An Aussie Teen Living in Bali
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An Overview Of My Life In Bali

28/1/2015

 
Boat out to surf Serengan island                  Flagging down a Bemo


In this blog post I’m going to tell you a little bit about my life in Bali. What my day to day life is like. 

Where I live:
I live in a place called Sanur. Sanur is on the East side of Bali and is quiet compared to the main tourist places like Kuta and Cunggu. It’s great though because my house is down a little lane way  (called a gang) off the main road in Sanur, Jalan Tamblingan.  My gang is only 100 metres long but it is a thriving, interesting community and I love it. As you walk down it you notice a warung (tiny local shop) that sells freshly cooked street food. Lots of Bali families live in little compounds in my gang and it is always full of happy children, adults sitting and chatting and cats and dogs.  Opposite my gate is another warung that makes hand woven offerings for the gods and ceremonies.  If you see my story on the ABC’s Behind The News (fairy story) you will see my gang and the families that live in it.

I love our house.  It has a beautiful Balinese garden with fish pond and waterfall, lots of orchids and bonsai trees. And we have a pool.  My room is lovely with a big bed and net and a big balinese bathroom.  Our house is full of Balinese statues and lots of carvings. It was decorated by our landlord who is one of the owners of the Tangjing Sari Hotel, one of Sanur’s famous Hotels. 

2 minutes walk from my house there is a 5km board walk that goes along the beach and I like to run along there in the afternoon when it is not too hot.

Also the main street is full of restaurants, cafes, shops and hotels so I have lots of fun with friends  shopping, eating ice-cream, riding the bemo’s and eating right on the beach at one of the little warungs.

School:
Everyday I catch a bus to school, the Australian International School in Kuta,  at 7am and I’m the only one on it.  It comes right to my front door, down my narrow gang.  My school is one hr away on a good day without traffic and some days 2 hrs. In my grade there are 10 kids including me. It’s a small school and the only one in Bali that does the Australian curriculum. 

To get into my school we have to stop at a security gate and be checked.  At the moment there is a terrorist alert that ISIS want to hurt an Australian teacher so the guards are being very careful to check everyone who wants to get in.

In the school yard there is a small temple. This is so Indonesians can go pray and they think it will help keep the school safe.

Food:
When I first arrived in Bali I wasn’t too sure about the food. To me it looked strange and smelt different and I was really worried about food poisoning. But that has all changed and I love street food. The night markets are 5 minutes away from me in a bemo (which I will be talking about shortly). During the day the market sells fresh fruit, vegetables and meats but at night time the car park is filled with little local food stalls and they sell really yummy freshly cooked street food. I was worried about eating local food and my local Australian GP said we had to be careful. But now I eat there at least 3 times a week and it only costs $1 for a huge plate of food.

Transportation:
The way you get around Bali is on either a motor bike or car! Or if you are a tourist you can hire a car and driver for about $30 for the whole day. However by favourite way is by Bemo, a very local taxi van.  In Sanur they are old, rusty green vans that drive past every few minutes.  They will even do a U turn in the narrow main street to come and pick you up.  Bemo’s will take you anywhere around Sanur for 5000 rupiah (50c) They are driven by local Balinese and you will meet lots of interesting people in a bemo.

They look like kombi vans but don’t fall out the door, haha. 

Things I like to do in Bali:
Surfing. Going in small boat with a friend to Serengan Island, being dropped by the boat then picked up 1 hour later.  I also like surfing in Kuta

Walking down the main street of Sanur. There is so much to explore and do
Running with the Hash House Harriers and on the Sanur board walk  
Hanging out in Sanur with friends, eating at warungs on the beach, its safe so you can go off on your own
Browsing & bargaining in all the little shops that line the main street, kilometres of them
Snorkelling and spending the weekends at Amed
Riding on the Bemo’s
Eating at the little warungs on the beach and my favourite, the night market for great street food
Going places like the Rock Bar and seeing the rest of the island
Seeing the way Balinese live and learning about their culture


I will write more about all these things in future blogs.

Things to do in Bali - Bike Ride Tour

14/1/2015

 
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Helping to Harvest Rice

The Hash House Harriers run or walk (see my previous blog) is the very best way to see the real Bali.  But if this doesn’t suit you or you only have 1 or 2 days in Bali, then this ride is something that I think everyone should do.

This 4 hour bike ride (1 hour for lunch), down a gently slopping mountain road with Bali Eco Cycling, will get you away from the main tourist areas and into the country where you will see more of Bali. 

The bike ride starts when you are picked up at 7:30am for a 1 hour drive up into the mountains to Kintamani.  Here we had breakfast at a restaurant overlooking Mt Batur which is an active volcano and its crater lake.  The view was stunning but the food and flies were not too good.  My family and I are used to eating street food so we can rough it a bit but  seeing all the flies over the food was not good and we didn’t eat very much.  My advice would be to have breakfast before you go.  The view though was spectacular so you will get some great photo’s.

After breakfast the bus drove us to where the bikes were and we were fitted for helmets and the bikes adjusted for our height.  We also  did a test ride around a track.

I hadn’t ridden a bike in a very long time (I usually stick to skate boards :) but it didn’t take long to get used to bike riding again.  When everyone was ready we got on the bikes and started riding  down the mountain.  There was always a guide in front and a guide who stayed behind everyone so it didn’t matter if you wanted to ride really slowly like my mum or really fast like my dad.

 We stopped at a few locations on the way where we did get to see the real Bali.  They included local villages where you will see inside their houses and kitchens and hear about their fascinating life and customs as Hindu’s.  You will see every part of their daily life, something you won’t do if you only go to the main tourist places in Bali. I loved stopping at the rice paddies where you can walk through and see ladies harvesting the rice.  You can actually help to thrash the rice, which as you will learn is part of the harvesting process.  You will ride past schools and temples and stop at a huge sacred tree for a break.  We also stopped at a coffee plantation and had about 10 different cups of coffee.

 In total the ride goes for about 3hrs and its a great way to see the beautiful Bali scenery. A bonus to it is that they also include lunch at the end of the ride. You get a buffet which consists of typical yummy Indonesian dishes such as nasi goreng (fried rice) Mie goreng (fried noodles), spring rolls and my all time favourite, tempe. 

For more information on this amazing tour head to 
http://www.baliecocycling.com/cycling-tour/




Animal Sacrifices In Bali

8/1/2015

 
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You might think that this is a really awful heading and that its cruel to sacrifice live animals, but I have to remember I am now living in Bali and that these are their beliefs and this is part of the Balinese Hindu religion.

Last week I read an article in the paper about a few ducks, a black goat and some chickens that were thrown into Benoa Bay from the new bypass road. They were live sacrifices to the Hindu God of the Sea (Baruna).

"Our desire is that for those of us who work on the sea on the Bali Mandira Toll Road can be granted protection and ease from all disturbances in performing our duties by the Almighty Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa. We seek protection both now and throughout out all of 2015”. Technical Manager for PT Jasamarga Bali Toll IGLB Wira Wibawa explained 

All the people who worked on the toll road watched as the animals were sacrificed. 



The Balinese are scared of the ocean because they think that monsters live in the sea and cause lots of bad things like floods, tsunamis and drownings.

 I haven’t written much about the Hindu religion yet but it’s actually a very big part of Balinese life. It impacts their day to day life which all revolves around their religion. It’s fascinating and very colorful and I’ll be writing more in my future blogs.



What To Do In Bali - Hash House Harriers

8/1/2015

 
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If you’d like to see the real Bali when you visit, then a Hash House Harrier run or walk is something you should do.  While most people think HHH only run, they actually have a big walking group as my mum and dad were really happy to discover.

They always go to parts of Bali that very few Westerners go to so you will definitely get to see parts of Bali not seen by many people.  The group I go with have a bus that you can go on as it can be hard to find the places they pick and they change every week.  They always seem to be about 1 1/2 hours drive away. 

For last Saturday’s run we started off running down a nice country road but then things got exciting. We ran through rice paddies, deep into the jungle, past waterfalls and temples, through villages, past pens with huge pigs and cute calves, crossed over flowing streams and there was also a bit of climbing/hiking involved. Even people who aren’t really fit can do the walk, for example my mum, who’s a five star person… Dad and I made a bet that she wouldn’t last long and would start to think she made a terrible mistake but she finished it and ended up loving it.  A few young kids are regulars with the walking group, I think they were around 8 years old and they loved the chance to get muddy and wet.  While mum tip toed through the rice paddies so her shoes didn’t get too muddy they threw themselves into the mud.

We finished by going through a village and the village men were all getting together in the centre of their village.  They each had a beautiful roster so were obviously getting ready for the evenings entertainment, cock fights.

 If you come to visit Bali I would absolutely recommend doing a HHH run or walk because it’s a great way to see a side of Bali that you would never have seen, especially if you are staying somewhere like Kuta. 

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