Bali – for curious travellers

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Welcome to NE Where, a weekly travel-focussed journal for curious people. This piece is free for everyone today, but it will be archived in the coming weeks. For less than $1 a week paying subscribers also have unlimited access to NE Where’s growing archive, which is packed with inspiration and ideas for an unforgettable trip to Bali, stories about exceptional women, and other tales about interesting people and places. Thank you for joining me on this journey!

Bali – for curious travellers

Busy day? Listen to this post, read from beside our fire. All contacts are included at the end of this post.

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Dear NE-One            

I’m sitting in our lounge in South Africa, my back to the log fire that’s been warming our home for the past 48 hours. KwaZulu-Natal is gripped in a spell too cold for Spring: snow has closed many roads in the northern part of the province and here in the Midlands it’s been drizzling solidly for more than a day. I knew the rain was coming – the wild irises along our fence-line always erupt into bloom before wet weather arrives – but the cold was unexpected.

Despite the world feeling so small at times, when I’m wrapped up in layers of clothes at home in Howick, our other home in Bali feels a lot more than 9,059km away. It could be in a different universe entirely.

I sometimes think it is, to be honest – or at least, other peoples’ experiences of Bali are a universe away from mine. If social media were to be believed, the Indonesian island is all about flying-dress photo shoots, floating breakfasts and frolicking below waterfalls. It’s none of that to me.

To me, Bali is an island of wonder. A place so different from any other I have known that I need to know it better, and to piece together a deeper understanding of it. I take such joy from sitting and listening; from walking and feeling; from asking, learning, and understanding. I think you feel that way too, when you travel.

And so, dear NE-One, here’s how curious travellers can learn more about…

…Bali’s history and culture

A walking tour of old Denpasar is such a brilliant introduction to the island. I Gusti Ngurah Parta Wijaja grew up in the city and while his guided walks connect some of the area’s historic buildings, he uses them as prompts to delve into Balinese culture, language and religion. Make this one of your first stops on your Bali itinerary. (Contact details for this and all other experiences are listed at the end of this post.)

…Bali’s geology and geomorphology

Bali sits on the Ring of Fire, the volatile tectonic belt that wraps around the Pacific Ocean and that’s responsible for the volcanic peaks that dominate the island, and the earthquakes that sometimes shake it up. Every morning hundreds upon hundreds of tourists trek up Mount Batur volcano to watch the sun rise*, but only a tiny fraction will visit the Batur Geopark Museum, which stands on the outer rim of the caldera. It’s an under-rated destination that’s well worth a stop to read up on details of the two cataclysmic eruptions that shaped this landscape, as well as other tectonic forces and events that dominated the region.

* I don’t recommend this trek at all, btw – I found walking in a solid line up a badly maintained mountain path behind many hundreds of tourists to be less than enthralling. If you’d like to enjoy a sunrise walk in peace, hike up Mt Abang, nearby. You’ll need to go with a guide.

• Planning a trip to Bali? Read this first.

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• Six captivating books about Bali.

• … and more stories about quiet places around Bali

  

…Bali’s rice-growing traditions

Hordes of people flock every day to the Tegallalang rice terraces near Ubud… almost all will leave with a heap of photos (including those sought-after swing and flying dress ones), but very little understanding of what the terraces are all about. In West Bali traditional rice farmer Pak Sudana takes guests on a walk to and through his paddies, where he explains the traditions and culture that surrounds farming rice, and the water-sharing system that has been in place on the island for over 1000 years. Sudana is one of the last farmers in Bali to still use buffaloes to plough his paddies, and it is a rare privilege to walk with him alongside his buffaloes and to see how he has trained these docile animals.

…Bali’s Puputan wars

For all its colour and light, the island of Bali has a pretty dark period of history: the Puputan (‘a battle to the last man’) wars. In 1906 and 1908, when Dutch colonial forces invaded Bali, thousands of Balinese – kings, royals, soldiers, everyday people – dressed in ceremonial attire and died by ritual suicide, rather than fall under colonial rule. The Dutch invasion was triggered by the plundering of the Sri Kumala ship, which had been anchored near Sanur, and you can find antiques from this ship, as well as other artefacts from the Puputan wars, at the Bale Puputan, a small museum at the evocative Tugu hotel in Canggu. You can also read about this period of history in Vicki Baum’s acclaimed novel Love and Death in Bali.

…Bali’s birds and insects

One of the most enjoyable afternoons I’ve spent around Ubud was the day I did a bird walk with Wayan Sumadi, better known simply as Su. Su’s been leading birding walks through the paddies near Penestenan for more than two decades, and her knowledge of the island’s flora and fauna is vast. You really don’t need to be a birder to enjoy the walk – and you’ll learn about butterflies, trees and medicinal plants, too. (Sound like your kind of thing? Find more things to do in this piece about Bali for nature lovers.)

Curious yet?

I’m sharing details from my little black book – here’s how and where to book these experiences: