Picture Perfect Bali
By
Murali Murthy
Bali - It's Picture perfect, it's exotic, it's heavenly, it's a paradise, it's everything I had heard and imagined!
Our 16th wedding anniversary and continuing the trend of visiting a new place every year, Bali was the chosen one this time.
An international destination always gets Preeti excited and pumped up with expectations of having magical times.
A 6 day break from work was always a huge challenge, but I had to take it to keep myself sane, recharge (or maybe to run away from daily stress?) and ofcourse to celebrate.
Neena as usual took care of everything, and Preeti took care of all the shopping and preparations.
We reached the Airport a couple of hours before since we wanted to explore T2.
A 7 hour long flight to Bali and we landed in the morning, we had taken EVOA (electronic Visa) which was a simple online process, so could skip one line and directly goto Immigration. Though Bali has setup some 40 automated gates to reduce the wait time of Tourists, unfortunately none of them worked, and we had to again stand in a Queue for 30 mins to get the Passport stamped. Overall immigration was pretty smooth both at Bangalore and at Bali.
As we stepped out, our Tour driver Sulaba took charge and took care of us in the entire trip like a Mother, that was the level of hospitality, care and kind people are at Bali!
Supposedly a Hindu Nation, yet the food habits, temples, practices, rituals, attire, nothing is relatable to our definition of Hinduism.
A small country with pathetic value for their currency, where the smallest currency note is 1000 Rp, one has to spend in the range of 10K, which is just 50 Rs.
Yet very disciplined people, extremely sensible driving and traffic sense, despite majority of the roads being narrow.
I was particularly impressed with the cleanliness, patience and traffic sensibilities which we Indians lack!
Smoking is however a nuisance and one can see people smoking everywhere, all the time, even inside the temple Campus! It's so bad and strange that there are Notices displayed for people to dress appropriately, women to refrain from entering the temple during their Periods, but all are free to Smoke inside the Temple!
Typical of any East Asian country, Food is a huge challenge, though you can find Indian restaurants, but that odd smell all around makes one get aversion to food easily.
Day 1 was at our leisure, and we explored Beachwalk Shopping Center - a unique Mall open to air and beautifully set.
We then walked down to Kuta Beach. A very relaxing beach and easy waters, we were awestruck with the weather there...it was surprisingly nothing like a typical coastal climate. Air was chilly and the Sea water was so cold, that it super charged us.
We ended the day at Kailash Parbhat restaurant, which was right next to our Hotel. Desperate to eat some Indian food since we hadn't eaten since almost 20 hours, we over ordered hoping to hog some good food, but it turned out to be a dud, with horrible taste, we had to leave the place with half filled stomach, so did the other customers.
Day 2 - few temple visits were planned, quite far from each other, with 2 hours drive to each destination. Though the roads were beautiful, picturesque, the traffic was horrible due to narrow lanes and it being peak tourist season.
We stopped by a Coffee Plantation to do some Coffee tasting. I think I have to stop saying "it was beautiful" because everything in Bali, every corner is picturesque.
We finally reached Handara Gate, the most anticipated point to take the epic picture, where people Queue up, pay up just to get clicked, even we did so...some dramatic pictures clicked after a wait for almost an Hour.
The next destination was Ulun Danu Temple, the pictures say it all, it's just magical!
The last destination of the day was Tanah Lot temple. Another temple with a mesmerizing view beyond belief, on the cliff and a Sunset which has to be witnessed to believe.
Back to Hotel after a very hectic travel, explored another nearby restaurant - Ganesh Sanskriti, which had much better taste and a satisfactory meal, again after no proper food for the entire day.
Day 3 was planned for a full day tour to Nusa Penida island. We reached the port early in the morning and were transferred to the island by a speed boat, the ride was fun.
We jumped into the water for snorkeling as soon as we reached the Island. It was indeed a Zindagi milegi na dobara moment....though it was our second experience with Snorkeling (after Phi Phi) we were just speechless, with crystal clear water and colourful fishes.
But the fun part ended there, all other experience was just bad, horrible rides to the Beaches in the island, pathetic state of toilets and change rooms and insane no.of people everywhere. Probably for the first time in my life I had nausea and I just could not tolerate the drive. From this point I developed food aversion, the sight of food made me sick, everything started smelling bad (a typical food/oil smell that you get in any East Asian country) and this bad feeling lasted till I boarded the return flight. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do this West Nusa Penida Island tour, you will miss admiring the Blue waters, but there are a lot more things to do in Bali, better skip it.
I somehow managed to go through the rest of the ordeal, to ensure Preeti experienced the blue waters!
We finally ended the island tour, came back to our Hotel, freshened up and headed to do some street shopping and Dinner at Bollywood Masala, a much needed power supply for me!
Day 4 was the best day of the trip. We started the tour with the famous Bali Swing by the River, oh, it was just fantastic and dreamy, Preeti had the time of her life on those Swings.
The next activity involved the ATV ride. The ride was super adventurous, riding through the farm lands, artificially created water track, falls, caves...the One hour activity gave the energy back which I had otherwise lost due to the sick feeling throughout. I remembered my Yamaha RX days and rode the bike to glory!
The next pitstop was at Tegenungan Water Falls. It was as if it was a scene from a Hollywood movie setup, can't describe the beauty in words.
We ended this beautiful day and moved to Ubud Raya Resort. It again looked dreamy with a Villa and a Private Pool.
The last day was kept at ease, we covered the Ubud Market and the Rice Terrace view in the first half.
The trip ended at Holy Water Temple, a sacred place where the visitors take dip in each of the fountains.
Though it looked inviting to take a dip as well, there were too many people in the Queue. Since it also looked very authentic and traditional, We didn't want to do the ritual without knowledge or without even seeing the Deity in the temple (Visitors have restricted entry).
Bali is nothing less than a wonderland, it's a paradise, worth the visit.
Their unconditional belief in their faith, traditions which everyone follows and practices.
Every single house has a Temple outside their home and they lead a very traditional way of living.
In Bali, apart from the natural beauty and traditional architecture of every single building, they are proud of their land, language and culture. They respect people, they are extremely disciplined, courteous and follow all rules voluntarily.
With all the flaws, chaos, indiscipline, intolerance with our country, and our people (and how much ever I hate our system, our people, our indiscipline), I would still never want to stay outside my home forever. I was dying to come back home, craving for home cooked food. After all, how long could I manage with French Fries and Fruits!?
The million Dollar Question is, even if one earns in Millions outside the country, what is the desperation to leave home, family, our people, our setup and settle at a foreign land! Should we pity or understand their compulsion? Or should I appreciate those who are open to embracing some other culture, society and migrating? Forget another country, city, state, I can't stay out of South Bangalore for too long!
Bali or any other country is good for the eyes, good for holidays, but I personally could not stay even as a Tourist for more than 6 days. That's why they call it "Home, sweet Home".
Preeti who is otherwise very particular about Food, taste, could easily manage and survive, and I who is usually carefree and can even survive on Water for one whole day, was cranky and restless. Maybe ageing? The pictures that we all post during a trip do not usually tell the whole story and the troubles behind the poses.
Anyways, our 16th wedding anniversary was well spent, well celebrated and staying with the mantra "Created memories".
