You Don't Choose Bali, Bali Chooses You

YEAY! I am super excited to finally had the chance to write about Bali.

I guess Bali became one of the most popular honeymoon destination for a reason. The view was beautiful beyond description.  You just gotta go there yourself to truly experience the magic!

With that in mind, I would like to take a different approach of blogging this time.  Instead of doing a one way communication to share my experience in Bali, I would give 7 tips for an awesome vacation in Bali, other than enjoying the beach and soaking all the sun that you want.
(PS:  if you are not planning to go to Bali at least one time in your life, you certainly missing out!)

Without further ado, here are the 7 tips:

1.  Search for a local tour guide

Go to Groupon and look for a good deal.  My friend found a Rp. 195,000 6 hours tour package for our first day in Bali.  It was totally worth it since the tour guide knows exactly where everything is.  So you can relax and efficiently spent the time at the most prominent tourist attraction spots.

2.  Learn a little bit of the language

Say "Sukseme" which means thank you every now and then.  Honor the misses as "gek" and the men as "bli", it will make their day.  Our tour guide told us that the locales don't like to be called "mbak" and "mas", which were the more common honorifics for Javanese people.  Anyway, you want to do this because when people around you are happy, you will be too!

3.  Watch Kecak Dance at Uluwatu

This is a must do! Kecak dance is kinda like a traditional play accompanied with around 40 to 150 beat-boxers.  Kecak is also known as Ramayana Monkey Chant because the dance told a story about Prince Rama saving his beloved Shinta with a help of Hanuman the Monkey King.  Besides, Uluwatu is so beautiful, you get to take pictures wearing cute purple scabbard or yellow fabric with great background views.  And if you are lucky you can even see some real live wild monkeys doing their business.

Our awesome tour guide even helped us out with the scabbard

Here's the opening chant.

4.  Visit Tanah Lot

Tanah lot is all about the temple on an offshore rock.  Majority of Balinese believes in Balinese Hinduism  They believe there are gods in everything.  That's why you would see ritual offerings (sesajen) everywhere.  In Tanah lot, you get to learn more about this culture.  Although it must be super beautiful up there, I refuse to enter the temple.  Because my God is a jealous God and I only believe in him anyway, I don't want to disrespect the locales.

One of the characteristic that Balinese men seek in Balinese women is how well they can make sesajen.

The temple is actually covered by the trees, I should have asked for a better angle.

5.  Water Sports

Scuba dive, para sailing, touching some turtles, you name it, Bali got it all!  One thing though, you gotta learn to negotiate.  Since Balinese mainly make a living through tourism, they learned to differentiate between Indonesian and Foreign tourist.  They realize they could make more money if they charge the foreigner more.  In that case, don't be afraid to negotiate, ask for half the price to start with and see how they response to it hahah.

Wake board!! Heck yeah I succeed to stand up at least for 3 seconds

6.  Eat BiGul (roast suckling pig)

One of the most popular BiGul restaurant was Ibu Oka.  I guess the ambiance was great because the restaurant was build on a traditional Bali house. That way, you get to eat while admiring beautiful architecture around the house.  However, I found that the roast pig taste just alright.  I ate another roast suckling pig at another less popular street vendor the next day and it taste so much richer.  I couldn't even remember the name of the restaurant because I stopped by randomly.  Nonetheless, unless you have Anthony Bourdain's or Andrew Zimmern's stomach..you might want to stick with Ibu Oka.

I'm sorry and thank you Pig (if you pay attention there's sesajen too, so they do respect the pig)

This is one of the house at Ibu Oka.  Look at those gory details on the wall.

7.  Shop at Titiles and Krisna

Lastly before you leave Bali, you better get some souvenirs for your friends.  Titiles offers a complete selection of traditional Balinese snacks.  From Disco peanuts to Chicken feet crackers!  Krisna on the other hand sell clothes, bags, magnets, key chains, and all other typical souvenirs you could think off.

So yeah...the next time you are planning to go to Bali at least do these 7 deathly tips!  There's so much more of course, but I chose the top 7 just because hahaha.
Vacation in Bali
Until the next adventure you all, Vagabond girl is out~