing we do on many trips. We were very disappointed, and it is now time for a public service announcement.

Much of Indonesia is still a developing country. Bali is a prime example. The beach was covered in trash that came from the ocean. When we walked into the water, we immediately turned around as there was the most trash I have ever seen in my life. The water was full of floating trash, and it just killed my soul as I love the Ocean and try to protect it when I can and speak to conservation. Many of the people in the area just throw their trash down or into the rivers. There are many plastics in this region as well. Indonesia was voted to receive a very large sum of money to help them get this corrected.

Some local people do not know any better. They should be educated at a minimum, but they just lack infrastructure. When the rainy season comes, as it was during this trip, the rivers all push out to the ocean. They deliver all the trash into the ocean and then it spreads. There are so many nonprofits cleaning up the ocean and places that even ship trash from countries to dispose of it. The Netherlands is helping Indonesia with trash interceptors placed in some rivers now. I truly hope the money they received gets a hold of this problem. I regret not having my phone for a video and failed as a blogger by not going back, but I found a photo taken there and cut a section to show. This is what we saw. Bali is so beautiful, so this hurt and was a huge negative Instagram vs reality moment. You hear about these problems and see them in some news stories, but we saw this first hand and it is very real.

Enough of the bad part, and fortunately, that was the only one. We grabbed some drinks from the pool bar and dipped in to cool off. It was very warm however there was always a breeze, unlike in Singapore. We walked into the town area and explored the local sites. They love to sell local goods here and there are many clothing places. Many of the items are tourist-focused, but they do have some nice stores with locally made products. We had dinner at a local restaurant, eating Balinese food, and it was delicious.

I had a scuba-filled day with three dives. The diving company picks up and has to drive to the boat. Another infrastructure thing here, they do not have a bunch of slips or dock areas. They anchor or moor almost all the boats that cannot beach or be pulled out. We unloaded on the shore and waded out to a 15ft flat bottom boat. The water was barely knee-deep for many yards out. We took this boat out to the dive boat and jumped on. We headed out to the first dive site by Nusa Penida, Manta point. As the name implies it is a location where mantas frequent.

During this ride, I was properly introduced to the Indian Ocean. The swells were eight to ten feet. There was no horizon at the bottom of the swell. It was rough. This is not for the seasick type. I asked my guide if this was normal, and he said it was. He then said some days they just cancel because it gets too bad. This boat was a forty-foot twin-engine deep vee hull. It was plenty for the ocean, but it was quite a ride out. A few weeks after we vacationed, I saw two different tourist boats that capsized. Fortunately, all on board were ok and used life jackets. So, my lesson was the Indian Ocean is not a place to mess around.

Once we anchored it was time. We jumped in and descended. The visibility was good here at about fifty feet. The currents and swells were churning up the water and there was some reduction from this. Good buoyancy is a must here with this swell. You would move three feet in either direction when the swell moved. The reef was good and there were numerous fish. I spotted two mantas and that is the largest thing I have swum next to thus far. It was amazing to be close to something that large. We completed the dive and loaded up for site number two, Crystal Bay.

The water calmed down tremendously once we passed to the north of the island. The next site was very calm. We dove in and the water was much clearer here. With visibility just over 100ft. The bottom was very sandy and gradually sloped down into coral. I spotted a sea snake and a nudibranch, which is very hard as they are tiny, and a large barracuda. The third spot was called SD. This was a drift dive along a very large coral formation. The water dropped off gradually to probably hundreds of feet. This is an area they spot whale sharks due to this depth and closeness to the shore. No luck today but I was a short distance with a turtle. The diving here was great. There are so many other diving locations including shipwrecks so it may be on our list again. I shot short videos this time so hopefully, they are more active. Unfortunately, I missed a few things using this method. I am trying to get better at the underwater film. Check out the full videos here. TURTLE MANTA.

We spent the rest of our days in Bali in the city of Ubud at the Udaya resort. If you have seen Bali on social media, they are usually in this area. This is the area with resorts in the jungle and swimming pools on terraces. It was stunning here. The pictures do not do it justice, but they never do. The ride was fun because we were able to see more of the city and then the country on the way up to Ubud. Beautiful temples dot the landscape here. They have a temple at home, work, and then for each city. The traffic was much better out of the city but as we drove into Ubud, it picked up again. This area is very popular, so it was crowded. We were also lucky as there was a festival going on.

The festival was called Galungan, and it was awesome to watch the parade. They also make offerings by hanging them on bamboo poles along the streets. Apart from scuba diving, we agreed we would prefer this area over the beach. The town was so nice to walk around. They had many restaurants and shops. We walked through a former palace here and if you wear a sarong you may walk into a temple. The jungle scenery is calming and wonderful to look at. We had a pool at the resort, and our room was a villa with a pool. We spent a full day in our pool and wouldn’t do it any differently. Check out the walk-through HERE.

The people in Bali were all so pleasant. I think we are seeing a common theme in the predominantly Buddhism and Hinduism countries. You may encounter a few people that try to sell you things or give you a prize, so be aware of those and politely refuse. They go away after that. There are many tourists here and it is the largest income for Bali. We saw people from all over the world. In comparison to Singapore, we rarely see that diversity of tourists. Australia is the leader of tourists to Bali at around 1. Million. The US has 275,000. That is the difference in the flights being so lengthy and costly. I didn’t see any numbers for Russian tourists online but there are many of them here. Some of them left Russia when the war started in Ukraine, and they are living here. I read an article while we were in Bali that there are also many Ukrainians here. Some Russians and Ukrainians met up and they now have a small group as none of them are fans of the war. I thought that spoke to the pointlessness of the war.

If you are looking to travel to Bali then we say emphatically, do it! Plan your trip and have enough time to enjoy it after your flights. Or as we like to do, plan Bali and some other islands while you are here. Flying around the area is very cheap and there are so many beautiful destinations in the area. The people are wonderful, and the views are unforgettably beautiful. Don’t be in a hurry! Relax while you are here and go with the flow because that flow is not what you are used to in the US. We will return for another visit, but we have some other places to visit first. Our next stop is Qatar and Dubai.

We hope you enjoyed the story! Check out our links at the very top or very bottom of the page for full videos! We also have a full page of photos from our travels.