The road to Bali
Unlike Bob and Bing, we weren't waylaid in our pajamas on our trip to Bali. It was an easy 2-1/2 hour flight from Singapore. That's where the road bogged down. Like so many places in southeast Asia, Bali is plagued by too many cars and too few roads. To see any of its exotic sights takes a fair amount of backseat commitment. We devoted roughly a day-and-a-half of our four-day weekend to the roads to Bali's sites. Here are the top three we saw:
1. Tanah Lot
A 15th century pilgrimage temple that visitors can walk to during low tide. As you can see, we made our pilgrimage at high tide. The upside was a low tourist presence.
Side note: The tropical sun was brutal that day, but luckily the refreshment stand was prepared with plenty of water, juice, soda and durian.
2. Batur volcano
The volcano is classified "mildly explosive." The three cones made for interesting viewing during lunch at the Lake View Hotel. What lake?
Lake Batur, Bali's largest lake, is to the right of the peaks (or to the left I suppose, depending on where you might be having lunch) and was formed by a volcanic crater about 25,000 years ago.
3. Rice terraces
Not much to say other than they're exotic to look at and ponder how some of them have been cultivated continuously for hundreds of years. The origins of the technique in Bali date to the 8th century.
Photo note: "The Road to Bali" image with Bob, Bing and Dorothy is provided courtesy of Wikipedia.
Unlike Bob and Bing, we weren't waylaid in our pajamas on our trip to Bali. It was an easy 2-1/2 hour flight from Singapore. That's where the road bogged down. Like so many places in southeast Asia, Bali is plagued by too many cars and too few roads. To see any of its exotic sights takes a fair amount of backseat commitment. We devoted roughly a day-and-a-half of our four-day weekend to the roads to Bali's sites. Here are the top three we saw:
4 comments:
Exotic stuff, all just a short hop from Singapore. That's quite a diverse collection of images. Wonder how often a "mildly explosive" volcano is an issue? Maybe about as often as Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Baker? If so, then it's no problem at all except when it's a catastrophic problem. This is a nice fantasy escape from here, where it is just too cold, dark and gray right now.
Man, you are having too much fun! What the hell is durian?
I was thinking the same thing! Nice pics.
Durian? It's none other than the "king of fruits" in these parts. Read the first two paragraphs of this Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian) and then count your lucky stars these stink bombs aren't being served up in your neck of the woods as dessert!
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