Bali Indonesia

Hello Everyone! 

Today, 21 Feb 2026, we docked at the Benoa Cruise Terminal in Bali, Indonesia in the early morning. Just for fun, if you click on the link above, you'll see that Bali is shaped like a chicken laying an egg. Or something...💩. Sorry about that - once you see it you can't unsee it. Don't blame me - our guide pointed it out!

Once again, our ship (and the Oceana Cruise Line Regency, docked behind us) were welcomed by a gamelan and some dancers.

Balinese Dancers - Our Welcome Committee

Balinese Gamelan

Bali's main industry is tourism. It cleaner and more developed than Lombok (where we were yesterday). There are several resorts here, mostly clustered along the southwest coast of the island in an area called Kuta. This is where the typical beaches you think of being associated with Bali are. 

I went on one excursion today that again proved very interesting. As in Lombok, we boarded a motorcoach and drove through the capital city of Denpasar on our way to a 14th century Balinese temple. We then toured a museum dedicated to the Balinese history, and finally watched an hour-long traditional dance exhibition.

Tidbits Along the Way

Our guide kept us entertained during the 45-minute ride to the temple by telling us all sorts of random facts and anecdotes about the things we saw along the way and about Indonesian and Balinese culture in general.

One of the things I noticed, and it's common in third-world countries, is how haphazard the electrical utility wiring appears. A question about that led to our guide telling us that here there are no building codes, building permits, or inspections required if you are building a one-story building. You can do all the work yourself, even the wiring. Even two or three story buildings have very few rules, and the ones that do apply mostly have to do with earthquake resistance.

Let's see... Which outlet did I plug the toaster into?

American fast food has certainly made inroads here. McDonald's (proudly serving McSpaghetti), Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Domino's can be found everywhere. Our guide told us that these places are considered upscale, cost considerably more than the local food, and are often patronized by families who are celebrating some special occasion like a child's birthday.

The Colonel's Finest - Tastes Like Chicken!

As in Lombok (and throughout Indonesia) scooters are everywhere. Our guide told us that most parents buy their kids scooters around the time they turn 15. You can't get a license until 16, but that doesn't stop anyone from riding. The guide said the police rarely ask for one. 

Honda has a large presence here, both in small motorcycles as well as cars, as do Toyota and Mitsubishi. There are small sales and repair shops like this one dotted all over the city.

Honda Service Center

Jiffy-Lube, Bali Style

Pura Maospahit

We soon arrived at the Pura Maospahit (Maospahit Temple). It dates back to the 14th-Century and is one of the oldest surviving temples in Denpasar. Built in the 1300s during the spread of Majapahit Hindu culture into Bali and known for it's red-brick East Javanese style, parts of the complex have been rebuilt and restored multiple times throughout the centuries.

Here are a few pictures I took inside the temple.

These young boys were schoolchildren practicing their budding gamelan skills.

Next Generation of Gamelan Musicians

Doorway between parts of the temple grounds

These women were assembling flowers, rice, and herbs to be used as offerings by faithful Hindus. I won't claim to be an expert on how this works - I only know what our guide told us. But apparently, Hindus pray three times during the day, and it is common to leave these offerings at various places around the temple. The flowers and the rice each have certain significance, but I wasn't able to capture all of it. I do recall hearing that about 10% of the rice prepared daily by each family is used as offerings.

Women Preparing Offerings

Baskets of Offerings

Offerings Placed at a Shrine at the Temple

Offerings are not just made at the temple. It's common to see them on sidewalks, by doorsteps, and in other public areas. Each Hindi household also has its own small temple, and offerings are placed there as well. Each business also has its own temple (even the KFC restaurants!).

Offerings on a Stoop

One of the structures inside the temple is used as a forum for mediation and discussions, a way to work out conflicts between groups and individuals. This can be a small personal conflict, talks between city leadership and citizens, or something as important as discussions between the Balinese people and their Dutch colonizers.

Mediation Area

The brickwork here dates back centuries, but has been repaired and rebuilt many times. Still, its appearance is very ancient. Part of that is due to mosses and molds that grow quickly in the humid environment. The red brick is unique to this area. Most other Hindu temples are constructed from gray bricks.

Red Eastern Java Brick

Bali Museum

After exploring the temple, we traveled to the Bali Museum (Museum Negeri Provinsi Bali), the island’s principal state museum and the best place in the city for a broad overview of Balinese history and culture.

It's not large, but it is housed in a relatively new (1930s) building designed to resemble a Balinese palace-temple compound. The museum is considered a key cultural institution because it preserves prehistoric artifacts, ethnographic objects, ritual items, textiles, and musical instruments reflecting  Bali’s history, traditions, art, and daily life from past centuries.

Museum Grounds

This tomb carved out of stone looked way too small, but then I guess people were a lot smaller then! We were told the person was placed in the tomb in a sitting position, then bent over at the waist. There's a curved stone lid that's place on top afterwards.

Ancient Balinese Tomb

Oxen Harness with Plow

Traditional Balinese Ceremonial Dress

Sekaa Barong Eka Budhi Dance Troupe

The Sekaa Barong Eka Budhi is a Denpasar-based Balinese arts troupe and performance venue specializing in the Barong & Keris dance drama. It serves both as a cultural preservation group and a tourist-accessible showcase of Bali’s mythic dance traditions. 

So, after the Bali Museum, we drove a short distance to their theater to watch them put on on an hour-long performance of a play dating back to 6,000 BC. It is called the Barong Karis Dance, and depicts a classic battle between good and evil. The dancers wore elaborate costumes and were accompanied by a large gamelan. We were given a sheet with an English (sort of) synopsis of the play, and our guide gave a (heavily accented) running narrative over our earpieces, but I still had trouble following the plot. It was complex, and involved the Barong (a mythological animal representing the good spirit) and Rangda, a mythological monster (evil spirit). The story involved tigers, monkeys, a wild boar, servants, hunters, a Prime Minister, a witch, a woman and her son, human sacrifice, and divine intervention/salvation. I guess all that really mattered is that the Barong eventually wins!

Click this link to see a short video of the performance.

The costumes were amazing. The Barong was represented in a costume worn by two people. As a mythical beast, it incorporated elements of dragons, lions, human feet, and a cow's tail.

The Barong, a Mythical Beast Representing Good

The Barong, Side View

The Rangda, an Evil Spirit

Rangda Transformed into a Witch

Demise of the Wild Boar

All in all, a quite interesting and entertaining experience that was very professionally produced.

Back to the Ship

On the drive back, our guide continued with interesting facts and stories about the local culture. 

There are four traffic rules. Keep these front of mind and you'll survive:

1. Passion
2. Tolerance
3. Give way to the rush
4. Beep your horn

Interestingly, even with all the chaos in the streets, I didn't see a single accident, either here or in Lombok.

Virtually every family has five animals at home:

1. Dog - Acts as the doorbell and lets you know when someone arrives
2. Cat - The Ninja who disposes of rats and snakes
3. Chicken - Eggs and meat source
4. Duck - Pest control (eats the bugs)
5. Pig (or cow/goat) - Produces income and provides food

The population of Bali Island is about 4.5 million, and just over two million live in the capital city of Denpasar. Over six million tourists visit annually. Bali imports workers from Lombok because so many Balinese go to work for cruise lines. We have a large number of Indonesians working on our ship, and many brought family on board to visit during our stop in Bali. It was quite the happy celebration and reunion for them.

Whereas Lombok was 85% Muslim, Bali is 85% Hindu. Indonesia as a whole is primarily Muslim, but the highest concentration of Hindus is here on Bali. Nonetheless, there is a very high degree of religious tolerance and mutual respect evident.

Bali was much cleaner than Lombok. There are landfills here, and refuse is collected six days a week. There are two pickups each for paper goods, recycling, and organic garbage.

About one in four Balinese share same name, based on birth order; Wayan (1st), Made (2nd), Nyoman (3rd), Ketut (4th). The names are gender-neutral and used for both. The fifth child starts the cycle over again. It's a cyclic system that immediately signals a person’s position in their sibling order within Balinese society. Additional names "stack" to more uniquely identify each person. A traditional Balinese name layers identity in this order:

Caste → Gender → Birth order → Personal name

Caste still matters socially, but is much less rigid than in the past. Now it really just denotes your general occupation (religious, professional, merchant, blue collar). Inter-caste marriages are frequent and nearly universally accepted. 

Indonesian Dinner and Show

When we got back to the ship, it was time for  shower and some clean clothes, followed by a special dinner put on by the crew. We gathered on the pool deck and were served a plated meal of typical Indonesian fare (three courses) followed by an amazing dance performance by a local gamelan and dancers. I wasn't in a very good spot for pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination, but it was exceptionally good.

Tomorrow I'll be taking a Balinese cooking class. That should be enlightening - I have little experience eating Indonesian food (no idea what I ate on the ship tonight) and no experience at all cooking it. Stay tuned!

All the best,
Jim