BALI...Paradise On Earth...

First, sorry for all my mistakes when writting in english! I will try to do my best! ^_^

Sorry you haven't seen hair of me for a long time…If I have to be honest, I forgot I had a blog. When I remembered that I had one, I thought “let’s go reading the post of Bali!" BIG deception with myself when I discovered I never wrote about it! So, here is something about my Balinese experience…

Bali… What can I say? Place of happy, friendly and smiling people with incredible beliefs. Bali is a cosy and magic country with great food for sharing as well. Despite all that happiness and happy feelings that the Balinese have, you have to be careful as we are not staying  in our country because although we do not pay attention on that, cultural borders are things we take for granted that we should not take…  Here we go!!

Girl in Amed

Something that surprised me and honestly I was worried about at the beginning was the fact you cannot touch the head of the children because it is a lack of respect for them. When I said it made me worried I told it because we do that automatically in our society as it is nothing for us but an act of love and me personally I love children and I love touching the children´s head and I was scared to feel the impulse on touching their heads and offending someone for doing something is more than normal for me.

The reason because of the Balinese people consider a lack of respect touching their heads is just because the head is the part of the human body closer to god (after they explained it to me, I understood why it is a lack of respect)

At the beginning of the post I commented that Balinese people they are cheerful and pleasant and that is something you can feel it very soon.

The Balinese people always smiles if they cross their look with yours. If you look in the Balinese people eyes, you should always smile, the Balinese people they will do it, it is a very nice and respectful way to say that your ways have been crossed for any reason, is their way to say you ”very nice to meet you on this life”. Me personally I think is a technique that our society should used as well. Everyone who knows me knows that I love smiling as I consider it is fundamental for changing our humor.

Smiling 8 seconds per day generate the required amount of endorphins to make us happy!! = )

Thanks to the fact that they are always smiling I noticed their teeth are symmetrical, there are not fangs in their mouths… Why? Well... the Balinese file their teeth; it is a ritual that separates the animal part of their human side. They believe the fangs belong to animals so they should expel from their human bodies the animal that lives in it.

While I was there I could check the driving skills that the Balinese have ... How is driving in Bali? ...DANGER! The Balinese people believe in reincarnation, so driving on the place becomes an act in which you know how it starts but not how it ends. No rules on the road, no rules on driving (obviously there are rules, but no one respects them).

If I am talking about to be careful when driving is basically because in case of accident our possibilities to survive there are very limited… I don’t think I should write about the medical services of this place.

Have I talked about reincarnation? Well.. Although Indonesia is Islamist in Bali the 90% of people they practice the "Balinese Hinduism" which mixes the belief in gods and Hindu doctrines by animist beliefs and worship of Buddhist saints.

As regards the Balinese calendar, they have two calendar systems: the Western and the Saka's calendar. THE western calendar varies from Saka in 79 years younger. In this calendar, a month has 35 days and a year has 420 days. Therefore the date of the New Year varies from year to year on the western calendar date ... travel to Bali, a trip back in time on a literary sense!

The food, what can I say? I personally loved it, but I must say I'm not very problematic with food and I have good taste, I'm not picky (my mother would kill me ... with that awful time she spent with me on lunch and dinner times! XD)

Nasi Goreng and Papaya, pinapple and watermelon

If you don´t like rice or fruits, Bali is definitely not your place for eating. Rice is an indispensable product in every Balinese food. The use of vegetables and spices is essential for them, to be more specific the coriander is the spice used for absolutely EVERYTHING. To me, the food I loved there was the Nasi Goreng, fried rice which is usually accompanied by fried egg, fried chicken, satay, or keropok. When it is accompanied by a fried egg is known as nasi goreng special.

As far as food is concerned, in Bali was the first time I ate the tartar, both tuna and beef, which is basically spiced raw meat. I never thought I would be able to eat raw meat, as I don't really like raw meat! I must say that the tartar is a delicacy! Incredible flavor and texture!

Many people believed that ground beef has less risk of contamination. Other people believe that spicing the raw meat conveniently will reduce the risk of contamination, but the truth is that eating raw meat may expose possible contamination by bacteria and other organisms.

As for the temples ... 

Bali is full of them!!

While traveling from one place to another you find that between banana trees and rice fields, there are amazing temples and they make you stop on the road and look to them with a

dmiration. 

Tanah Lot Temple

In some temples, such as Tanah Lot (very touristic place), can not enter the "bules" which is the word that balinese people use for refering to white people (Bule means Caucasian). 

In addition, among other things that draw attention is that the Balinese who are pregnant or children with baby teeth they cannot access to the temples either.

Another temple worthy to be know is the "temple of Ulu Watu" better known by tourists as "Temple of the Monkeys", This place is populated by hundreds of animals with very bad temper that jump on you and if they can take your belongings, better than better! This temple is located next to one of the most impressive places I've seen in my life, and if you love surfing (or the surfers), you can not miss the place. The beaches of Ulu Watu, are immersed in magnificent scenery, with the characteristic of receiving large waves. It is a fairly popular place for Spanish surfers.

"Ulu watu"

About drinks…in Bali you can taste their beer called Bintang… I loved it!, but if you want to drink a very cold Bintang don't  forget to ask for a "Satu Bintang dingi dingi"…at least for Spanish people the beer very cold is essential when drinking it.

Arak attack in a previous empty coconut

If you want to drink a Balinese homemade liquor you can ask for a glass or shot of “Arak Attack” (you can imagine how it is just with the name which it has).

We drank it in a previous empty coconut and the they after at least me I regretted having taken it the night before.

Amed Beach

Where I really enjoyed the Paradise was in Amed. Amed is located in the northeast coast of Bali and the villages that are close to Amed are: Jemeluk, Bunutan, Lipah, Selang, Banyuning and Aas.

There, you can enjoy nature. The beach is on foot of an active volcano and the deep sea will help you to live for a few minutes / hours in a parallel world of magic. 

Amed sea

This is all for now ... I hope you liked the post! = )

http://romeosproject.blogspot.com/2008/09/terima-kasih-bali-2.html