Since I came to Singapore over 8 years ago, I have always wanted to visit Bali. Famous for its beautiful scenery, it has been a tourist haven in South East Asia for decades. This time around, we finally landed on the island. Turns out it truly deserves its reputation.

The hotel we stayed at is located near central Sanur district, only 30 minutes’ ride by taxi from the airport. It has 4-star service and is equipped with a swimming pool, a spa center, a gym and a bar. But what matters more is that there’s a beach out front! Every morning, we go to the hotel restaurant to take our breakfast with the panoramic view of the sea and the beach right before our eyes. There’s a small path joining the beach and the hotel premises. People jog or walk there all the time. Just sitting there is relaxing and soothing enough.

Breakfast at Diwangkara Beach Resort Hotel

Bali is a huge island. I was told by our tour guides that it’s approximately four times the size of Singapore. It has magnificent landscapes and countless tourist hotspots. The downside is that it often takes too much time to go from one place to another. We usually go out at 8:30am in the morning. A day’s tour often ends at 8pm or even later. During a 12-hour day tour, nearly 1/3 of time is spent in the car. Different attractions are far apart. Sometimes it even takes more than an hour to reach a place. We get off and into the car a dozen times a day, which is quite exhausting.

Bali has a rich culture and its own unique tradition. More than 90% of population is adherents of Hinduism, which makes its culture completely different from the rest of Indonesia. We rarely see signs of Islam on this island. Our tour guides told us that even the small numbers of Muslims there are much more flexible than the traditional ones. They don’t wear fully covered clothes to conceal their heads or faces. It’s perfectly fine for tourists to don skimpy outfits. We see barely-clad and bikini-wearing ladies on the beach all the time. They don’t seem to have any sense of danger or inappropriateness. I guess this is also a big draw for the tourists.

Hindu Temples abound on the island. Almost every place we go to, we see a temple. Besides those big temples, which at the same time serve as tourist attractions, every house has its own family temple. The local populace is pious Hinduism followers.

Taman Ayun Temple

Tanah Lot Temple

Ulundanu Temple

It’s said that there’s highly developed arts and music in Bali. We went to a show of Barong Dance performance. I don’t quite undersatnd art and the music instruments look rather crude to me. The tunes they play throughout the show is monotonous and the actors don’t speak one word of English. I couldn’t even catch the gist of the story after an hour’s performance.

Some in the audience were hypnotized half way through the show.

There’s no sign of any industry or manufacturing. Besides agriculture, the local population relies largely on tourism to make a living. As a matter of fact, they live quite a simple life. Luxury hotels, restaurants, high-end bars are seen everywhere, but tourists are the sole customers. Locals don’t bother to go to those places. There isn’t any shining infrastructure. Traffic light is scarce. The toll booth set up on the main road behind our hotel is man-guarded. But they have taken many things into account for tourist service. Places like hotels, restaurants and bars are fully equipped; facilities are well maintained; Wi-Fi is provided for free.

Cost of living is very low for locals. Our tour guides and the masseuses rejoiced when we gave them each 10,000 rupiah for a tip, which is a meager 1.5 Singapore dollars. But for tourists, though services are not expensive, they don’t come cheap either. Hotels and restaurants charge quite a lot. I’m quite picky about food and I had to go to the restaurant to get something not quite local. A simple meal often costs over 10 Singapore dollars. They certainly know how to make some extra out of tourists.

Since tourism is crucial for locals’ incomes, hospitality is of utmost importance. We certainly feel it throughout the stay on the island. All staff and tour guides are happy to have us. Everywhere we go, people are beaming and greet us with sincerity.

Even the old lady who lives in the remote area deep in this mountain smiles and says “Hello” to us.

On the steep slopes of the rice terrace, little children offer their help: “Would you like us to escort you down? It’s no problem for us!”

Despite the hospitality, their tourism services are a little unprofessional. None of the four tour guides we hired was able to speak English well. Their English proficiency is passable at best. They are friendly and amicable, and I can sense they are doing their best to give us a good experience. But compared to Thailand, where tour guides have clearly received professional training and can speak fluent English, they are free-lancers who work on a come-when-you-get-a-call basis. This is problem that probably can be attributed to Indonesia government’s lax regulation and lack of attention for Bali’s tourism business.

Nevertheless, it’s definitely worth a trip to Bali. The beaches, the scenery and landscapes are all intact and unscathed by modern development or the influx of tourists. We had a good time admiring the originality of the views. I want to go back again. It feels so great to unwind myself and indulge in that laid-back atmosphere.