Bali, Indonesia - Not Enough Time

Bali, Indonesia Slide Show

Due to schedule changes in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, we ended up with only 4 days in Indonesia before we were scheduled to fly off to Australia. We chose the city of Ubud on the island of Bali to spend those 4 days. We feel that we made a great choice. We absolutely loved our time in Bali. In fact, after our short stay, it became one of our favorite places on the trip.
Indonesia is a country that is made up of 17,508 islands and has a population of 250 million people. So, visiting one of those islands in a town of 5,000 people does not make us experts on Indonesian culture. In recent years, the news about Indonesia has included terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005 and the 2004 tsunami. Fortunately for Bali, the tsunami did not affect their island. These factors have led to a decrease in tourism numbers and contributed to us being able to receive 5 star treatment at 3 star prices.
Tourism makes up 60% of Bali's economy. I assume that much of the rest consists of rice production as there are rice fields all over and the weather conditions allow for 3 harvests each year. Besides the beautiful landscape, people come to Bali because of the warmth of the people. Bali is considered the most tourist friendly island in Indonesia and it shows. We sure felt that from the people that we met at our hotel, in a taxi, in a restaurant, at our bike guide's home, and on the street.
The highlight of our stay in Bali was taking a bike tour around Ubud and the surrounding countryside. We had a guide that took us up in the mountains where were able to start our trip downhill. We biked through small villages, rain forests, and rice fields. We visited a family home in a village. Extended families live together in a complex. Multiple families are part of a community that share responsibilities. Multiple communities make up the town. There is a real sense of community.
Our guide, who is from the area also took us to a spice farm and a walk through the rain forest that we would have never found on our own. To get to his home for lunch, we biked through some difficult terrain in the rain forest on a muddy road. We found out that Jennifer can fly as she flew about 5 feet off her bike trying to avoid a mud puddle. She was successful and she is okay.
Walking to and from town was fun since the best way to get there was through the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. The monkeys are quite comfortable with humans walking through their forest. As I found out though, don't go walking through there with food. My peanuts quickly became their property.
We should have stayed longer. We should have taken more pictures. We should have tried to fit more into those 4 days. Well, maybe we will have to come back. To view our slide show of Bali, Indonesia, click on the following link ==> Bali, Indonesia Slide Show