Bali - A Spiritual Oasis for the Mind, Body and Soul
When taping into my inner “Eat, Pray, Love”, I felt the need to experience the beauty and wonder that Bali has to offer. I kept hearing about the spiritual connection felt through its culture, its people and its food, and I yearned to experience it.
That, and the fact that my husband proposed just a few days before we arrived felt like it was destined for us to visit. Like all my trips, I wish I had spent more time there, but we made the best out of our 6-day adventure.
We started in the south of Bali, in an area called Kuta. It’s one of Bali’s largest cities and known for its nightlife, surfing and beaches. It has a long boardwalk along side the beach that allows you to walk almost from southern to northern Kuta. The city is also conveniently located by the airport, so we decided to spent a couple of nights there and enjoy its entertainment. I will add that there are nicer beaches further south of Kuta, consider Jimbaran, which we hope to visit next time we travel to Bali.
The Grand inna kuta - our hotel in kuta beach
our failed attempt to surfing
fun in the sun at kuta beach
A clear day with blue waters
To see as much as possible of Bali in our short time there, we took a full day tour of the island that covered its highlights. This included:
Mount Batur Volcano (Kintamani) – Mt. Batur is an active volcano, with its last eruption happening about 40 years ago. There are restaurants at the top that offer an amazing view of the landscape and traditional Balinese food that you can enjoy while feeling the cool, fresh breeze of the mountains. If you dare (and have the time) there are hiking tours all the way up to the mouth of the volcano. The only reason we didn’t do it was because we left our hiking shoes at home (wink, wink).
Ubud City - This city is famous for tourism with beautiful views of rice terraces, its famous Monkey Forest, and art like painting, sculpture, silver smith and culture. It’s great to spend an afternoon there and just walk around. We had the best peaking duck there as well at a restaurant called Bebek Bengil. It offers traditional seating, food and drinks.
This is a type of "cultural museum" in ubud. It has models of traditional balinese homes to help learn about the culture. we learned that in traditional homes, rooms are not attached to each other. This is a picture of a bedroom surrounded by other rooms of the house, such as the kitchen and bathroom.
This is the entrance to a jewelery store that makes traditional BALINESE silver jewelery. The quality was dissapointing, but the designs were really unique and cool.
bebek bengil is a traditional restaurant that servers great balinese style peaking duck
Monkey Forest - Once in Ubud, you have to stop by Monkey Forest. It’s a monkey habitat where the monkeys run free and you can mingle with them by offering them bananas. Just be careful, some monkeys are very aggressive and know how to pick pocket too!
Entrance to monkey forest
monkey at the entrance of the forest welcoming us in
alex fed the monkey and it decided to eat the banana on top of is head
The monkey and I looking at each other wondering what's gonna happen next
the beauty inside monkey forest
Rice Terrace Field – The reason these rice fields are so interesting to visit, other than their natural beauty, is because they use an irrigation water system called Subak. It’s a natural process that takes the water from above the mountain and flows it down. In addition to that, Subak for the Balinese, is not just an irrigation system, it’s the concept of life for the people of Bali itself. In the view of Balinese people, Subak is a direct overview of the philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, which is a harmonious connection between God, human and nature.
There’s a marvelous feeling of inner peace when standing quietly in the middle of the rice fields admiring its beauty, and this is a result of its spiritual connection that binds this universe together.
Tri Hita Karana is derived from the word "Tri" meaning three, "Hita" which means happiness/well-being and "Karana" which means the cause. It can be concluded that the Tri Hita Karana means "Three things causes the creation of happiness and well-being".
Its application in the Subak System is as follows:
- Parahyangan is a harmonious relationship between human and God
- Pawongan is a harmonious relationship between human and his neighbor
- Palemahan is the harmonious relationship between human and nature and the environment
Resource: http://www.baliglory.com/2016/04/subak-bali.html
Tirta Empul Temple – Is a holy spring water temple near Ubud. Locals believe that the water spring is able to purifying any negative spirits attached to humans. The whole area of Tirta Empul Temple is divided into 4 areas. These areas offer worshippers a space to do their offerings and cleanse themselves before getting into the holy pond. The pond is a natural hot water spring where worshippers bathe, purify themselves and receive blessings.
my warrior! alex prepared to enter the temple
worshipers waiting their turn to get into the holy pond
worshipers purifying themselfs with the holy springs
Beautiful altar inside the temple for offerings
Luwak Coffee and Animal – This is probably the weirdest thing we encountered in Bali. The Luwak, or civet, is an animal that selects and eats only the best coffee cherries, which are a type of plant who’s seeds make different types of coffee. The animal's digestive system contains enzymes that are able to reduce the levels of acid in the beans, increasing the quality of the coffee bean. Therefore, once the coffee bean is digested and popped out, it’s collected by farmers and goes through an extensive cleaning and drying process. This in turn, provides one of the finest coffee beans in the world.
luwak (civet) animal
these are popped out coffee beans that are being cleaned and dryed
alex and i enjoying some amazing luwak coffee - it really is good!
Spa and Treatment – You can’t go to Bali and not get a traditional Balinese massage. It was absolutely what we needed after a long day of exploring. Not only was the massage amazing, but the tranquility, spirituality and nature of the location was an experience in itself. Try it, you won’t regret it!
On our third day in Bali, we moved out of our hotel in Kuta and into our absolutely amazing hotel in the forest of Ubud, called Kamandalu Ubud. From the moment we arrived, to the moment we left, we were treated with tranquil respect. I felt like everything in Bali had a spiritual connection. Even this hotel, the name itself, kamandalu, is adopted from the sacred Sanskrit language and it refers to an object that holds holy water. The process of actually creating this container has deep spiritual meaning where the maker must break away from the attachments of the physical world and purify themselves of self-desire. The appearance of the kamandalu is simple, but it bears great significance since it holds the holy water, which is considered to be the essence of life itself. Kamandalu Ubud brings the same significant vision as its namesake to create a meaningful place where guests are able to break away from the frantic pace of daily life and experience true inner peace, which we absolutely did. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect location to celebrate our engagement!
the hotel had their very own rice fields
The hotels rice fields
the entrance to our villa
our amazing bedroom
our private pool
Before leaving Bali, I wanted to experience the tranquility and purification of the hot springs myself. So we headed to Batur Natural Hot Spring Baths located in Toya Bungkah. There are many hot springs around this area, and popular for spiritual yoga retreats as well. The location reminded me of a large resort pool area. It has 3 baths with different depths, a full restaurant, pool bar, showers and activities. We didn’t visit Bali during high season, but even so, there were a significant amount of people and kids. We made the best of it and took some fun pictures, but overall, it wasn’t as tranquil as I was hoping it would be.
We loved our hotel so much in Ubud that the last couple of days we hung out there and relaxed. We wanted to bring back home as much calmness as possible.
Having breakfast by one of the main pools at the hotel
soaking in the little bit of time we had left
enjoying the view from our outdoor bedroom
one final swim before we flew out
Our itinerary went like this:
Wed: 4/6 – Arrive Bali
Thur: 4/7 – Kuta, Island day tour
Fri: 4/8 – Kuta beach, surfed and a nigh-out
Sat: 4/9 – Ubud - Batur Natural Hot Spring Baths
Sun: 4/10 – Ubud – Enjoyed hotel
Mon: 4/11 –Ubud - Enjoyed hotel
Tue: 4/12 – Fly back home
If you’re wondering how easily this can be done, how much it costs and who I used for travel and tours, I can send you my full itinerary. Just email me for the details.
My itinerary includes:
Tour company used for Bali Island Tour
How we got around Bali
Travel visa requirements – who needs what and where to get it
Hotel and restaurant recommendations in Kuta and Ubud
Currency tips
Best time of year to visit
What to pack and wear
Other cities and temples to visit in Bali if you have more time
Unlimited amount of questions you can ask me for your travel
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