We flew from Tawau, East Malaysia on the island of Borneo, back to KL and then on to Bali. Bali has maintained its deeply spiritual and religious Hindu heritage, despite the rest of Malaysia and Indonesia, being predominantly Muslim. Bali has a very interesting history and has always been an incredibly unique, independent, and spiritual place to visitors from around the world. Having traveled in Indonesia in the 1970s, and living with a family in Bali for almost a year, Jim's connection with Bali helped us all understand the magic of Bali better. Surprisingly, although he hasn't really spoken Indonesian for close to 50 years, we were all surprised at how capable he was communicating with our guides and adding personal insights and stories to our tours.
Bali is the first island in the island chain that heads south east from Java ending in New Guinea . That island chain also contains Timor and Komodo- two islands you may have heard of.
Most people don’t realize that the Muslim religion spread across Asia and included Indonesia and Malaysia. But the Muslim influence stopped at the tip of Java, leaving Bali with its very old, traditional island, Hindu religion intact. That religion, focusing on peace and coexistence with nature has been the subject of many books and movies over the years. You probably saw the movie "Eat Pray Love" with Julia Roberts several years ago. If you didn’t, try to get a chance to see it because it really does touch on much of the magical elements Bali offers.
Bali’s architecture is not only very famous in Asia, but also globally recognized as a definite style. It combines a classy tropical lifestyle with traditional elements, often religious, creating a unique, peaceful atmosphere.
In the last 50 years since Jim visited there, Bali’s economy has transformed from agriculture, and it’s related industries, to tourism. Despite this shift ,the Balinese have maintained a strong spiritual connection by adhering to the cosmic order in their daily routine. Every home has a shrine and all Balinese visit the temple regularly. The Balinese people’s strong, spiritual nature is exhibited in their temple architecture, as well as their cultural processions, and events, all famous for their unique traditional Hindu heritage and unique island religion.
Bali’s religious celebrations on it’s holiest days attract visitors worldwide who come to witness the island’s elaborate festivals and appreciate the Balinese people’s reverence and celebration of life’s every aspect!
When Jim lived there in the 1970s , it was still undiscovered by tourists and rich in art and culture. It’s people were the friendliest he had ever met! Even today, it is considered one of the most beautiful peaceful and unique places on Earth. The temples, holy places, museums, and even the shops and street life are very unique and interesting to learn about and visit. The artwork there was magnificent and the appreciation of art by the Balinese people is world famous. Each village or town seems to have its own unique art form. Whether it's paintings in Ubud, stone carvings in Denpasar, wood carvings in Sanur, or music in Bedugul, it seemed like everywhere we went, art in some form or another presented itself in the spirit of the local people.
Many of our friends said that they had anticipated Borneo being the most interesting and fun part of our trip, but after visiting Bali, they decided that Bali was the most interesting and fun part of our adventure. We managed to travel all over the island and get a good taste of the magic of Bali. I'll describe more in the photographs below.
After 15 days in Malaysia and Indonesia, most of our friends left for Home, and Jim and I and three of our more adventurous friends, Walter Morton, Nancy Hale, and Scott Anderson continued our adventure by flying south from Bali to the island of Labuan to join an Indonesian style diving boat called the Moana. It was a beautiful sailboat, completely made out of rare woods and manned by a wonderful, professional crew of Indonesians, led by the German dive master. It was a unique and challenging adventure, featuring incredible coral gardens, giant manta rays, and sharks, and some of the most dangerous currents in the world. Although it was challenging for me, Jim had worked with me in a pool for a few weeks before we left and I had taken a recertification course since my last diving had been about five years ago. With Jim as my personal Divemaster and some great Divemasters on the boat, I felt safe and able to concentrate on the magical creatures we encountered underwater.
We spent six days diving the reefs, drop offs, and passes of the Komodo islands, riding the currents underwater, swimming with manta rays, and exploring vast stretches of coral gardens loaded with hundreds of species of fish and invertebrates. For me, the High point of the diving was swimming with huge, 10 to 15 foot wingspan, Manta Rays. We dove with the Manta Rays on almost half of the dives we did and it was absolutely awesome!
We took a small boat into the island of Komodo where 1500 or more dragons roam the forest, eating small deer, buffalo, and anything else they can catch. We even visited a small village on the island that maintains a large, secure fence around it to protect them from the dragons. Even still, two or three folks a year or eaten by dragons, so we were definitely on alert as we hiked through the forest and trails of Komodo. That was definitely a great opportunity to cross something off of both Jim's OK and my " bucket lists"!
Well, that's a summary of our adventure, but you'll learn a lot more by looking at the photographs and captions below. I'll be heading captions and lots more information over the next couple of weeks before Christmas so don't hesitate to come back and check it out for more fun and interesting insight in to our latest adventure to Indonesia and Malaysia.
