Indonesian                                      
     BALI    INFO & DIARY  1

 GENERAL INFO (Jump to Diary)
Bali is an island and a province of the huge country Indonesia. It covers 5,590 square kilometres and is roughly 153 kilometres wide and spans approximately 112 kilometres. Bali's central mountains include several peaks over 2,000 metres, where the highest point; Mount Agung, is 3,031 meters.
Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in the else Muslim Indonesia, with 86.9% of the 4,400,000 citizens adhering to Balinese Hinduism.
Its

is long: Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people, who migrated originally from the island of Taiwan to Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia.
The Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The nation with various kingdoms became independent for up to 386 years, until 1906 when the Dutch subjugated and repulsed the natives for economic control and took it over. Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II, and it was liberated by the British in 1945 and handed over to the Dutch in 1946. They gave it to the State of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia, in 1949.
The

is rich, with almost desert to hilly tropical rainforests, where most of the 40,000 species of flowering plants, including 5,000 species of orchids are found. I am not really sure, which caudiciforms I might encounter, but Indonesia have quite some, both epiphytes and in the more dry areas.
Here are several interesting caudiciforms: Lecanopteris crustacea, Medinilla scortechinii, Neoalsomitra podagrica, Secamone elliptica, Bulbophyllum concinnum, Abelmoschus manihot, Momordica cochinchinensis, Tinospora crispa,

DIARY
10/6 2025. After a little week in Brunei and two (or actually three) hours in Singapore, I board the flight to Bali, operated by Scoot – differently not Singapore Airways. No screen, no charger and not much room for my knees. Then someone wants to leave the plane due to a family emergency, and 300 fellow passengers waste one hour, while her suitcase is found. My vegetarian meal is fish?!, and they don’t serve coffee. Actually, everybody around me have to pay for their food, should they choose to get some.

Eventually, I reach I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport on Bali, but that doesn't mean it get easier or faster. My first €75 visa expired, and my next one hasn't been issued yet. I try all four long lines, before number two sells me a new one for €25. And then there's the line at customs. Finally, I get to enter Bali.

There are literally 100s with nameplates outside the arrivals hall - just not with my name on it. No rental companies at all, and I don't have a phone number. Several taxi drivers want to take me to the hotel for half a million - €40. One of them actually tries the car rental company’s website. While I haggle the taxi price down to €20, he comes running: He got contact with the rental company - and get tipped.

I don't get the Jimny I ordered, but I'm easy to persuade - at this point and time. Four hours after I thought, I drive out into Indonesia at 10 pm, directly to the first of 15 hotels, down on the southern peninsular: Kuta Selatan.
It's 37 km through a hectic city, in a swarm of mopeds. A bit like a mix of a flock of fireflies and a meteor storm, all suicide candidates. An hour later, I get a room, and I'm glad, I bought biscuits and water at the airport. And no, I didn't take any photos on the drive to here.

11/6. Eight hours sleep, a way too cold shower, and I’m ready to explore – and breakfast. It seems to be a nice camp I’m in, but fare from clean as Brunei. Right around the corner, I find a little market with goldfish, painted hermit crabs, used shoos, fresh food, fish and meat. However, I don’t dear eating here.

Further in, I see some small joints along the road, next to one of the numerous temples. I get some real tasty samples from everything that is vegetarian. A lot of the mopeds passing, are un-expected driven by pales.

Pura Luhur Ulu Watu is expensive. Here are sea cliffs, a little temple, some Amorphophallus plants, and a lot of Long-tailed macaques. They live on the trails and trees along them, especially around the trash cans. They all ignores me, expect a couple of teenagers, who attacks me from behind, and nick my glasses. The were a much appreciated €800 pair, and now I can only guess how my photos will be. I find a café with a nice breeze, to cool down.

The traffic have intensified a lot, and only the mopeds seems to move. Just before I get to my next site, I finally spot an optician. 14 days to make rimless glasses – or off-the-shelf reading glasses for €40.

Then I'm ready for the dry Bukit Peninsular with the impressive 120 meter statue; Garuda Wisnu Kencana. This is surely tourist country – like everywhere else I have been so far. Pay to park, pay to enter, every I go. It is a large park, with some huge man-made limestone cubes. A lake have some plus-size-sized animal statues, some of them in a lotus pond.

Plenty of nice restaurants and souvenir shops, and even free toilets. Old-design busses takes the visitors around, while I walk. Here are more, real large statues. The most are of the god, and another of his flying dragon. I think, I get to see it all, along with some obese Americans and arrogant Slavic. Other areas are dominated by young people, here for the booze and drugs, along with some warn-down Australian drug heads. I have to smile and speak proper British, to get genuine smiles from the locals.

Another short, but slow drive, bring me to the Pantai Pandawa statues in some cliffs near the Pandawa beach. In an effort to raise the spirit, I start with some fried rice and a Bali coffee, at a local place, overseeing the perfect beach and blue water.
Bali coffee is just fine grinded coffee beans, and normally served with quite some cane sugar.

It seems like here are mainly locals, although quite some from Jakarta. I get interviewed several times by young school girls, about my view on plastic pollution and alike. The boys settle for selfies.
Eventually, I get to do the entire real clean beach, and find some caves in one end. On the way out, I finally see the not so impressive statues in the cliffs.

Close by, and yet €2 in parking and ticket, I get to the Pura Dhang Kahyangan Gunung Payung temple. It might be worth it, but as a non-believer, I’m not aloud to enter the central areas. The beach is way down, and have no water due to low-tide. I can’t be bothered.

It is time to feed the car, and do something that actually works. Reminding me: The music system is not installed properly: It always start from tune 1, and the random function does not work. It will not connect with my phone. I get to hear tune number one some times, or spend a lot of time repeatedly pressing Next. Bit annoying, as it is relative short drives most of the time.

The gas station only except cash, and I’m short. I find an ATM, and withdraw 3.000.000, as it is an expensive island. I shop dragon fruit, snake skin fruits and instant noodles for a fortune, and head home at dusk. I failed to find less than half a litter shampoo, and have to do without again. At least, I found toilet paper, as the thing they use don’t tempt. And the spray is not me either. The toilets they have here on the island, must have been designed by women, and I hate them.

I have a long interesting chat with a Brazilian, before I cook. Well, instant noodles, but along with more fruits, it is great. Then another talk with a Spanish surfer, enjoying his hunt for surf around the world.
 Day's highlights (Opens in a new window) All the better photos of the day

               Time to head on in Diary 2.