Towards the end of last month, I knew I had leave coming up in October, but I was not quite sure where I wanted to go. Nairobi was not quite an option seeing as I had already gone home three times since moving to Doha. I wanted something different. I thought of Bali, Indonesia. It is a nine and a half hour long flight, and would be my first time in Asia altogether.
I was rather skeptical at first. It is so far away, I’m a lone traveller, and I know no one in Indonesia. And to make matters a little more complicated, three days to my travel date, it hit the news that there had been an earthquake and tsunami in one of the Indonesian islands that claimed over eight hundred lives. I thought of rerouting.
Some of my family was in a nearby country for my cousin’s wedding, which I was meant to attend, except things did not quite work out for me in that direction. So I posted in the family WhatsApp group that I would be doing a solo trip to Bali. Everyone was concerned about the recent news. And so was I.
On the night before I travelled, I thought long and hard about my decision. I had to change my hotel to one within the city as a precautionary measure. And then I prayed. Now I always say that prayer changes things, and I stand by my word.
I decided to faith it through this trip. I understood the potential risk of shocks after an earthquake, but I knew i had prayed, and I kept the faith. I thank God that I did.
This trip was incredibly eye opening, a great time to reflect on myself and certain decisions I must make, and I had the most incredible tour guide. His name is Arik.
I had the pleasure of visiting a number of places. It’s incredible how much ground we covered in only three days. And I left Indonesia with a brand new perspective, educated on the Balinese culture, being a greater risk taker, and with some amazing fashion items of Balinese decent.
It is amazing how a little bit of faith can catapult you to great things. This was my first Asian experience, and I loved and appreciated every second of it.
Here are a few pictures from the trip. Enjoy.
This is a set up of Balinese tea. There’s Lemon tea, ginger tea, lemon grass tea, mangosteen tea, hibiscus tea, turmeric tea and cocoa. The lemon grass and lemon tea were my favourite.
There is also a line of coffee, including Luwak Coffee, that is made using an animal. I am not a coffee enthusiast, so I did not try that.
There are quite a number of Temples in Bali, seeing as it is predominantly Hindu. I also learnt that there is a Temple in every household. For every house, there’s a Balinese gate, and right behind it there is a wall called the “Alingaling” with a statute to keep negative energy away from the home.
Going into the temple demands that one wraps a sarong around their waist as you are entering holy ground. I visited quite a number of Temples including the temple by the lake and the temple with a garden. These temples have a number of shrines, and Mr Arik was kind enough to explain the procedures to me.
I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Kintamani mountain as well. This is past Ubud. In the picture, the mountain is behind me, and surrounded by a lake. It is a volcanic mountain that erupted a while ago. Next to me is a statute wrapped in a sarong.
I also had the chance to visit the butterfly park. I was so amused to learn that they rear butterflies and it is one of the local tourist attractions.
I visited the Secret Garden Village which is a scenic and serene venue, where you can walk around, have some coffee, visit the beauty shop and wine and dine. It is also a great place to take amazing photos.
Bali was great to me. And I hope that when you do get the chance, you get to explore as much as I did. And fall in love with the place, as I did.
To a great new week!